Preparing to Sell

The peak season for selling homes begins in April in many cities, and that means if you're going to put your house on the market, you should already be making plans.

The gloom of winter may seem remote from the glow of spring, but Pat Branch, president of the St. Paul (Minnesota) Area Association of Realtors, says people should start getting a house ready to sell "as soon as they start thinking about selling. They should allow 90 days prior to wanting to be gone."

That's a variable number, of course; much depends on the strength of the market and the price of the house, reports the Minneapolis-St. Paul Star Tribune.

"If people have what I would call a popular price range — from $75,000 to $200,000 — the time from listing to moving probably is a 90-day process, maybe 120 days," said Kevin Ries, president of the Minneapolis Area Association of Realtors. "If they're in a more-expensive range — $250,000 to the $500,000-$600,000 range — it's at least a six- to seven-month process."

If you want buyers coming to your house in April, why start now? If you live in a designer's showcase — and barely use it, too — you probably needn't bother. But if you live like most people, in a house that could use a little ... ahem ... touching up before it's displayed to buyers, it may be later than you think.

Consider:

• Buyers typically obtain a mortgage rate "lock" of no more than 60 days; longer locks cost more. They usually get that rate lock about the time they make an offer. John Larson of Summit Mortgage in Minneapolis said that most mortgage originators couldn't give a rate lock without an address, although some lenders will do so for 30 days.

• Transactions typically close 45 to 60 days after a purchase agreement is signed, although automation in the mortgage industry is shrinking that time.

• Low-priced homes have been selling like hotcakes, but those also may need the most spiffing up before they go on the market.

• It's better to be safe than sorry, so it might be wise to plan on at least 30 days from listing to sale.

• If a typical house takes 90 days from listing to closing, and you want to sell in April to folks who want to close in June, you should have your house ready to show to buyers in March.

If none of that convinces you, consider the opinion of a number of successful agents who say that whether or not they realize it, buyers make their decision about buying — or, more likely, not buying--in the first few seconds.

"No matter how many great elements you have in your house, people's eyes are drawn to negative features first," write Martha Webb and Sarah Parsons Zackheim in Dress Your House for Success (Three Rivers Press). "Buyers are 'inspecting' — looking for clues to uncover hidden costs. Anxious to protect themselves, they seek reasons not to buy your house."

A seller should try to remove those reasons. Doing that may take longer than you'd like.

"I don't think it's too soon to get things in order at all," said Nancy Curry, a Minneapolis area agent. "I already have people who are in a position to make offers for moving in the spring."

Curry, who has sold real estate for 34 years, said sellers should start getting ready to market a house a month in advance. Some are heeding that advice. Last week, she met with "a family planning a move in the spring, but they're getting their ducks in a row right now. The sellers have asked two agents for market analyses and marketing plans."