Listing Your Home in 2021? Here’s What to Know

It’s a good time to be a home seller — homes are selling fast and for a premium — but that doesn’t mean you can jump into the market ill-prepared. Knowing what to expect can position you to make the most of this seller’s market.

Roughly 1 in 6 (17%) homeowners plan on selling their home in the next 18 months, according to a new NerdWallet survey conducted online by The Harris Poll among 2,127 homeowners. Those listings will be a welcome sight to buyers currently competing for a limited number of homes commanding top dollar.

The March survey found that this current market is playing a role in many of these home sellers’ motivations. In fact, 45% of those planning to sell in the next 18 months say recent changes to the housing market, including higher asking prices and lower inventory, have spurred them to sell earlier than initially planned. If you’re among the homeowners preparing to be on the favored side of this strong seller’s market, here’s what you need to know.

1. You may be able to skip presale home improvements

In addition to cleaning your house for showings, preparing to sell your home often means doing minor (or major) repairs and upgrades. But home buyers are stalking real estate listings and jumping on those that even get close to checking all the boxes, so sellers could likely save some money by limiting or forgoing expensive projects altogether.

More than 4 in 5 (81%) homeowners planning to sell in the next 18 months say they plan to spend money on major repairs or renovations to make their home more appealing to potential buyers prior to selling, typically planning to spend $2,000. But 17% of those planning to sell in the next 18 months who will spend money on repairs and renovations prior to selling say they’ll spend $15,000 or more.

“You really can get away without doing renovations and minor repairs,” says Holden Lewis, NerdWallet mortgages expert. “Unless the house has a major problem like a leaky roof, you're probably better off selling as-is. Make it a priority to declutter and depersonalize the home so it's easy for buyers to imagine themselves living there. The buyers can fix it up and renovate it on their own dime and schedule.”