Wai Pacific’s Ultimate Guide to Selling Your Home in Hilo

In real estate, there are few more efficient ways to start fresh than selling your home and moving into a new residence. If you’re ready to enter the Hilo real estate market by listing your home, chances are high you’re googling “sell house fast” to expedite the process — and arrive at your new beginning, whatever that may be, as quickly as possible. 

At Wai Pacific, we are happy to assist with your endeavors. Read on for our expert advice on the most vital components of confidently selling your home.

Here’s how to get a head start on your home selling process.

Your Hilo home is likely one of your most significant financial assets, and selling it requires the supreme expertise, care, and knowledge only a seasoned real estate agent can offer.

Experts suggest you interview a real estate agent rather than merely going with a recommendation. We couldn’t agree more. Chemistry is crucial to working with an agent to sell your home. Think of your realtor as your business partner. You want a person you can trust from an agency with the right local connections and expertise. Beyond perusing online portfolios, ask agents upfront about everything covered in the rest of this blog.

At a minimum, local real estate agents run comps in Hilo to arrive at the ideal asking price for your home. We’d hazard to suggest that you want to be a collaborative part of your sale. Alone or with your agent, you can examine online listings for homes in Hilo and throughout the Big Island. Pay attention to metrics like median sales price, days on the market, and statistics like square footage. Your agent can scrutinize the market to determine which upgrades luxury buyers prefer and whether they could increase your return on investment.

Beyond aesthetics, your home should hit the market in excellent working order. Prospective buyers are far more likely to trust a detailed professional report than your word. To that end, a licensed home inspector can isolate subtle issues your home might have, whether systemic or cosmetic. The pre-listing inspection is your playbook or game plan for repairs and renovations. Your agent can recommend contractors and help you decide which action items to execute.

Action items to complete before listing your home.

If at all possible, find an agent with a designer or a relationship with a professional staging company. The truth is, most buyers have no clue what to do with an empty house: too much space can be overwhelming. That’s where stagers come in.

When your home’s interior is decluttered, professionally cleaned, and staged, buyers will instantly connect with the space and imagine their future there. And when buyers fall in love, they are willing to pay more — a lot more. Through the years, we have observed that professionally staged homes in Hilo and East Hawaii can sell 5-15% higher than competitors and up to 50% faster.

Costs for this service can vary and be up to 1% or more of a home’s sales price, depending on whether an agent has an in-house design team or is using a professional staging company. If your agent has an in-house design team or recommended contractor, you can save on the staging process, ultimately paying only a small percentage of your home’s sales price.

Here at Wai Pacific, the entire process is in-house — and in many cases, complementary. Our agents and designer will assess your home, coordinate decluttering and cleaning, then furnish it (from our vast collection of furniture sets and accent pieces). We strive for each home to have its own unique look and feel and to “wow” visitors the moment they step in the door (or open your listing’s photos online).

Often bandied about in real estate circles, the phrase “curb appeal” refers to the exterior appearance of a home. Curb appeal deserves more attention than many sellers care to give. Practically speaking, your home’s entrance dictates prospective buyers’ first impressions. Research suggests people arrive at an opinion in as little as seven seconds.

Thanks to its year-round tropical climate, Hilo is famous for its lush tropical setting. This also means your property can get overgrown in record time. While many homeowners care about their home’s interior photos, most tend to forget that the outside matters, too.

We will coordinate cutting back trees and shrubs, re-planting fresh landscaping, and clearing debris so your home stands out against the competition from the moment buyers set foot on your property. Buyers will note the contrast between Hilo’s unruly native vegetation and your prim yard.

Our design team offers free consultations on landscape design, and our agents are trained to coordinate with landscaping contractors to transform your property into a stunner.

Leave the fate of your house in the hands of your trusted agent.

Now that your home is ready to sell, it’s time to let the world see it. Quietly. If you’re able to live elsewhere during a sale, showings will be easier to coordinate for buyers, and the home’s condition will be easier to maintain. Ask your agent for relocation options.

If that’s not practical, then take the time to schedule showings while you’re away at work, or have a spot picked out in advance where you can spend time while buyers enjoy walking around the home you worked so hard to prepare.

Nothing cuts a showing short or makes buyers more uncomfortable than a homeowner walking around the place or sitting in their car outside in the driveway. Pets should also be accounted for and ideally packed into a car to be moved off-site during showings (both for peace and quiet and their own safety).

Many Hilo homeowners fail to do this, with dire results for everyone. If your home is tenant-occupied, ask your agent about options for relocating the tenants or working with them to plan in advance for showings to minimize disruptions.

If you’re going to get top dollar for your property, it needs to be seen. Everywhere. When hiring an agent, have them list in writing the services they will offer you, including marketing activities, and hold them accountable.

These should include professional photography, digital and social media marketing (including email campaigns, a list of websites and apps your home will appear on, and any paid ads), and physical open houses where appropriate.

At Wai Pacific, our capabilities include full-motion video production, audio commentary, and creative marketing efforts like on-camera interviews and documentary-style featurettes. As our client, you would be apprised of our strategy, timeline, and expectations. (For example, we may list your property for sale on a Tuesday, followed by a week-long “new listing” marketing campaign culminating in a weekend open house to maximize exposure and buyer competition).

If you’re considering selling your Hilo home, Wai Pacific is the real estate company to contact. We bring 25-plus years of combined real estate experience to the table and approach every relationship with great enthusiasm and professionalism. We also manage deals in English, Japanese, and Mandarin, which may open your sale to a field of foreign investors. Reach out today and find that aloha ease with our impeccable services.