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With the new year comes a revival in the housing market as homeowners prepare to list their homes. They are making repairs, decluttering their homes, and setting their ideal timelines to move. While there’s no guarantee that a house will sell fast, homeowners can take steps to attract potential buyers and make their properties desirable. 

Use this guide, How to Sell a House Fast: Strategies That Work in 2026, to develop a foundational understanding of the listing process. Learn how to launch a competitive listing and work with an agent to attract buyers. Even if you aren’t in a seller’s market, you can take steps to get your home noticed so you move on your schedule.

Why A Fast Home Sale is Important

Speed matters when it comes to selling your home. The longer a property sits on the market, the more potential buyers will be wary of it. They might think it hasn’t sold because the house needs major repairs, or worry that the seller is difficult and unwilling to negotiate. 

In 2025, the average time to sell a home was 62 days. However, this includes the period when a sale is contingent and pending before the closing date. If the 2026 market is similar, homes that stay on the market longer than a month might experience significant drops in buyer demand. 

That said, every real estate market is unique. Your local market might be slower, or your home type might take longer to attract buyers. Talk to a real estate agent to understand the average time it takes to sell a home in your area. 

“In the years after COVID (2020 or later), there was so much demand, it seemed like every home went in five days, no matter the price,” says Andy Sabella at Addison Real Estate in Arlington, New Jersey. “Unfortunately, in 2025, we have slowed, and it takes more work to sell the listings, with amazing photography, video property tours, floor plans, and strategic pricing to make sure your home is in the correct range with your competition.”

The following steps can guide you through the real estate process, increasing the chances that your home receives offers quickly.

1. Set the Right Asking Price

The first step to attract prospective buyers is to research home prices in your area to understand how you should list your home. Comparable sales can tell you what similar homes in your neighborhood or city sell for. If your asking price is too high, you either won’t receive many offers or will get low-ball bids.

However, if your price is too low, you might not make as much as you could for your home. Home prices that are too low can also deter buyers who worry that something is wrong with the house. 

“The phrase ‘priced correctly’ means the home is listed at a price comparable to similar homes in the same area with similar features (size, age, amenities),” says Alan Arnfield at Century 21 Coastal Alliance in Palm Harbor, Florida.

Your real estate agent should offer advice on pricing a home to sell. They will research the median sale price of nearby homes and consider any macro real estate trends affecting buyer demand. They should back their recommendation with data, proving their knowledge of the housing market. You can also interview multiple Realtors to see how their recommended list prices vary and how they reached those numbers. 

While you can always lower your asking price if you aren’t attracting buyers, you will sell your home faster if you list at the right price from the start.

2. Invest in Home Staging and Presentation

How you present your home is just as important as its list price. A clean, decluttered, well-lit house can win over buyers and convince them that the house is worth what you are asking for it. It may take time to prepare your home for sale, but the efforts will be worth it if your home sells quickly. Here are a few action items:  

Create a good first impression.

Studies show investing in curb appeal pays off and can increase perceived home values by up to 7%. Invest in good landscaping, pressure washing, and potentially exterior paint to prepare your home for sale.  

Declutter your belongings.

Donate, sell, and throw away anything you don’t want to move. Consider packing and storing non-essential personal items and excess furniture to create a clutter-free space. This will make your home seem larger. 

Invest in repairs and updates.

Small changes can have a big impact. It’s better to tackle repairs before the home inspection. Hiding or ignoring issues can be a major red flag and cause the offer to fall through. Even minor issues that a potential buyer notices can cause them to question if there are larger problems looming underneath.

Ask about staging.

Discuss the costs and benefits of staging with your real estate agent. They may recommend staging as part of their selling strategy. Even if you don’t use a formal company, ask about staging tips to sell your home fast.

Hire professional cleaners.

Make your house desirable to people touring it. A clean home can win over buyers and make the space seem brighter. After decluttering and preparing the home, having a deep clean by a professional can make the space stand out.

Remember, you are selling more than a home; you are selling a lifestyle. Consider how your curb appeal, staging, and layout appeal to specific types of buyers.

3. Develop a Home Selling Marketing Plan

One of the benefits of hiring an experienced real estate agent is that they come with a plan. After touring your home, they should present a marketing strategy to find buyers in the local market. Most home sales require a multifaceted marketing plan that uses online tools, social media, and traditional promotions (like open houses) to create buyer interest. Your Realtor should explain their tactics and why they are right for you. 

“Speed comes from certainty,” says Preston Hicks at Preston Hicks Real Estate Group in Spanish Forks, Utah. “In this market, homes sell fastest when they’re pre-inspected, strategically priced within the buyer’s financing brackets, and launched with professional media in the first 72 hours. Buyers decide online before they ever show up, so presentation and price must eliminate hesitation.” 

Professional photography is essential to sell your home. It can attract buyers who are looking at new listings and eager to tour homes as soon as they hit the market. Your Realtor might also recommend creating a video tour, a virtual reality experience, and even drone photography. Ask about the price of these marketing options. Some real estate agents cover the cost of marketing tactics as part of the sale. 

4. Wait for Favorable Market Conditions

You have two choices if you want to sell your house fast: list immediately or wait for a seller’s market to increase demand. While many homeowners want to list their properties immediately, they may find themselves waiting longer and lowering their price to sell. For example, listing during the holiday season could result in lower demand from home buyers. 

If you wait for a seasonal seller’s market, you might have more interested buyers and bids that offer more money for your home. This could mean waiting for early summer in some local markets. 

Ask your real estate agent about seasonal trends and when the best time to list is. It’s okay if you want to sell fast to move immediately. But if selling fast means receiving bids sooner and spending fewer days with your home on the market, you might want to wait a few weeks or months to reach an opportune time. 

While your real estate agent can recommend traditionally popular times, they cannot predict the future. Macroeconomic market trends may affect housing demand in 2026, no matter how badly you want to sell your house.

5. Work with a Skilled Real Estate Agent

One of the best ways to have a smooth selling process is to work with a real estate agent you trust. A qualified Realtor will have a deep understanding of housing market trends and will openly share their market knowledge with you. They want you to make informed decisions about the sale, so everyone achieves their goals and makes more money. 

“Hire the right real estate agent if you want to sell fast,” says Michael Tessaro, a real estate agent from Fremont, California. “There is a buyer for every property, but the price needs to reflect the condition and location.”

Experts recommend interviewing at least three agents before hiring the best one. Some sellers interview between four to six real estate agents. Ask each agent for a median home price to list your property and review their marketing tactics and promotional ideas. A skilled agent should arrive at the interview with this information ready to present. 

6. Consider Incentives and Flexible Terms

Real estate market trends can be fickle, and you may need to offer incentives if you want to sell your house quickly. Review potential flexible terms and benefits with your Realtor that you might be willing to concede to buyers. These incentives may range from financial benefits to buyers (even in a seller’s market) to adjustments to the sales timeline. Here are a few options to consider:  

• Moving the closing date up or back to accommodate buyers. 
• Asking for a rent-back agreement to close fast while staying in the house. 
• Covering a portion of the closing costs, including the price of the home inspection or part of the agent fees. 
• Accepting contingencies, like a home-sale contingency from a buyer who has listed their current home.  
• Offering interest rate buydowns to make loans more affordable. 

The closing process is full of negotiations. You can work with your Realtor and the buyers to ensure everyone is happy with the sale.

7. Sell Your House Fast With Online Visibility

More than half of buyers found the home they eventually purchased online, and the vast majority of buyers use digital tools while house hunting. This means online visibility is essential in the real estate process. Most real estate marketing strategies 2026 rely on digital tools. Make sure your Realtor has tools in place to get your home noticed, ranging from virtual tours to alerts set for price adjustments. 

If you aren’t familiar with online visibility tools, ask your agent. Marketing in real estate can be different from other industries, and your Realtor might have specific tools and opportunities to showcase your home.

There’s a popular phrase in today’s market that your first showing happens online. Consider how you can attract buyer focus and create a stunning first impression that turns into home visits and bids.

Find an Experienced Real Estate Agent to Sell Fast

Whether it’s a seller’s market or not, you can attract potential buyers and increase the chances of receiving offers on your home. Consider how you present your property, its listing price, and the marketing tactics your agent recommends. All of these factors work together to get your home noticed. 

Start the moving process by hiring an agent you can trust. FastExpert makes it easy to find Realtors in your area, review profiles, and interview top candidates. Hire a home-selling professional who understands local trends and works to meet your needs. 

Try FastExpert today and take the first steps to sell your home in 2026. Find a good agent who makes selling easy.