Selling your home: how to prepare

Most of what decides the final price happens before the listing even goes live. How you price it, how the home looks in photos, and how you choose to sell matter more than many think.

During 2026, competition for buyers’ attention has grown. More homes are advertised in more places, from Hemnet to Booli (how the sites differ), and buyers have grown used to comparing carefully before they even book a viewing. That makes preparation more important, not less.

Here we go through the whole process in order, from valuation to moving day, so you know what to think about and when.

Start with a valuation you trust

Before you set a price, you need to know what your home is actually worth. The best clue is final sale prices. Look at what similar homes in your area sold for in the last six months, not what they were listed for.

An estate agent will gladly give a free valuation, but remember it is sometimes set a little high to win the instruction. Get more than one and compare. You will quickly see if someone stands out.

Set the right asking price

Too high an asking price scares buyers off. The listing sits, goes ”stale” on Hemnet, and the final price often ends up lower than if you had started sensibly.

A deliberately low teaser price can fill the viewing, but it can also damage trust if everyone works out the price was never real. Stay close to what you and the agent believe is a realistic final price. The market usually knows what the home is worth.

Staging is not fluff

Good photos and a bright, decluttered home bring more people to the viewing. And more people at the viewing means more bidders. It is that simple.

You rarely need to hire furniture. Clear away clutter, clean properly, and remove the personal, like family photos and fridge magnets. A buyer should be able to picture themselves living there, not look at your life. Hire a photographer who knows homes, even if you sell privately. Phone photos in bad light cost you visitors.

Energy certificate and survey, in the right order

A valid energy performance certificate is a legal requirement when selling a house, and it must be available by the time the home is shown at the latest. Without one, Boverket (the housing board) can in theory order you to get one, and a buyer can ask to see it before purchase. Order it early: it often takes a couple of weeks and normally costs a few thousand kronor depending on the size of the house and who you hire. Tenant-owner apartments usually already have a certificate through the association, so check with the board before ordering your own.

Book a pre-sale survey before you list, not after bids come in. Then you have time to fix minor remarks or adjust the price in good time, instead of negotiating under pressure with a nervous buyer. A surveyor goes through foundations, roof, wet rooms and installations and writes a report you can attach to the listing. It builds trust and lowers the risk of disputes afterwards.

Agent or sell privately?

The agent’s fee varies more than people think, often somewhere between roughly 1 and 4 percent of the purchase price depending on home type and location. In expensive city deals it sometimes lands on a fixed price instead. Always ask for a clear quote and ask what is included, for example photos, listing and bidding.

Selling privately saves you the fee, but then you handle viewings, bidding and contracts on your own. Many hire a lawyer just for the paperwork, which costs a fraction of an agent’s fee. It works best if you have plenty of time, know your own area well, and have a network to spread the listing in.

As a rough rule, a private sale usually pays off best for homes up to roughly 4 to 5 million kronor. There the fee weighs heavier as a share of the profit, and a simpler deal is easier to handle yourself. For pricier or more complicated properties, such as houses with several buildings or unclear boundaries, the agent’s experience and contacts weigh heavier than the saving.

One thing to know: the agent’s fee is tax-deductible. You deduct it from the profit before the tax is calculated, so part of the cost comes back.

Listing privately: Hemnet, Booli and reach

The most common trap for private sellers is reach, not price. Hemnet is still where most buyers look first, and a listing needs either an agent account or one of the services that let private sellers advertise for a fee. Booli has grown as a complement and often mirrors the same listings, but unless you check that your home appears on both, you risk missing buyers who only watch one of them.

Expect a cost for the listing itself however you sell; it is normally a few thousand kronor depending on package and how long the ad runs. That is small next to the agent’s fee, but do count it in when you compare what you actually save by selling privately.

Social media and local groups are a fine complement, but see them as an addition, not a replacement for Hemnet. Underestimating how many buyers you need to reach for a real bidding round is the most common reason a private sale lands below value.

Handling viewings and bidding yourself

Book two viewings the same weekend if you can, one morning and one afternoon, and you get more buyers without it feeling crowded. Keep a simple interest list where visitors write down name and phone number; that is your base for the bidding afterwards.

Open bidding, where all bids and bidders are visible to each other, is the standard in Sweden and builds trust. For each bid, note the time, the amount and any conditions, for example a wished moving date. Be clear with all bidders about when bidding closes and how you communicate the final decision.

Remember that a spoken bid is never binding in Sweden, neither for you nor the buyer. Only when both sides have signed the purchase contract is the deal legally done. That gives you room to negotiate, but it also means a bidder can pull out right up until signing.

Contract, settlement and moving day

Once you agree, a purchase contract is written covering price, moving day and any conditions, for example that the buyer’s mortgage is approved. The deposit (handpenning), normally 10 percent of the purchase price, is paid when the contract is signed. Selling privately, this is the step worth spending money on a lawyer for: a mistake or an unclear phrase in the contract can get expensive later.

Before moving day a settlement statement (likvidavräkning) is drawn up showing how the final payment is split, deducting for example loans to be repaid and adding what the buyer pays extra for. On moving day the handover happens: keys change hands, meter readings are noted, and the purchase price is paid out. For a house the buyer must apply for title registration (lagfart) within three months; a tenant-owner apartment is instead reported to the association.

You are liable for hidden defects, for years

Many miss this. As the seller of a house you are liable for hidden defects (dolda fel) for 10 years after the sale. A hidden defect is something that existed at purchase but a surveyor could not find in a normal visual inspection. Selling a tenant-owner apartment, liability is shorter, normally up to two years from moving day.

You also have a duty of disclosure (upplysningsplikt). If you know about something, like damp damage or troublesome drains, say so. Hiring an agent does not remove that duty; it is still yours.

Two things protect you. A pre-sale survey shows the buyer the home’s condition in black and white, and hidden-defects insurance can cover claims that appear afterwards. Ask your agent or an insurer what fits your home.

Count on capital gains tax

Selling a private home at a profit, you pay 22 percent capital gains tax on the profit. Sell for 3 million after buying for 2 million and the profit is roughly 1 million, so about 220,000 kronor in tax before deductions.

Keep every receipt for renovations and improvements. A new kitchen, an extension or a new bathroom is normally deductible, and it lowers the profit you are taxed on. The agent’s fee and some other selling costs are deductible too.

Buying a new home, you can apply for deferral (uppskov) and postpone the tax. Deferrals have been interest-free since 2021. You declare the year after you sold.

Common mistakes private sellers make

Underpricing is the most common. Without an agent’s daily feel for the market it is easy to set a price based mostly on what the neighbour sold for two years ago, instead of the latest comparable deals. Use several independent valuations even if you sell privately.

Second most common is underestimating how much work marketing and availability take. Answering questions in the evening, rebooking viewings and keeping the listing updated takes time an agent otherwise spreads across several deals in parallel.

Third is skipping the legal side to save money in the wrong place. A flawed purchase contract or a missed survey can cost far more than doing it right from the start, especially with ten years of hidden-defects liability.

Sell smart: reach the buyer before listing

On SökHem, buyers register a buying brief with exactly what they are looking for: area, size and price. List your home and you immediately see which buyers match, before you have even decided how to sell.

That gives you a calm way to test interest. You can reach the right buyers off-market and see if someone is already waiting for exactly what you sell, without first putting everything out publicly. It works as well alongside an agent-led sale as a fully private one.

Decided to sell without an agent? The full setup with listing, viewings, contracts and moving day is gathered on the page about selling your home privately.