Selling a home can be exciting and overwhelming. Many times sellers make a classic mistake and costs them significant amounts of time and money. Getting the most value out of your home requires excellent preparation and the help of experts familiar with not just the housing market, but also recent home sales in your neighborhood. The first step to a smooth selling process is to avoid these three mistakes.
Mistake One: Failing to Properly Stage Your Home
Remember going out on a first date? You took extra care to pick out your best outfit, make sure your hair was perfect, and to present your best self. Selling a home works much the same way. The first time a potential buyer walks through your front door they are making an instant impression that will affect the rest of the sales process.
It isn’t enough that your house is clean which by the way you need to declutter so buyers won’t be turned off, often removing unwanted items and decluttering is the least expensive thing you can do to improve your property before its listed for sale. This will make the place look more spacious and thus more welcoming and appealing to potential buyers. It must also be setup to make the home look as appealing as possible. If you are still living in the home, you will need to work harder to help your buyers imagine themselves in your space. You should clear off all countertops. Remove personal pictures and decorations from the walls. You may also want to rearrange furniture to make the rooms more open and appealing. Buyers may not be interested in how you have made the house comfortable and functional for your family. Buyers want to be able to picture their family in the home. If you fail to make the inside of your home enticing for buyers it can add weeks or even months to the selling process.
Mistake Two: Not Making Simple Repairs or Concealing Major Defects
You may be anxious to get out of your house and into your next home. Sometimes homebuyers decide they do not want to put any more money into their old home. But, this can be a huge mistake. An experienced real estate broker will tell you that often investing some money into some simple repairs will pay huge dividends. Put yourself in the buyer’s shoes. If you went into a house and saw a few small holes in the wall, a chipped tile or two, or walls that badly needed painting, wouldn’t you wonder what else was wrong with the house?
Even worse than failing to repair a few minor issues is trying to conceal or failing to disclose major issues. Buying a house is not a simple matter of buyer beware. Residential home sales are highly regulated. If you fail to disclose a major issue you may lose a potential sale. In the worst case you may end up being sued and even investigated for fraud. Always make sure you are honest about any major defects. It is usually best if you seek to make repairs before listing your home on the market.
Mistake Three: Bad Pricing Decisions
This is the most common mistake sellers make. They price their home too high. Home prices are different from the way most things are priced. The price you set for your home communicates things to potential buyers. You need to set a price that seems fair, but also gets the potential buyers excited. Too many homeowners start the pricing discussion with how much they need to get out of the property. Instead, you should start by seeing what the house is worth in the current market. Working with an experienced real estate broker will give you an expert who understands the housing market, and more importantly, has access to the sales information for houses like yours in the neighborhood.
Another related pricing mistake is refusing to make a change. Pricing a house is more of an art than a science. The housing market is constantly in flux. If you initially choose the wrong price, you only make matters worse by refusing to budge when you get excellent offers or when you go weeks without anyone so much as driving by the house.
Selling your house doesn’t have to be a nightmare, When you have made the right preparations and have an expert at your side, you will find the sales process can be enjoyable, especially once you get your check.
I always apply this concept: Presentation, Pricing and Promotion.
Please see how we market your home nationally and internationally. Also see our market report with monthly analysis of the real estate market.
Behzad Zandinejad
Broker Associate
Decker Bullock Sotheby’s International Realty
A Top Producing Agent for 2015
BRE#01175448
Decker Bullock Sotheby’s International Realty
100 Tiburon Blvd, Mill Valley, CA.94941
Tel:415-793-0015
Marin County Real Estate Report
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