4 Things to Keep in Mind When Selling Your Home
The largest and most difficult transaction most people face during their lifetime is when they sell their real estate. This is especially true because most people will sell real estate only two or three times in their lifetime. We sell real estate for a living, and want to offer some advice based on the thousands of transactions we have closed. We hope this will help you. We would also be glad to talk to you directly, so please call! In the meantime, consider these points when you are thinking about selling something.
1. Have it ready
Your home will get the absolute most attention when you first put it on the market. Prospective buyers and real estate agents are the most obvious lookers. But don't forget that all of your neighbors will pull up the information to see what you are asking for it and to see the pictures (just like you probably did when your neighbors put their house up for sale!) And they will tell their friends and family about it, especially if any of them are looking for a home. So the chain reaction started by your initial advertising will continue on for several days or weeks, and you will probably be aware of only a small fraction of the conversations.
With that in mind, spend as much time as you need before you put it out for sale so when the prospective buyers first hear about it, it will be in as good a condition as possible.It will definitely pay to have it ready to go from the beginning.
2. Price it right at the beginning
Since the most (and usually the best) prospects will hear about your house when you first advertise it, be sure you have it priced right. Fair or not, everyone will make almost instantaneous judgements on the value of your home, and will compare it to the other homes for sale. Over pricing will result in the best buyers forming the opinion that it is over-priced, and they rarely re-visit the property even after the asking price is reduced.
Think about this example. If you price it at $130,000 and all the other houses in your area are priced at $100,000 and selling for $95,000, what conclusion do you think people will make way before they even do a drive-by of your house? You have just helped sell one of those houses that are priced right.
Your Southern Realty agent can really help you a lot with this step. We can give you a list of recent sales of comparable properties along with comparable properties that are currently on the market. We can even recommend the best asking price that balances the desire to get the most money with the desire to get it sold. Remember, if you over-price, you will make the comparable properties that are for sale look like bargains.
3. Buyers usually don't have lots of cash
Buyers typically use most of their available cash for closing costs, so they usually don't have much left for renovations following the purchase. Therefore, if your flooring is bad, go ahead and replace it. Don't just lower the price of the house by the cost of new carpet so the buyer's can "get what they want." This will just eliminate your house because it will cost too much fix. The same goes for any painting and repairs. Your house will sell much quicker and for more money if it is truly in "move-in" condition.
4. A good agent will lower your stress level
We could write several essays about why this is true. Simply put, stress often comes from uncertainty, and uncertainty arises from lack of familiarity. We sell real estate for a living; and we are good at it. And we have sold a lot properties - literally thousands. There is not much that will happen that we have not already experienced, and there are no problems that will come up that we won't know what your options are. Not only that, there is a mountain of research that shows properties sold by real estate agents sell for more money (after the sales commission is paid) and sell lots quicker than properties sold by owners.
Hope this helps you, and good luck on your sale. And if you are unlucky, give us a call and we will take luck out of the equation!
Click Photo to View
