Some people tend to get overzealous for a sale and make the worst selling mistakes. You should know what to expect when selling your home to avoid these mistakes.
Strategic pricing gone wrong
If you think a Realtor overpriced a home, you have to understand why. From there you can determine if they were in the right. There can be good effects of overpricing your home. Pricing the home correctly is the key: Learn more here
Getting emotional
The worst selling mistake is getting too emotionally attached to your property. The more emotionally attached that you are to something, the harder time you’ll have letting it go. If you’re ready to sell you may not have an issue. It’s people who are more wishy-washy about it. People that are attached to their property have a hard time. But when you decide to sell; make it sellable. Strip it of everything that’s you. You want to make it generic so that a buyer can come in and see it as their own. This may sound somewhat sad but it’s necessary. If you can’t do that, you may not be ready.
Get the RIGHT agent!
The second of the worst selling mistakes is hiring the wrong agent. You’ve got to know what to expect when selling your house. What to do to sell your house and avoid home selling mistakes depends a lot on your Realtor. How do you actually get the right agent? USDRE can help you find a good one – click the link at the bottom of this page. About an hour worth of research and an interview should tell you all you need to know. You want to know the reputation of the company they work for and read their reviews along with a talk to see how they interact with you personally.
Being realistic with pricing
Worst mistake number three is setting an unrealistic price. “Did I price my house too low?” Or maybe your Realtor overpriced your house. Do you know the effects of overpricing? There’s a lot to consider. This is where a trusted real estate advisor is worth its weight in gold. A seasoned Realtor should be a great negotiator. They will be able to strategically set a price for your home based on it’s value and your comfort level. Certainly don’t be afraid to ask about their strategy. And they should be happy to explain! If your house is valued at $500k and they want to start it at $510k, ask why. Maybe it’s a seller’s market or the value of the house is increased by something specific. Knowing the market means knowing how to price your home.
The fourth mistake is expecting to get your asking price. Don’t get discouraged though… We’re leaving room for negotiation. And you know, everybody’s going to walk away feeling great at the end the day. The market can either trend up, be stable, or trend down. Again, you want an agent that will have a conversation with you about the current market conditions. This can be specific to the trends, the area, size of the house, and even the neighborhood. You have to be real with yourself. Unless you’re in dire need of selling quick and without thought; you’ll likely get a fine price. If you can wait until the market upticks in the seller’s direction, go for it! In that case you may even get more than your asking price. But if it’s a buyer’s market and you need to sell fast, you may have to accept less.
Worst selling mistakes…
The fifth of the worst selling mistakes is skimping on marketing. It’s important to note that when you hire a real estate advisor, they should discuss a marketing plan of action. One of those action plans should be arranging and making sure that your home is correctly cleaned. Declutter and ensure that it’s properly staged if you’re going that route. You might think that, yeah, you’re moving out so you’ll clean up yourself. You’ll move your stuff out and that’s what anyone would do. Well this is part of the marketing, not just normal moving out. Think about rentals… Any time someone moves out of a rental the management company comes in and professionally cleans, paints, and repairs. Why? Because it’s easier to rent to the next person and covers liability on their part.
Besides professional cleaning and staging, you’ve got to get your house in front of potential buyers. Your real estate agent should be prepared to share their marketing but you can also help in this area. There’s loads of social media outlets you can put your house on for free. It will automatically go in the MLS but get it on websites like Zillow, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter – all of them!
Insurance
Another mistake is not being properly insured. When you go on the market, you’re opening up your house to people. And in that situation there could be an accident of any sort that you could potentially be liable for. This can truly be an accident or some sort of scam. Let’s be honest, that’s not likely but it is a possibility. So insurance is a must.
The seventh major mistake is not giving appropriate disclosures. If you know that you have a hole in your roof you should be reporting that. The last thing that you want to do is try to hide something. It will come out during the process so disclose what you know of. Besides, you just work it in to the price. So, you won’t need to worry too much. You want to address these issues prior to going on the market. Or, plan to sell as is.
You also need to prepare your home for sale. And this is the eighth tip! As soon as you’ve main the decision to sell, get ready. Start cleaning up, decluttering, etc. Honestly you will do more work to get your house ready to sell than you do to live in it. The problem here is that people wait to do all this stuff. And that results in a poorly marketed house. Once you contact a real estate agent they are going to want to get going right away. They want the house to sell as fast as possible. So if you’ve lacked on things, it could end up that the photos aren’t good or the house looks grody. That’s right, I said grody.
Who wants to buy?
The ninth tip here is not to try and sell your home to someone you know. You’re not running an MLM here. And you’re not selling a car. Don’t make the mistake of telling a friend or family member that they should buy your house. Yeah, tell people you’re selling, definitely. But don’t pressure friends and family to buy your house. These things never work out well, if at all. Now, if a friend or family member comes to you to ask about buying, that’s different. Just make sure you still go through your agents and have things in writing. The last thing you want is for a squabble to happen over something trivial.
The final mistake you may be making is not accommodating showings. Yes, we’re all busy and have schedules to keep. But you want to make sure that if you can’t make a showing, that you don’t just say no. Be very accommodating and make sure your Realtor is too. Make the time for people that want it. This is not to say that any and everyone should be included. An unqualified buyer doesn’t need to see your home. That’s to say someone that hasn’t secured a loan or can’t afford your home. Your listing agent and the buyer’s agent should filter these people out.
Note:
Here’s the bottom line: At the end of day you should always factor three different plans. Your best case scenario, worst case scenario and your most probable case scenario. And have those conversations with your agent so that you understand how that’s going to affect you. Make a well informed decision about whether right now is the best time for you to sell your home. You want to make sure that you’ve done everything right to get your home sold. This will help you get the best price possible.
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