WHEN SELLING YOUR HOME…
-DON’T NEGLECT CURB APPEAL
Don’t underestimate the impact that first impressions have on a potential buyer’s likelihood of making an offer on your home. A well-maintained exterior signals to buyers that the interior has probably been similarly well maintained. When selling your home, trim trees, lay fresh mulch, hose down the walkways, and pressure-wash dirty surfaces if necessary. Little improvements, such as upgrading an old light fixture, replacing a rusty mailbox, or painting the front door, can go a long way.
-DON’T OVERPRICE YOUR HOME
It’s normal to want top dollar for your house—after all, you know better than anyone what a wonderful home it can be! But pricing your home too high can cause the listing to languish. And once a house has been on the market for several months, buyers will think there’s something wrong with it, forcing you to drop the asking price to spark interest. If you list it to high, you will not get an offer. Buyers often choose to just wait and see if you will eventually lower your price or if something of better value comes on the market (often its the latter and you miss that potential buyer). Also its always better to reject 3 lowball offers versus never get an offer in the first place.
-DON’T IGNORE THE COMPETITION
Knowing who you are up against is crucial when listing your home for sale. Your agent should have a good handle on this. Take some time to objectively look at the competition. You want your home to look like it is the best value for the money and creates the best impression to your buyers. The home that presents the most value typically sells first, so if you aren’t positioned right, you won’t sell till that other house sells first.
-DON’T NEGLECT REPAIRS
A fresh set of eyes will notice things around your home that you may have stopped noticing years ago. Before the buyers start filing in, it’s time to finally get around to fixing that rotted exterior siding or the water damage in the bathroom. If potential buyers see these types of flaws during a showing, they may expect the house to be a renovation nightmare. Fixing obvious problems will increase the chances of getting an offer—or multiple offers—on the home. Even small repairs start to add up in buyers minds as they walk through your home, they aren’t typically looking for projects they will have to repair themselves and the more they see, the more they are going to want a discount.
-DON’T OVER-PERSONALIZE THE SPACE
Set the stage in your home to allow potential buyers to imagine themselves in your space. Even if you’re not hiring stagers, there’s plenty you can do yourself—such as hiding family photos, knickknacks, and personal memorabilia. Tone down distracting decor, bright colors, and anything else that would divert attention from the most important thing a buyer should be focusing on—the space itself.
-DON’T SHOW UP OR HANG OUT AT SHOWINGS
This is one thing you should let the real estate agents handle on their own. Buyers will benefit from a little freedom to imagine themselves in the space. Buyers may feel pressure of not being able to speak frankly to their agent and may feel they need to leave the home sooner than they would have liked to.
-DON’T FORGET TO DECLUTTER
If potential buyers view your house when the closets are packed to the brim and countertops are covered with spices, appliances, and dishes, they may not be able to visualize the property’s full potential. Similarly, excess furniture and busy decor will make rooms seem much smaller than they are. Remove as much of your home’s contents as possible to woo storage-conscious prospective buyers.
-DON’T UNDERESTIMATE THE COSTS OF SELLING
The cost of selling your home includes more than just marketing costs. There maybe repairs, past taxes, closing costs, attorney fees, moving expenses etc. A qualified agent can give you a good estimate of various costs including a Net Sheet -which encompasses all the closing costs associated with selling.
-DON’T LIMIT SHOWINGS
Don’t make it difficult for agents to get in to show your home, this can extend the time that your homes sits on the market and you could literally miss a good potential buyer. Its OK to block off a certain day or time, but the more difficult you make it for agents to show, the more likely you may miss that one buyer who really falls in love with your home. Agents maybe showing several homes in one appointment and/or their buyers maybe from out of town. A buyer may select a different home on the day they are out looking at homes, not ever realizing they would have liked yours better.
-DON’T IGNORE AN OFFER
I have seen sellers get offended by an initial offer that a buyer has brought to the table and want to just reject the offer outright with no counter offer. You don’t want to reject a buyer’s low offer, -you want to find out what the most is that they are willing to pay and then if still not satisfied you can reject it. The only way to do that is by negotiating. I can tell you its not uncommon for buyers to make an initial low offer but then come up considerably on their second or third counter offer -in some cases even coming up to list price. All offers are good, its better to dismiss 3 low offer then never to have had any when selling your home.
-DON’T ALIENATE YOUR BUYER
Some buyers won’t like animals or may even be allergic to pets, and as such if you have your cat/dog around during viewings you may alienate you buyer as soon as they walk through the door. Watch out for smells as well, whether its your pet or its cooking a smelly dinner right before a showing is supposed to occur. Ensure that your pets are out of the house if at all possible during viewings and that the carpets are cleaned to eliminate any potential smells during your showing.