Mistakes to Avoid When Selling Your Home

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Mistakes To Avoid When Selling Your Home

No matter where you’re at in the home selling process, educating yourself about one of the biggest transactions in your lifetime is important. Selling your home can be pretty stressful at times, so you want to do everything you can to prepare for a successful sale. Here are some tips to avoid.

Listing with a bad agent.

This is, by far, the biggest mistake you can make. A bad agent will kill your selling price, leaving less money in your pocket when it’s all said and done. It’s easy to just call up the agent that helped you buy your home years ago, but selling is way different than buying. They may be a great buying agent but have a poor selling record.

Hiring a Family Member or Personal Friend

You might think that working with an agent personally close to you will be fun, but it’s generally not a good idea. When an agent is working with a typical client, there’s more pressure to impress. If the agent doesn’t impress their client, there won’t be any personal referrals from that client.

Setting the Wrong Price for Your Home

You’re not in the wrong for wanting to make a lot of money off of your home, but you might be wrong about how much you think it should sell for. Setting the price too high can cause your home to sit on the market for a long time, making it unattractive to buyers.

Selling it On Your Own

There is an overwhelming amount of data that proves that hiring an agent is the best way to go.  If you’re an expert marketer, know how to set the price right, feel like swimming in paperwork, have a ton of free time to show your house and field calls, and are a great negotiator, then you might have a chance of successfully selling by yourself.

Remaining Emotionally Attached to Your Home

I’m a homeowner, so I understand how much a house can mean to a family. It’s time to let a new family take over your house when you’re selling. Do your best not to be offended by a hopeful buyer’s demands. Don’t ruin a selling opportunity because you refuse to leave a light fixture behind that the buyer really wants because you’re attached to it.

Ignoring Problem Areas in Your Home

When gearing up to sell, it’s time to start making repairs and quick fixes.This is a major transaction for the buyer, so even the smallest problems with your home can throw up red flags. Leaky faucet? Fix it. There are too many home improvement stores to not be doing this.

Not Advertising

Home buyers use the internet to help them in their search. When buyers are looking at hundreds of potential new homes on websites such as Zillow and Trulia, you want your home to stand out. People are attracted to high quality photos, and you should hire a photographer.

Ignoring Your Home’s Appearance

You don’t have to drop thousands on redoing your landscaping, but ignoring eye sores won’t help you at all. Edge your lawn by the sidewalks, touch up the paint, throw in some new mulch, and go the extra mile with some nice flowers. No home is perfect but if there are too many eye sores they will add up and turn off buyers. Bring a trusted friend by your home and ask them to be critical – like a potential buyer – to help you notice eye sores. It is worth bringing someone in to stage your home, or DIY.

Not Depersonalizing

Pack away the pictures of you and your spouse above the TV and the cute drawings from your kids on the fridge. You want potential buyers to visualize themselves in your space.

Ignoring Your Financial Situation

Set up a meeting with your mortgage lender to discuss selling your home. You want to be clear on your remaining loan payoff and any other issues with paying off your mortgage early. Make sure you’re qualified for a loan for your next home, too!

Here is a great video on the Biggest Mistakes to Avoid When Selling a Home and an article on Four Ways to Sell Your Home Faster.

 

One Comment on
  1. In today’s technology driven world, more and more buyers are turning to the internet to look for a home. In a 2006 survey, the National Association of Realtors found that over 75% of buyers start their search online. With so many homes on the market today, it is now essential that these buyers see your home first.

    And in the real estate market’s current state, it’s now more important than ever to have a solid internet marketing plan as part of your overall marketing plan. With so many homes for sale, buyers simply don’t have the time to see the hundreds of homes on the market.

    What are some ways your real estate agent can use to help market your home?

    1. Preparing the Home to be Showcased

    Even though this isn’t high-tech, preparing your home for showings and pictures is essential for producing showings and eventually offers for your home. In today’s market, buyers are pickier than ever and expecting homes in the like-new condition. So before you even take a picture, talk with your agent about cleaning, painting, and staging your home to sell.

    2. Photographs, Descriptions, and Virtual Tours

    After your home is properly staged or prepared for showing, photographs should be taken, either by a professional photographer or by a realtor with a good, panoramic camera. A panoramic camera will be able to showcase entire rooms and will make the house bigger. So many times, there are beautiful homes on the market with poor photos. And no matter how spectacular your home is, if you have poor quality pictures or a lackluster description, a buyer might eliminate your home without ever stepping onto your property. Also work with your agent to describe the features you love about your house into a description that makes your home stand out. Lastly, virtual tours may also be a good option for showcasing your home but in some instances not having a virtual tour encourages buyers to visit the property instead of just see the virtual tour.

    3. Maximizing Exposure for your Home

    Now that your home is featured in its absolute best light, it’s essential to get as many people to see it as possible. An agent up-to-date with technology should have a standard way of distributing information about your property online.

    Although the tools above will help you gain more exposure for your home, internet marketing is not a comprehensive solution but should be used as a part of an overall marketing plan that includes traditional marketing ideas as well. Open houses, broker caravans, signs, and the real estate brokerage network are still vital to selling a home for the most money in this market.

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