Before Your Home Hits The Market Plenty Of Decisions
Long before the open house or first showing, you’ll want to make some critically important decisions on the sale of your house. There is nothing worse than hitting the market with high hopes and months later realizing you made one, two or even of the worst home selling mistakes out there.
And it happens. I see homes come to market and stall. Don’t be that home seller!
Neglecting Repairs
In my own home, I can think of several little things that need attention today. The cabinet under the sink doesn’t close like it used to. Some of the lights in the refrigerator have never really worked well. There are burnt out bulbs and more pressing, squeaky doors.
One of the easiest to avoid home selling mistakes is failing to address repairs and replacements before your house goes active on the internet. I’ll bet you too have lived with small idiosyncrasies. But now you are selling. And buyers don’t want to worry or fret or have misgivings when viewing your house.
So take the time to touch up paint, repair leaking plumbing, and address whatever minor issues you have been living with all this time. Let your home be perfect for home buyers!
Pet Peeve of Home Selling Mistakes: owners with difficult to operate locks and front doors. Nothing worse than a difficult door to open or lock. Talk about a lousy first impression!
Overpricing Your Home To Start
I know, its a sellers market, so how can this be a concern. I’ll bet you have heard stories from family & friends, even the dentist has a tale or two about this fabulous time to sell.
But don’t fall prey to one of the worst home selling mistake out there: overpricing. Having to make a series of price reductions, over time, is going to have a negative impact on your best possible offer.
New buyers will ask, “what’s wrong with that house?” And National Association of Realtors statistics show over priced homes tend to sell for less than properly priced properties.
Overpricing is one of those rookie home selling mistakes. Don’t be a victim of endless price reductions and extra time on the market. And while not the end of the world, it gets old having to constantly clean and the leave for showings.
Spend Money To Make Money
Staging and some cleaning come to mind. The cleaning might even include landscaping or house painting (something I blogged about here on getting your house ready to market).
Having a professional stage your house can make a big difference. Don’t look at the cost as the deciding factor, consider the return. The National Association of Realtors has shown that nicely staged homes outsell vacant properties.
Restricting Home Showing Times
OMG – I hate this one. It seems to be worse with the more expensive houses too. Just the opposite of what should be occurring. Home buyers are busy, just like home sellers. They want to quickly view homes for sale. Inconveniencing home buyers will reduce the number of people seeing your place.
Fewer buyers means fewer offers and that can mean selling for less than you deserve. Make your house available to show!
Full Market Exposure
Boulder Colorado is living the sellers market dream. Especially under the million dollar mark. You might think the first offer is great or have a friend that wants to buy it before it ever hits the MLS. But don’t get lulled into this home selling mistake.
The best way to guarantee getting top dollar is to enter the market fully and completely. Allow your real estate agent to fully market and advertise your home. Perhaps you’ll get multiple offers. Or better than full price or some of the inspections waived.
Handling Multiple Offers
Another mistake can occur during multiple offers. Sounds like the perfect situation, right? But how do you handle more than one offer. The first offer isn’t always the best.
Your Realtor can help parse the terms, liabilities, dates and deadline issues to ensure you take the best offer and avoid a home selling mistake of taking the less desirable offer because it is from a friend or has a letter that played to your emotions.
Mr Spock Has No Emotion
And when it comes to the sale of your house, you need to keep your emotions in check. Yes, our homes are filled with memories and moments. And its easy to become emotional. Overcoming this challenge will create an environment to make the best financial decisions. Period.
# 1 Recommendation To Avoid Costly Home Selling Mistakes
Don’t make the unforced error of not having a Realtor professionally represent you. You’re reading my blog, so I doubt you will make this error. A good Realtor is going to protect your best interests, seek your price and terms and help you avoid preventable mistakes when it comes to selling your house.
Have questions about selling your home? Give me a shout now.