Listing your home for sale should be approached with a serious business mindset. Every aspect of your home should be accentuated and promoted to as many potential buyers as possible. Employing the services of experienced professionals will maximize the offers you will receive for numerous reasons. Homeowners that attempt to list homes on their own are overlooking and are unaware of the pitfalls that lay ahead of them which are certain to arise during the home-selling process.
Consulting with a number of experienced real estate agents that are reputable and experience should be any homeowners’ first step if they are considering selling their home. Having the opinion of these professionals cannot hurt; furthermore, having them compete for your business will enable you to choose the one you feel most comfortable with at a commission rate that is most affordable. Many realtors will negotiate their commission to secure the listing. Explain to the realtors that you are interviewing and will select a realtor based upon certain, specific criteria. Do not take this process lightly and do not rush it. Take your time to evaluate each realtor and make your selection only once you have conducted a thorough evaluation of their good and bad points.
Knowledge of market prices
Have your real estate agent provide a comparative market analysis of the value of your home based upon the actual sales of homes within a one mile radius in the last 90 days. Do not go by listing prices; be guided only by actual sales transactions that have closed. Do not allow realtors to romance you into current listing prices of other homes. You only want to rely upon transactions that actually closed. This is very important to keep in mind.
List your home reasonably but do not give it away; you want to be competitive in pricing your home and always remember you can lower the price if need be.
Beyond the initial selection of your realtor, the following are certain pointers to take it to consideration and placed into practice when listing and selling your home:
List the home on your state MLS
Listing your home on your state multiple-listing service is essential. This is the headquarters where all potential buyers navigate when seeking a home to purchase. The only way to maximize the exposure of your home is to be listed on the multiple listing service. Provide as much detail as you can when listing your home-the year it was built, if it is brick or frame, how many bedrooms it has, how many bathrooms it has, if there is a finished basement, the size of the lot, if it has a one or two car garage, it’s proximity to schools, shopping and major local thoroughfares.
The more detail you provide, the more likely it is you will attract buyers for showings. Always remember that more showings means more offers and more offers ultimately will lead to a contract and a successful transaction.
Social Media and Digital Marketing
Placing your home within eyeshot of social and digital media is a must in the modern era. This type of advertising is typically free and can and will be shared by members of your followers to their own networks. Do not discount the value of social media and digital marketing. These resources and platforms are designed for rapid exposure and simply taking your listing and posting it on your various social and digital media sites will provide you with the maximum level of exposure you require to sell your home for the price you are seeking.
Networking & Preparing the home for sale
A few tips to consider would be to have some of your own due diligence performed and “at the ready“ when meeting potential buyers. Although this is not commonly done, some homeowners elect to have their own home inspection performed so they may provide a report to potential buyers. The homeowners also should consider having a home stager arrange the furniture to clear out clutter and accentuate “curb appeal”. Stagers make the home more visually appealing to prospective buyers, according to Scottsdale realtors the Kay-Grant Group staging a home can move it off of the market by as much as 75% faster. Homeowners may also have their home appraised by a licensed appraiser so that buyers are aware of the value of the home at the time they view it. Homeowners sometimes elect to also run a title report so that they may provide the buyers with a full complement of diligence at the time of a showing.
Sellers should get ahead of any potential repairs that are required. Having the home inspected and making certain repairs that are “quick fixes“ will eliminate initial hurdles the buyers may pose. Make sure that the home is ready for viewings before allowing buyers to enter. The home should be clean and clear of clutter and you should allow the real estate agent to interact with the buyers directly. Of course, the homeowner should be present at the time of the viewing, but limit your interactions with the buyers to friendly discussions. The real estate agent is working on your behalf and will negotiate with the buyers and their agent directly. Remember, this is a business transaction and sometimes the more you say the worse it gets; less is more in these situations. Let the realtor do their job.
Time on market
Buyers will often look for homes that have been on the market the longest because they feel the sellers are most motivated under those circumstances. While this is true, keep in mind that sometimes your best offer is your first offer. This is not always the case but if you price the whole properly and are aligned with an experienced stager and realtor, you should expect competitive offers right away. If your home is listed for a long time, do not get antsy; consider adjusting your price but do not get desperate and give the home away. If you do receive a solid offer at the outset, do not fall into the thinking that “maybe I priced the home too low”. Remember, the home is priced after thorough analysis of comparative sales and you took a number of good faith and diligent steps to ensure you would receive that offer. Just because the home has been listed for a few days or a week and you receive a full price offer does not mean you should not take that offer. These are common mental gymnastics that sellers go through-try to avoid falling into these traps. If you get the offer you were looking for, accept it. Keep it simple and be happy your realtor did their job.
Price negotiation
As stated above, discuss negotiations and price with your realtor but allow your realtor to work with the buyers and their agent directly. Negotiating the sale price of your home is emotional and it is hard to do so with a cool, detached head. To the realtor, this is a business transaction only and they will fight for your rights to get the most for the home as possible. Homeowners sometimes get insulted when negotiating directly with buyers and that can cause negotiations to unravel and fall apart. The reason you have hired a real estate agent is for their professional expertise in the art of negotiation so leave that aspect of the transaction to them.
Whether you have owned your home for 20 years or two years, your approach should be the same when it comes time to sell your home. Surround yourself with the most experienced and best professionals possible and allow them to take the lead. You will see that this strategy will result in maximum profits and a significantly reduced amount of stress. Although it is ultimately your decision, relying upon the experience of people who handle these types of transactions on a daily basis is always the best course of action. Many homeowners feel that their home is worth more than market value because they have made upgrades within the structure. While this is sometimes the truth it is not always the case. The modern real estate market is very competitive and there are many homes out there going for market and below market prices. It is wise to consider all reasonable offers and to accept the one that is closest to your target price. Interviewing a wide range of industry professionals will only benefit you in the end and when you have made a decision move forward with the confidence that you have taken every possible step and precaution toward realizing maximum profitability at a time of closing.
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