Selling Your Home? Make Sure You Don’t Make These Mistakes.
When you put your home up for sale, you want it sold as soon as possible, especially if you have seen another home to buy, and must sell your current one first. But there are mistakes that sellers make that could cost them a promising deal or even deny them an offer at all.
Below is a list of a few potential seller mistakes and how to avoid them:
Prepare the home for the sale. Buyers want to see a house as flawless and depersonalized as possible, so as a seller, you need to take care of every repair, declutter your home and add some curb appeal.
Remember it just takes 60 seconds for a buyer to form an opinion about your home, and everything else after that becomes a positive or negative reinforcement of that opinion.
Disclose any problems with the home upfront. If you know there is something wrong with the house, make the potential buyer aware of it. If the home inspector finds it, and he will, the buyers will start to wonder what else you are hiding ….
Keep your price as realistic as possible. Understand that the value of your home is based on the local market. If you have spent thousands of dollars in upgrades, the upgrades will not necessarily translate into a higher price.
Homebuyers do their homework especially when it comes to value and if your price is above the market price, you will certainly lose out.
Don’t limit your showings. As a seller, you must realize that even if it is sometimes inconvenient, buyers must be allowed to see the home on evenings or week-ends. Avoid turning a prospective buyer with an agent away or looking annoyed when they show up on your doorstep, as this may influence how the buyers think of your home.
Also make sure you are not on the property during the showing as the prospective buyers may be uncomfortable opening closets when the owners are around. They may also shorten their visit and miss out on viewing other parts of your home.
Don’t get emotional over the negotiations. Treat your sale as a business transaction. Treat every offer with respect – don’ t necessarily walk away from a low offer or accept the highest offer. Many times the buyer you deal with may not be able to finalize the deal.
Arguments over post-inspection requests. Once an inspection is made, a buyer sometimes makes requests for repairs to faults outlined in the report. It is quite natural for the seller to get emotional about some of the requests. As a seller, you have to be willing to concede that your home isn’t perfect.
Always negotiate objectively because it could be more expedient to make a few repairs than to re-list your home and go through the whole cycle again.
Selling a home is not easy. There is a lot of work and emotion involved – after all the transaction is a very significant one. Always use an experienced professional realtor who will ensure that your interest and affairs are taken care of properly.