Don’t expect those pillows and drapes to put themselves in order when your house buyers struts in. Certainly, home-selling can be a lucrative venture; properties sold can give you a substantial financial bump to set you in whatever direction you’re taking your family. But the truth of the matter is you’d have to make things work to consummate the sale. Any real estate broker will tell you, nobody wants to part with hard-earned cash just because someone posted a catchy headline in the home-for-sale listing.
That’s why it’s essential you do your due diligence when you want your property sold in a jiffy. And making sure you steer clear of costly blunders is integral to that. Not doing so can mean the house you hold dear may take time to be sold and change ownership, if at all. Luckily, real estate experts who’ve made a career out of selling has chimed in. Below are 5 home selling practices experts warn you should avoid like the plague.
List Your Home at an Overprice
OK, we get it. This can be a marketing ploy on your part. By factoring in a higher price, you will have elbow room to maneuver once the haggling comes. It seems but logical, right?
Wrong. Studies show 51% of real estate agents cite pricing as the biggest pitfall any wanna-be home-seller can do. In this regard, you should proceed with caution when getting a number for your property.
Know that there are no hard-and-fast rules on how to price a home. Different appraisers may even arrive at a different number. But usually, their numbers aren’t as far apart as when real estate neophytes do it.
What could go wrong if you price your home too high? The short answer: everything. When the price is rather absurd, chances are you could be wasting precious time listing the property. Too high a price is a major turn-off. Once the listing expires and no one has even made a call about it then you know you’ve cast the wrong decision.
Pricing too low, however, can be a good call. Why? Because when prices are lower than expected, you’ll more likely to receive more offers than usual. When the demand is high, the market value of your property could be driven up.
As technical as all these can be, getting timely tips for your real estate sale is heaven-sent. That’s why consulting with a reliable real estate agent should bid you well. By listening to an experienced one, you’d be privy to information that’s privileged.
For Sale by Owner
Another unsavory mistake you can make as a home seller is putting up “for sale by owner” in the listing. At the onset, it may look rationalistic enough. Why rely on real estate agents when you can do the selling yourself? It sounds logical.
However, the results beg to differ. National Association of Realtors data shows the average home sold with a realtor taking the lead is $249,000. On the other hand, homes sold without the help of a real estate agent averaged at $ 210,000. Now if you take away the usual 6% of the commission for the real estate guy, you still have plenty of cash to spare.
When you want to navigate the waters all your own, you open up a Pandora’s box. Know that there are tons of paperwork and various pitfalls that await you sailing on your own. An experienced realtor, however, knows the inherent dangers of these waters. He would be in a better position to deliver the sale without a hitch. Most importantly, he does all the hard work freeing you of untimely stress.
Not Prepping the House for Sale
Again, you could be thinking that all you need is to have your property listed, and voila, buyers would come by the droves. Yet, you may need to do some adjustments.
Prepping your home means you put the property in the best of light. It’s like branding. And to do that, you need an honest audit of the house, which by the way can take time.
Nobody wants to part with precious dollars on a faulty property. Who would want to live in a house if the bathroom doesn’t function? How about the kitchen? Does the plumbing works?
You need to clean your property up, unclutter it, and make it shine in the best way possible. You’ll never know what your buyers want to see in a house. Be diligent. But we’re pretty sure a foul odor stemming from the kitchen is highly likely to turn them off. So do the audit well.
Of course, the key to all this is doing your due diligence. The more thorough you are, the faster you’re bound to sell the real estate. And in the process, get rewarded handsomely.
