7 Tips For Smoothly Selling Your Home
Selling your home can certainly be exciting, fun and the start of something new – a relief! But for many, it’s also often a difficult and emotional process. When deciding to put your home on the market, there is a greater chance of a smooth and successful sale if certain pitfalls are avoided. Here, Holly, Stephen and Stewart Gross list 7 Tips for Smoothly Selling Your Home:
Holly has approximately 40 years of experience in Real Estate and has encountered pretty much every possible real estate situation:
1. Looking Objectively at Your Home
“I honestly think that the hardest thing for people to do is to separate the house they are putting on the market from the home that has been the center stage in their life. Separating the personal significance of their home from the unemotional objectivity of the market is difficult. It is often hard for people to take a step back and discount the emotional value they attach to their home.”
2. Making It Marketable
“If you are selling your home, you have to present it in a way that is as appealing as possible, for as many people as possible. There is a reason staging has become such big business – it is simply about presenting the home in a manner that makes it possible for potential buyers to envision themselves living there. Often, this means presenting the home as a plain canvas on which the future memories of a potential buyer will come to life. We do not normally recommend hiring a stager to conduct a complete home makeover, but at the very least one should clean up inside and outside, remove the most personal items and artifacts and possibly repaint key rooms in neutral colors. And I can’t emphasize this enough: de-clutter, de-clutter, de-clutter!”
3. Choosing The Right Realtor
“Selling is a complicated process with plenty of pitfalls. A good realtor will negotiate not only the price, but many other terms of the deal; market your property well; put a team of outside experts together when necessary to keep the transaction running smoothly and help with issues beyond their expertise; and be your project manager and source of support throughout the whole process.”
Stewart, Holly and Stephen Gross
Stephen is an analytical number cruncher with sharp insight in Real Estate pricing and offers some insights from that perspective:
4. Asking Too Much
“Although it is generally true that the price should be set somewhat higher than your expected settlement price in order to leave room for negotiations, it is important to have realistic expectations. A price that is too high can actually scare off potential buyers and not net you more money while increasing your days on market. If you are priced too high, you may not even get buyers in the door. Whether we like it or not, it is the current market situation that decides what your home is worth and what a buyer is willing to pay. That said, for some higher end properties, it can sometimes be wise to anchor the buyer at a higher number and then be prepared to reduce, reduce again and negotiate.”
5. Do A Home Assessment
“Do a pre-listing assessment and address issues before they come up as a surprise in negotiations. Proactively addressing problems can save both time and money.”
Stewart worked in Real Estate in Boulder, CO, before joining the Holly Gross Group, and adds to further points to the list:
6. Welcome Interested Buyers Into Your Home
“A potential buyer who wants to view your house should be accommodated even if it means that it may be a bit inconvenient for you. I know it’s a lot of work, but it should be clean and shiny every time someone comes to see it, as that can mean the difference between getting an offer or not getting an offer.”
7. List The Home With Good Photos
“80% of buyers search for properties online, and they want to see pictures of the properties they are interested in. However, nobody wants to see photos of rooms with TV cords, laundry, piles of papers or a camera flash reflecting in a mirror. Make it look nice and ensure that your Realtor produces photos that bring out the best in your property. With so many people screening online, good photos make are a key component of good marketing.”
