Avoid These Mistakes When Selling Your Home

Not preparing for the sale

Sellers who do not properly stage and clean their homes throw money down the drain. You do not have to hire a professional stager but making sure your house looks put together is important. Have your agent or a friend walk through your house and point out the areas of your home that need work because they can work as a fresh pair of eyes. You might have trouble pointing out problem areas because of the familiarity you have with your home. The main thing that you need to do to get your home ready to sell are decluttering, cleaning thoroughly, and getting rid of any odors this will help make a good impression on buyers.

Setting an unrealistic price

Setting the right asking price is the key to selling your house. The buyer’s agent usually does a comparative market analysis to determine a fair offering price, so it is advised that you as the seller do the same to determine a fair asking price. Overpriced homes generally do not sell. You should not worry about setting a price that is on the low side because usually, it generates multiple offers, which bids the price up to the home’s actual market value. This can be a good strategy to generate extra interest in your listing, and if an offer is way too low you can always refuse it.

Expecting the asking price

If you expect exactly the asking price you may end up being disappointed, you should be willing to negotiate. Whether or not you get the asking price will have more to do with your pricing strategy and whether you’re in a buyer’s market or a seller’s market. A buyer’s market refers to a situation in which economic changes and conditions shape supply and demand so that the buyers have an advantage over the sellers in price negotiations. A seller’s market is when there is a shortage of goods available for sale, which results in the seller having way more wiggle room with pricing the house, in this case, an overpriced home can be sold.

Skimping on the listing photos

Many buyers look for homes online nowadays so having photos of your home is important. If you hire a real estate agent, they do this for you. Making sure that you have photos of your home is important but making sure that they are quality photos is important as well because if they are quality photos it will set your listing apart from the others. Good photos should be crisp and clear and taken during the day so that there is plenty of natural light, these photos should showcase your home’s best assets. Adding things like video tours or 360-degree views can also enhance the listing.

Not accommodating buyers

If a potential buyer wants to view your house then you need to be willing to accommodate them, even if it might inconvenience you. You also do need to tidy up before every single viewing, which might seem like a lot of work, but it will all be worth it in the end.

Selling to unqualified buyers

Selling to an unqualified buyer might lead to the buyer falling out of the deal last minute or right before closing. You should get the buyer to bring a pre-approval letter from a mortgage lender or proof of funds to show that they have funding for the home.

Hiding major problems

Hiding a major problem with your property is never a good idea because it can all be uncovered with a property inspection. It is always best to disclose any issues that your property has. To deal with any issues you can do one of three things, fix the issue, price the property below market value to account for the issue, or you could list the property at the normal price and give the buyer a credit to get the problem fixed. There are also might be problems with your home that you don’t even know about, so getting your home inspected before you list is a good idea that should help avoid any costly surprises.