Seller's Tips

THINKING OF SELLING YOUR HOME

When you are considering selling your home, keep these things in mind for the most successful selling results:

1. Call me early.  When you are considering your options, let me come to give you a feel for the market pricing.  Don’t rely on some computer to tell you what your home is worth!  I will evaluate upgrades and repairs that it makes sense to Do and Not to Do.  I can weigh whether the items you are considering will pay.  Will you get your money back if you do the repairs?  Will you make a profit by doing some and might others be a waste of time and money?  A lot of the people spend money they don’t need to spend.   Let me help you evaluate.

2. Most homeowners about to put their place on the market are most concerned with two things: getting a good price and unloading their property as quickly as possible. After all, time is money, right? The last thing you want is for your home to sit on the market for months without any viable offers.  Let me help you price your home correctly.

3. Make your home look as beautiful and showy as possible.  This means: declutter, clean like crazy, paint if needed, spruce up yards.  Buyers usually tell me they don’t mind a home that’s a little of a fixer.  If it just needs paint and carpet, they say they can see beyond that.  Then, they walk into that home and it turns them off.  Buying a home to live in is largely an emotional purchase.  Buyers want to feel good in the home.  I will help direct in in preparing the home.

4. Help me do my job of presenting your home to show its best on the internet. Since buyers are shopping first on the internet, good photographs are crucial.  I will advise you how to do this.  I know what buyers want to see.  We will accentuate the home’s best features and downplay the less desirable features.

5. We will make your home easy to show by having a Realtor lockbox on the property.  Of course we will have the buyer’s agent call or text you first so you know who will be coming through your home.  Our Realtor lockboxes are great.  They email me immediately when an agent is showing your home.  That way I have their name and contact information.  I want to be able to follow up with them to try to bring you an offer.  The lockbox also shuts down at night.  No one can access the lockbox between 8pm and 8am.  Some sellers insist they are anxious to sell their home but make is almost impossible to show.

6. Turn on lights and open blinds when buyers are looking at your home.  Everyone love a bright and cheery home.  Also, be sure the temperature is comfortable in the home.  First impressions are most important.

7. Be sure your home not only looks good but also smells good.  We don’t want a buyer turned off by food or pet odor.

8. We will encourage all types of buyers to look at and make offers to purchase your home.  Some sellers believe a VA or an FHA buyer is not a good buyer.  All Buyers are good Buyers!  Especially in a tough Real Estate Market.   If we get a contingent offer, we will structure the contract so that you get the best of both worlds.  You will tie a buyer in purchasing your home once their home sells.  And, you will continue offering your home for sale until their property is sold.  

9. I will explain to you the offer process so that you are prepared when the offer comes in.  Unless we are in a crazy market, all buyers expect to negotiate at least a little when making an offer.  If the buyer offers full price, he generally will ask the seller to pay some or all of his buyer closing costs.  

10. The first offer is usually the best offer!  When a home sells fast, people have the tendency to wonder if they priced the home too low.  We always get the strongest offers in the beginning.  When a home is newly on the market, buyers are still afraid of missing the chance of buying this home.  As the home sits longer, this fear diminishes and so buyers will make lower offers.  If you get a good offer quickly, take it and run!  I can tell you horror stories about sellers who blew off a good first offer and then wound up taking a much lower offer later.

Call me and I will walk you through every step of the process.  Selling your homes gets complicated, but that’s why I am here for you.