4 Tips To Improve Your Home Selling Experience
By Paul Esajian on August 22, 2016
Selling a home is a popular cause of stress in the real estate world. This is the case whether regardless of what type of property you are selling. With your primary residence you have to prepare your home for every showing. With a rehab time is of the essence. Under both scenarios you are at the mercy of the market. Instead of dreading the selling process you should find ways to make the experience a little better. Nobody will every mistake selling a home with throwing a party but with a few minor decisions you can make the process a little easier to take. Selling a property is the payoff for months of hard work. Instead of stressing out every day you should be able to enjoy it. Here are four tips to help improve your home selling experience.
- Hire A Professional. There are a couple of ways to go when selling your home. The first is to try to sell the property on your own. With the increase in technology it may seem like a good property will almost sell itself. What you save on commission can be put back into your business. While this is good in theory anyone who has tried this knows it is much more difficult than it may appear. Between scheduling showings, working with buyers and negotiating with attorneys selling your own home is a lot to handle. The alternative is hiring a local real estate professional. Most people know a friend, family member or co-worker who is in the business. The problem is they only practice real estate part time and may not be able to meet all the demands of selling a home. The first step to make the transaction a smooth one is to work with a real estate agent that knows what they are doing. A professional realtor that knows the market will make your life as easy as possible. They will coordinate all of the little things that are time consuming and frustrating. There are plenty of ways to cut corners when selling your home working with a professional real estate agent shouldn’t be one of them.
- Review Every Offer. As a seller you should never dismiss an offer than comes your way. If someone makes an offer they have at least some level of interest in the property. There are many sellers who do not fully understand the negotiating process. They take the process way too personally. When an offer comes in it should be viewed as a starting point and not a final price. Your real estate agent will usually do a good job sifting through the offers but it is up to you to make the final decision. There are times when price is not the most important factor. As much as you want to squeeze every dime from the property you also want to close. You need to listen to your real estate agents advice as to the strength of the borrower. If there are holes in the pre-qualification letter or the contract is shaky the deal can fall apart anytime during the process. Instead of closing at your price you will be right back to square one. Every offer that comes in is a chance to find your buyer. Take the time to make sure you pick the best offer for you.
- List At The Right Price. Most sellers want to sell for the highest price but also want to close quickly. Finding the balance of both is not the easiest thing to do. The best way to make this happen is by listing at the right price from the start. It can be tempting to over-inflate your list price by 10-20% and hope that offers come your way. Instead of finding buyers this can have the complete opposite effect. Buyers will see that your listing is not in line with the market and will look elsewhere. There will be a reduced number of showings and eventually demand will slowly decline. When this happens you will be forced to make a price reduction. A price reduction is typically a sign of seller weakness. Buyers will make all kinds of lowball offers and the process will drag out for weeks. By listing at the right price from day one you generate instant demand. With increased demand there may turn out to be a bidding war that not only pushes the price up but can help close quickly.
- Alternatives. Before you list your property you should be prepared for the worst case scenario. Most sellers expect everything to go smoothly and be in and out of the property in weeks. When it doesn’t they are in for quite a shock. They are forced to scramble around and usually end up making a poor decision. Before you list you should have multiple scenarios played out in your mind. Knowing the minimum number you will accept and what date to take action is an important first step. You should also know what options you have as far as renting for the short term. After a property is on the market for a few weeks there is a sense of fear and trepidation. Before getting to that point you should have a few different options and scenarios mapped out. The more you know before you start the easier the process will be.
Selling your home doesn’t have to be filled with stress and aggravation. By following these four tips you can greatly improve your home selling experience.