Sellers-What you need to know before listing your house on the market
No matter what is your reason of selling your house, there are a few things you need to know before putting your house on the market for sale.
- How many competitors in your area- if you want to "win" this game, you need to do your homework. You need to know about the competition you are up against, know how to compete.
- Be realistic of pricing-why do you think everybody keeps saying it is a buyer's market? Because there are plenty of inventories out there, when it is overstocked, price will come down, interest rate is low, there are buyer tax credits to claim if they buy before 4/30/10. All these favor a buyer. If you don't want your house gets stale, don't over priced it, and think it can always come down later. Unless you just want to list your house instead of selling your house.
- What you want to net from the sales-you may have a certain number in your mind, so you are going to mark your house up in order to get that "net amount". This goes back to price your house correctly, if you price your house at or lower than market price, the chance of getting your house sold is higher and quicker, that means you don't need to pay those house notes, light bills, home insurance for a while to keep the house on the market, isn't that money in your pocket?
- Condition of your home-make sure your house is in good condition, means everything is in working order, clean, no clutter, nothing is falling apart, no odor. If you have pet, please make sure to deodorize your home daily, change the litter often, shampoo the carpet if there is stain or smell. Nothing turns a buyer off faster than odor in a home, the buyer will not stay long at all.
- Color-you may be a colorful person, but not everyone else is. Keep the color throughout the house neutral, so when a buyer looks at your house, they know their furniture will match the paint color, they may paint the wall over after they move in, but you don't need to worry about it anymore after it is sold. You are trying to make your house appeals to majority of buyers, not just a tiny percentage of them. Don't you want to go fishing where more fish bite then not?
- Don't get attached to your house anymore-I know you love your home, you created it and called it home, but you are selling it now, it is open for public to look, it is a product now, treat it like one. You want buyers, don't you? Other than marketing, products sell themselves. If the product is good, it will sell.
- Find a good agent-if you already have one and you still like working with him/her, call him/her back. If not, you will need to find a good agent to help selling your house. How good is good, you may ask. Are they easy to locate, do they answer your question, are they helpful, are they honest with you about the market, do they give you any suggestion or just an order taker. If numbers of sales is important to you, you can ask the agent about their sales history. Do they have enough Internet presence, as most buyers start looking for a house on Internet before they contact any agent, if your real estate agent has more Internet presence, so will your house. You can visit open house and talk to different agent and see how you think of them, any referral from your friends and family? The main thing is you will need to work with this agent, you have to like this person enough to work with him/her.
Selling a home is a team job of the home owner and their real estate agent, we can only suggest, and it is up to you to take our advice or not.
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