OH NO! My Neighbor Just Listed His House TOO! Is this a good thing or a bad thing?
Most sellers will agree that it can be tough enough selling one home or even two in a neighborhood or a condo complex but, what if you, as a seller, are faced with multiple homes for sale in the same neighborhood, complex or even on the same street?
My advice to sellers is to look at this as a positive thing. Yes, I know, I typically maintain a positive outlook but, there really is a silver lining in this cloud. With multiple homes on the market in your community, this means that your neighborhood or condo complex is getting MAXIMUM marketing exposure.
Approach this in a more positive and effective manner:
- If nothing else, this is a great opportunity to check out your competition--you will have a better idea of how your home ranks with buyers as far as condition and pricing. If buyers are in your community looking at homes, they obviously are agreeable to living in your neighborhood. So, condition and price are the two main points that remain in which you will need to ‘excel’ against your competition.
- No matter the results of individual open houses in your area, hold a 'neighborhood' open. Buyers are searching more 'hyper-locally' (basically, they've narrowed their search down to a neighborhood or two), so holding a neighborhood open is like going to the candy store for those buyers! Buyers LOVE neighborhood open houses and being able to see the variety, quality and even perhaps, meet some of the neighbors to see that, indeed, this IS the neighborhood or complex for them.
- Your neighbors now have a vested interest in getting their home sold too so, your street has probably never looked so well manicured! This beats having to ask the neighbor to mow his lawn or clean up the toys in the backyard!
- Write a letter to the buyer--include in it what you love about your home, the school assignment and the neighborhood--you can even be specific and mention that your next door neighbors are the best you've ever had; explain your reason for moving unless, of course, it is a negative personal reason. Make this about lifestyle too--buyers are interested in lifestyle; perhaps that's why they selected YOUR neighborhood!
- Save neighborhood newsletters and directories to share with your potential buyer. In your directory, highlight the neighbors that are near and dear to you and leave it on the counter for potential buyers to see. Most of my buyers want to be in friendly neighborhoods and for many, this is top priority for them!
- Encourage those coming through you home to take a look at the other homes--if the neighbor's home sells, it is a POSITIVE for the neighborhood! Remember, if yours is in the best condition and priced well, they'll quickly see that too.
Don't look at this as a competition, look at it as support in getting your home sold!
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