5 Tips to Sell Your Home
04/29/13
1) Price It Right. Sounds easy enough. Listen to your local Realtor - A common issue listing agents run into with our sellers is pricing. Sometimes a seller will believe their home will sell for more than what it will actually obtain on the open market. It becomes a tug-of-war of sorts between agent and seller trying to agree on a list price. The initial thought most sellers may have is, well let's price it high and let people come in lower or "well start high list price for now then lower later if it doesn't sell." This strategy sounds logical and I can see why a lot of sellers try and do that strategy, they don't want to feel like they left money on the table. Some sellers may even believe "well this agent wants us to list lower just to sell it faster and get commission..." Hopefully you don't have an agent who's that shady but here's where that strategy backfires, by pricing to high (even though you're happy with less) when buyers and their agents are searching for homes your property will not populate on potential buyers search results. Even though these buyers are qualified and may be willing to pay what you really want for the home they are not seeing your property because its "listed" above what they want to pay. Their agents are not sending them your listing because it shows out of their price range. This means potentially less people seeing your home both online and in actual foot traffic to view the home, which results in less competition ie less offers on your home. Best bet is to have a good realtor or real estate agent who can guide you through it. Yes of course the type of market/demand all play a role but pricing correctly, will maximize what you sell your home for.
2) Paint Neutral Colors. Some people may pay extra for a purple kitchen.... but ideally you want your home to appeal to the highest number of buyers in order for them compete and in the end obtain more money for your home. Have your home painted in neutral colors both inside and out. This will appeal to more buyers and ideally produce more offers.
3) Eliminate Clutter. - When buyers go view your home they dont want to feel like they are moving into your house. They want to imagine themselves living there now as their own home. Pictures throughout our home are great when we are living there. I have pictures of family all over the house myself but when we are trying to sell we want the home to be as neutral and inviting as possible. The less items are spread throughout the home the better it shows, this applies to all rooms throughout the home, kitchen bath etc. Ideally a vacant or staged home shows best but if you are still in the home store as many items out of view as possible to free up the home for buyers to imagine making it their own. Here is a good link to home staging tips- http://www.hgtv.com/decorating-basics/15-secrets-to-selling-your-home/pictures/index.html
4) Have a Lender screen buyers/offers. This works best in hot sellers markets such as the one we are in now, were you are receiving multiple offers. Screening offers from buyers. Have them prequalify through a lender who your Realtor trusts will minimize taking an offer from a buyer that ties up the property only to fall out. Which usually costs you money and lost time off the market. I may not recommend it in a slower market because buyers may be put off by having to qualify through a separate lender but in a market (sellers market) such as the one we are in now in particularly in San Diego and Chula Vista, CA. I recommend it as you don't want to waste your time with offers that don't end up closing.
5) Ask For Feedback. For agents and buyers that view your home ask them for feedback. Any items that come up that may be causing buyers to hesitate on submitting offers address them or at least minimize the issue as best possible. You may have a buyer/s who comes back after an issue they felt was a deal killer is addressed.
We hope the info provided helps you in your home sale. If you would like to know what your home would likely sell for in today's market or have real estate related questions feel free to contact me Adrian at Costa San Diego Real Estate (619) 565-3420 or info@costasd.com .
You may also visit our site at
If your looking to sell, heres our sales pitch ;-) site for sellers.
http://www.costasd.com/selling/
For buyers feel free to visit our buyers page or search for homes for sale in San Diego & Chula Vista:
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