Competition Is Tough Prepare in Advance to Sell

With the passing of the stimulus bill now behind us, in a few short weeks Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and FHA will release their new guidelines on loans above the conforming loan limit of $417,000. Although this will help to stimulate refinances and home sales, there are two things that homeowners looking to sell during this time must remember. The first is the bill is only effective until the end of the year, and second you will be competing with 1000's of other homes on the market. 

Now is the time you must sit down and create a plan of action on how you are going to differentiate your home from all the others. What is going to make a seller choose your home over all the others. There are several ways of accomplishing this. The first and most important is renovating. The degree of renovation you choose can end up costing you a few hundred dollars, to the extreme with an entire home makeover. But before you go and start pulling out the sledge hammer and start tearing down walls, you must create a plan, because not all renovations will give you a higher return when you go to sell your home. For a better idea of what return you may expect on your renovation project click on Renovation Calculator to get an idea of what your return should be when you sell your home. Remember, when you decide to renovate, it doesn't always mean 1000's of dollars. Just simply re-painting the interior of the home is enough. Paint that blue and red living room a more neutral color. That bright purple bedroom a neutral color. Although those who are into bright colors might find neutral boring, it will open up a multitude of selling opportunities that would not have been there had you left the bright colors.

Another way to entice buyers is by incentives. What do I mean by that? Offer to pay the closing costs for the buyer, or offer to lower their interest rate by buying down a point on their mortgage. Make sure you have a Home Warranty that covers any repairs that might need to be made once the house has been sold. These few ideas may sound simple, and I am sure other sellers will try offering cars and vacations to sell their homes. But on average people who are looking to buy a home are not looking for a new car or vacation. They are looking for a home that has the least amount of renovating they must do once they occupy the home, and they are also searching for a home that their family will be happy and feel safe in.