When you are thinking of selling your home in Coweta County there are a few things to think about besides the commission you might pay to an agent.
Before you start making those plans, marking the calendar for open houses, figuring out what needs to be repaired, you need a plan.
A plan you say. Well, yes! A plan for marketing your home, a plan for how much you can get for your home, whether you will be involving agents in the selling and buying process, what you are willing to pay in closing costs, repairs, etc. and who will you get to prepare the paperwork. If you don't have a plan in place it can cost you in the long run.
The first thing you really need to think about is why are you selling. Has the house become too small for your growing family? Do you need to downsize? Do you need an in-law suite to accomodate an aging parent? These are all motivators that can answer why you are selling in the first place. Knowing what your motivator is will help you determine how quickly and seriously you need to work on selling your home.
If you plan on buying a new home put together a list of neighborhoods where you think you may want to live. Visit open houses, check the pricing between newer homes verses older homes, weigh your options and use this to help determine your motivations.
If you are planning on marketing your home on your own there are several things that you need to be aware of in the costliness of home sales. How much are the comparables going for in your neighborhood? Are you willing to compensate a buyer's agent? Things like this. Also, the time factor can be very costly here. You have to be available to show the home. This in itself can be a huge deciding factor if you are going to have to bebop from work to home at the drop of a hat.
Consider these things and interview several agents. See what their game plan for marketing your home may be. What suggestions do they offer you as they walk through your home for improvements or staging to sell? Are they using all the marketing that they can? It has been said that 80% of buyers are now starting their home search via the internet. Does the agent advertise on the net? Do they have a website? Are listings posted there? These are some of the questions you will want to find out as well as how much commission they are expecting from the sale of your home.
There are other things to take into consideration that will cost you money upfront but might make your home more appealing than that of your neighbors. Could you pay for and include a home inspection prior to putting the house on the market? Could you include a home warranty with the sale of the house? Will you pay for the termite inspection and letter? Do you want to have the home professionally staged? As with any industry there are a multitude of people that perform these services; shop around and get quotes on what it is going to cost you and then decide which you will include.
Two other things that are important here>>one you need to find out what your payoff amount is on the existing home and two you need to sell before you buy. In today's market contigencies are often frowned upon. There is just too much inventory sitting on the ground for a seller to be held up by you waiting on your home to sell.
If you are looking to buy or sell a home in Coweta, Heard, Meriwether, or Troup, please give me a call at
678-633-0458 or visit my website for more information on either of these topics.
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Linda, these are all good points to consider when putting together a marketing plan to sell a home. The consumer must be educated in listing a home in today's market. Gone are the times when it would suffice to put a sign in the front yard, have a few open houses, and receive multiple offers (ha, ha). Another tool that I've found helpful, and is relatively easy to budget for in most cases is down payment assistance programs. FHA is the way to go these days, with credit guidelines being a little looser, interest rates being better for FHA, MI standards tightening up on conventional loans, and down payment guidelines tightening on conventional mortgages, FHA is a very viable option. Coupled with the fact that FHA raised the lending limits, and the courts ruled that down payment assistance options are to remain open, I feel that this is an important strategy when marketing a home today. I work with several listing agents in an effort to support them in their listings, and this is one of the more effective tools I've found in today's market. If handled properly, it is a win/win for both the seller and the buyer.