How to Sell My Home Fast in Murrieta in Winter 2013-2014
There are many reasons to sell a home fast in Murrieta in Winter 2013-2014: job transfers or PCS orders for military members, divorce, job loss, the list goes on and on. Whatever the reason, relax. Winter being after the summer move season, it may give you pause whether it is possible to sell a home, but it is. For the fastest sale of your home in Murrieta, a good local broker (like Frank Delzompo) knows investors ready to pay cash and close usually in a week or two, of course for a wholesale price rather than the highest price that would usually involve a buyer getting financed and take 30-plus days. For more of a “retail” price for your home, read on…
Buyers are looking now in most neighborhoods in Murrieta: the Ranchos, Copper Canyon, Greer Ranch, Countryside, Creekside, the Vineyard, Amberwalk, Olive Hill, Los Alamos, Golden Triangle, you name it.
First, let’s outline five mistakes made by home sellers and, second, we’ll list some foolproof home-selling strategies for the highest price for your home. Keep in mind, that is the highest price that gets you what you want: a home that is sold fast. Selling faster usually means taking less in price, but it doesn’t always have to. Read on:
FIVE MISTAKES LIST:
1. Multiple tiny price drops
Multiple small price drops keeping the home listed for sale over a long period of time take time. Buyers become jaded seeing that same tract home overpriced and lingering. If other buyers didn’t want the home, then why would a buyer coming along later? The exception to this rule is if the property is more unique than the typical tract home. Avocado grove? Mini-mansion surrounded by tract homes? If it’s going to require an atypical buyer, your broker and hopefully buyers’ brokers can explain its uniqueness causing the time on the market
Instead of tiny price drops, drastically reduce the price. Have your agent review with you the recently sold comparable homes nearby as well as the prices of homes that are actively on the market. A “drastic” and meaningful price reduction would typically be to 10% lower than those. In contrast to homes that linger on the market, homes that usually get multiple offers are the ones that are newer to the market AND lower priced.
2. Not hiring a broker who fits YOUR needs
Everyone has a relative, friend or co-worker who is a part-time real estate agent. Do you really want that person knowing your personal financial information? Are they full service brokers, well-trained and experienced at negotiating? Can they get your home the internet presence it needs to get seen by the most buyers in that local market? Find a broker who is local, well-trained and a top negotiator to help you use a strategy that fits your ethics and personality and needs.
3. Deciding to Wait
There are fewer homes on the market in winter usually, and the 2013-2014 market in Murrieta is similar. There are fewer buyers in the market, too, compared to summer, but those buyers are more motivated this winter than in past years because many of them probably missed out on buying a home this past summer in the many multiple-bid situations that the summer’s Seller’s market created. If you wait for spring, you join the crowd of other sellers who have also decided to wait. When a few decide it’s time to list a little early in 2014, it’s too late to snag one of these frustrated summer of 2013 buyers. If it could work for you to sell your home sooner, then do so. There will never be a better time than when current pricing meets your needs to “get out” of the home.
4. Letting your broker photograph the home, or a buyer see the home, before you de-clutter
Buyers can’t “mentally move” themselves into your home if it is full of your personal photos, knickknacks and, face it, junk. Buyers want to see their “new home.” Have a yard sale, store what you need, and trash or donate whatever isn’t essential so that Buyers really see the home’s potential.
Many home-sellers and investors also hire professional stager to either stage the items in the home, or even bring in staging items into a vacant space. This can increase the price you could expect for the sale, but it also costs money. A cost-benefit analysis by your broker can help you with this.
5. Rejecting a fast offer
Frequently an early offer makes a home seller feel like there must be more birds flocking. But it also can frequently be that the right buyer was there and then gone! In a way – if you reject an offer – you are saying that you are willing to buy (keep) your home and essentially pay more for it than that buyer who offered to buy it.
Getting multiple buyers making offers is going to net you the quickest and highest price. So let’s move on to a list of ways to bring more buyers to the table:
1. Use a broker who takes and includes in their listing lots of clear pictures, does a virtual tour, etc. 90% of buyers are on-line and skip listings without many good photos. Buyers can and do buy without physically seeing homes based on solid virtual tours.
2. Use a broker who will post a video tour on YouTube tour.
3. Go beyond traditional realtor networks. Make sure that your brokerage’s website sends its listings out to multiple other real estate websites. The top 5 (other than Realtor.com and the local MLS) that buyers tend to use are #1 yahoo.com; #2 craigslist.org; #3 zillow.com; #4 trulia.com; and #5 homes.com. Note, however, that in our personal experience, craigslist users tend to want to pay well below even a low market price for things.
4. Have an open house for the neighborhood. Help your broker spread the word to neighbors.
5. Be open to a financial incentive to the buyer that will maximize the price the buyer is willing to pay for your home, such as: offer to pay some or all of the buyer’s closing costs, a year of the HOA fee, landscaping/pool/maid for a year, etc.
6. Increase the commission offered to the buyer’s broker: if the local commission is typically 2.5% to the buyer’s agent, offer 3% or a $1500 bonus for bringing a buyer who closes on time, etc.
7. Stage it. Start with emptying the home of clutter. Then, a professional stager can stage your belongings or bring in their items to show the home in its best light.
In sum, as a home seller who wants to know how to sell fast in Murrieta in the 2013-2014 time frame, you can expect a range from wholesale (to cash investors) to higher retail pricing on the open market. Whatever your time frame, getting educated about the process and using a local, experienced professional real estate broker can make it happen.
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