Are you looking to sell your home? Now is always a great time to sell as we can't go back in time to a better time and we can't reliably predict the future! Whether or not the deck is stacked in favor of sellers or buyers, it all tends to even out as most people still need a place to live. Here's 3 Home Seller Hacks to Save Time and Money.
1) Price it Right
It's nearly impossible to underprice real estate with the amount of exposure you can get today. There are too many people looking for good deals. There was a listing not too long ago that was listed at $299,900. It wasn't selling and the seller reduced the price by $100,000. There were quickly several offers on the home. The home ultimately sold for $295,000. Keep in mind, that this won't work if the home isn't exposed to a lot of buyers. One buyer has the leverage. With 10 buyers, the seller has the leverage.
On the other hand, you can overprice real estate. It's not hard to find homes that have been on the market far too long or have reduced the price many times and still sit with the For Sale sign. I always tell my clients, I'd much rather price it right and have them say no to 10 offers than have it priced too low and not have any offers to talk about. Pricing at the top end of the market rarely works and ends up costing a lot of time, money and energy.
2) Spend Time and Money Up Front
Many real estate transactions end in failure because of the home inspection. Buyers don't want to take on seller's problems and sellers don't want to "lose" money once they've accepted an offer. It's always best to do your work at the front end to avoid problems later.
I recommend to my clients to have a home inspection done before they list the house. Not only does this find a lot of problems they didn't know they were living with but it also allows them time and flexibility to fix the problems. For example, exterior painting and concrete can't be corrected in the middle of winter so finding them early can save a lot of market time and misery.
Do the 3 D's, de-clutter, depersonalize and deep clean the home. Think about what you'd want to see as you're looking at homes. Certainly not someone else's dirty house filled with their junk.
3) Hire a Realtor
Ok, yes, I'm biased. And I would hire myself if I were moving so that I could take advantage of all the tools that I have as a Realtor. These include the MLS (where most homes sell), marketing tools provided by Keller Williams like the Keller Williams Listing System and experience that prevents mistakes that could cost a small fortune.
Could you sell your home For Sale By Owner? Sure, you could, and according to Zillow, 69.5% who try to sell themselves ultimately give up and hire a Realtor. Why you ask? I would suggest it's for the same reason that I take my car to a mechanic to get the oil changed, go to the Doctor when I'm sick or hire someone to mow my lawn for me. It's convenient, predictable and has the potential to save me a lot of time and money. There's a lot of value to hiring a professional.
I'm also confident that the professional mechanic won't forget to put the oil filter back in, the Doctor won't fail to prescribe a test or useful medication and the lawn mower isn't going to run over my toe. And if they do, I'm ultimately not the one going to pay for it (all my toes are still intact). Professional services is an insurance policy against misfortune.
As an experienced and well trained Realtor, I predict and avoid pitfalls for my clients that could cost them a lot of money. Why risk one of your biggest assets to do all the work and save next to nothing?
Now you might be thinking, you're going to save 6% but studies show "FSBOs typically sell for less than the selling price of other homes; FSBO homes sold at a median of $200,000 last year (the same as the year prior), and significantly lower than the median of agent-assisted homes at $280,000" (NAR Profile Of Buyers and Sellers, 2019). Even if you don't believe these numbers will put 22.5%(28.5% less 6% broker fees) more money in the pocket of the average FSBO, consider that I only have to do 6% better to provide equal value. And I do all the work for you!
Here's 2 views of homes for sale in Naperville available on Zillow. The first one shows only FSBO homes while the 2nd shows all the homes for sale. Can you find the FSBO homes in the photo with all the listings? No? And neither can buyers. Don't get lost in the shuffle.
If you're considering selling your home, you can get a copy of my book "Selling Secrets You can't Afford to Miss" on paperback or digital download.
Or get the most up to date evaluation of Your Home's Value here
Comments(0)