Phoenix Real Estate Blog: 7 Steps to Selling Your Home

So the Housing Market Isn’t Great -- Here’s What You Can Do About It

Last Thursday I posted about how Phoenix has the dubious distinction of being ranked on Forbes’ “25 Weakest Housing Markets” list.  But, even if you’re a seller in this market, you can take very important steps to generate buyer interest and get your home sold.  (For more details on selling your home in a slow market, check out the free article at http://myphoenixmlshomevalue.com/7-selling-tips.asp.)

Step 1: Price your home aggressively. When things are slow, pricing is absolutely critical. But instead of pricing your home aggressively high, you should consider pricing your home no higher than the middle of the range for homes comparable to yours. And if you need to sell your home quickly, you should consider pricing your home among in the bottom 25 percent of comparable homes. Why? With few buyers chasing many homes, you need to quickly get the attention of those who are serious about buying. If your home is priced too high, you many never get buyers to even consider looking at your home.

Step 2: Quickly cut the price if you don’t get action. Everyone wants to sell their home for as much money as possible. But homes that languish on the market in a slow market often are forced to make one price reduction after another, as buyers and real estate agents may begin to question why the home has been on the market for so long.

Step 3: Find the right real estate agent. Any agent can list your house. But when buyers are few you need a first-class real estate professional on your side. They’ll help with everything from pricing to advising you on the other 6 points in this article. Finding leading agents who outsell other agents in your home town are the type of professionals you’ll need on your side. Talk with your family, friends, and neighbors to identify the best agents in your area. Interview several – hire the one who you believe will do the best job for you.

Step 4: Pay attention to curb appeal. After pricing, nothing will bring more potential buyers into your home than a house with outstanding curb appeal. Take a walk down your street with a critical eye. How does your home stack up from the outside? If it doesn’t stand out from the rest then it’s time to get to work.

Step 5: Consider home staging. The quickest way to add home value to a home for sale is a fresh coat of paint. But after you do that, you may want to consider home staging. Either do it yourself or hire an outside firm to do it.

Step 6: Fix stuff. The loose railing. The broken pane of glass. The closet door off of its track. The leaky faucet. They all need fixing. If you don’t have the time or skill, find a handyman to go through your home and make repairs.  Also, consider replacing the old roof that looks like it might leak, the antique furnace, and the stained rug. When there are few homes on the market, sellers sometimes offer cash at closing to repair the roof or for the stained rug. With so many homes on the market, buyers can afford to only bid on those that are in move-in condition. Fix what needs repair before listing your house.

Step 7: Offer flexible terms. Flexibility is the key now. You’d like to close in two months, but the buyers might be in a hurry and need to close sooner. Find a way to make it happen. You were planning to take the appliances to your new home, but the buyers make a bid near the asking price – including the appliances.  Leave the washer and dryer behind.

If none of those work, you can try one of the more “extreme” tactics some sellers have found successful:

<!--[if !supportLists]-->·         <!--[endif]-->In Hagerstown, Maryland, Karen Crawford’s home had been on the market for 18 months.  So she decided to sell raffle tickets for $100 -- the winner would get the house, which was priced at $390,000.  She sold 6,500 raffle tickets, raising $260,000 more than she had listed her home for.  She donated the extra money to charity.

<!--[if !supportLists]-->·         <!--[endif]-->“Michael Crews Development in San Diego, Calif., offered house hunters a free home in a mid-market development (where homes ran in the $400,000 range) when they bought a $1 million-plus home in an upmarket development. No one took them up on the double dip, but the novelty factor generated interest from as far away as the U.K. and South Africa. As a result, the company sold the four $1 million-plus homes held in inventory.”

<!--[if !supportLists]-->·         <!--[endif]-->Other sellers are offering a new car with the house.  “In the same way that a free vacation or stereo equipment might get potential home buyers in the door, a car incentive is designed to make a home stand out in a roll of listings.”

<!--[if !supportLists]-->·         <!--[endif]-->Others are taking a page out of the car salesman’s playbook, offering a trade-in deal.  “One of the biggest problems that sellers have in closing deals is that the potential buyers are unable to move their previous house. The logistics of working out a trade-in can be complicated, and it's the sort of thing that is more likely to occur with a large, national home buyer that can afford holding costs and resale costs, but the National Association of Home Builders notes that 13% of builders are offering this incentive.”

What do you think? Have you sold your Phoenix-area home recently?  In the process of selling? Click on the “Comments” link and join the discussion!