Peeking at the Competition when Selling your House

If you are planning on selling your home it is a good idea to get real clear on what you are up against.  By that I mean who is your competition.  If you think it is just the other homes in your neighborhood you might be surprised to hear what I'm about to say. 

 Now those other homes in you neighborhood are important, but that is just one place to look for your competition. Buyers have tremendous power now that they can search for homes on the Internet.  And being that over 80% start their search online they are looking at a ton of homes that are similar in price and size, so you need to know what they are looking at so you can do your HOMEWORK to make your house shine! 

How do you do that?  I suggest getting online right along with the buyers and run a search in the price range you feel you would list your home for.  You can narrow down the search by looking at homes that are similar in style and age.

One of the first things I do when I list a home is to take the sellers out on a little house previewing tour so they can actually see first hand what those other sellers have or have not done to prepare their homes for the market.  The seller is now looking at homes through the buyers eyes and can get a real feel for how a buyer might look at things.  Using that information we will go back and take another look at their home and come up with our plan to stage and do any repairs that are needed to to make their home very appealing to a buyer.

The next step is to look at how they will position the home on the market to sell in the time frame they need to sell.  By that I mean how will they price the home to come up in the searches we need it to come up in and stand out as the best value.  Remember earlier when I said buyers are looking in other areas and will choose a home that stands out in price, condition and location.  So if they see your home and like your area but also see another similar home in another area they like your home better be priced better, look better even smell better ( ya...I said it) You never know what is going to push that buyer to make a choice.

It is not easy to step out of your Home and view it as a product, but just keep in mind that you are not alone out there.  Not every house that goes on the market sells.  if it where easy there wouldn't be over 3000 homes for sale in my immediate market right now. 

Check out your competition and start putting your plan together!