Ok, you opened this blog to read it because you want the truth right? Well then here are your most important 3 keys to selling your home in today's buyer's market. Get a pen ready and whatever you do please remember that ignoring this advice may cost you thousands of dollars.
Step 1
Wake UP and THROW AWAY THAT APPRAISAL!! That's exactly right. It's time to wake up and realize what the market is. If you have cut an artery you will lose a lot of blood if you treat it like a cat scratch. This market is NOT the market we had 2 years ago and if you try to treat it like it is you will lose a lot of money when you sell your home. The days of pricing your home for what a mystery appraiser claimed it was worth (so that you could tap into speculative equity) are long gone. Your old appraisal has about as much credibility to buyers as monopoly money has at your local grocery store. NONE!! No one cares what your home was speculated to be worth, no one cares at all. In fact you lose all credibility when you flash that old appraisal in front of a good buyer's agent. Why? Because the minute you do that they realize that you have no clue about the market and thus all of your opinions become invalid. Invalid opinions and loss of credibility will hurt you during the negotiations.
Step 2
Price your home slightly under the current sold. Why? Because prices are falling and if you don't get slightly out in front of them to beat them to a buyer then you will follow behind them and they will have already swept up the buyers by the time you get there. This means that dropping your price after the market drops is to late!! Like fish grabbing the food off the aquarium surface buyers are grabbing the "deals" the minute they are available. If you wait to long to drop your price the buyers will be full and disinterested meaning your fish food "house" will continue to fall in price until it lands slowly on the bottom of the aquarium. Being aggressive with your pricing up front is the key to reaching today's buyers who are eager for a great deal.
Step 3
Get a GREAT AGENT and HOLD THEM ACCOUNTABLE TO WORK!! A great agent will work hard to market your home; the following items are absolute musts!!!
- Online Virtual Tour and Many Photos - If your agent doesn't provide this then take your home off of the market. Buyers view homes online before they buy and if your home can't be viewed online then it might as well be off the market.
- Reverse Prospecting - If the listing agent for your home does not use "reverse prospecting" to attract buyers then don't use them... if they don't even know what that term means then run away, run away as fast as you can.
- Try to negotiate for a low 5% commission but don't hire any agent that will actually give it to you. In this market if your agent can't defend their own commission they will very likely get eaten alive when it is time for them to defend the asking price of your home. Hire someone who negotiates like a chump for themselves and you might as well add a picture of your wallet to your home flyer because the buyer will be taking your hard earned money out of it anyway.
- Accountability - sign a short contract for the listing. I'm talking 60-90 days long. If the agent won't be aggressive enough to get your house sold in this time frame then they won't be getting it sold over the course of an obnoxiously long 6 month listing contract. A short contract keeps the agents feet to the fire to back up their great "I can sell your home" talk with results.
These are just a few of the tips to get your home sold in this market. If you want help getting it sold without losing your shorts then, call or email me right now. Have additional question?? Fire away... we are an honest and straight forward team that you can trust for straight answers that have your best interest at heart.
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