Once you've sold a couple hundred of homes, one can't help but learn a few things. There are disctinct differentces between listings that sell in a day or two, and those that sit on the market. Here are 5 Best Practices When Selling a Home:
1) The home is on the MLS. There is simply no way to gain enough visibility anymore without using this vehicle. I met a couple last weekend who had been trying to sell their Clairemont home for a month as a ‘for sale by owner’ on Zillow. The home was certainly of value and the price was right. The problem was that it wasn’t on the MLS. Even if you want to sell your home by owner, get it onto the MLS. I offer this an 'a la carte' service for a flat fee of $149.
2) The home features eye-popping pictures. They catch the attention of the Internet browser sorting through which listings to visit. All details about the home are thoroughly explained so the buyer knows what the home offers. You never know what a potential buyer is looking for – so details matter.
3) The home needs to be priced ‘slightly under’ market value. Yes, you read that right. I recently sold a listing in a Chula Vista townhome complex. There were a handful of model match units that had been sitting on the market for months. We priced the listing about $10K under recent sales. We generated enough traffic and offers that we got our price on the first weekend it was listed. Agents told me they showed that home because it was the lowest price in the complex. If your home is worth more than the list price, buyers will bid up the price.
4) The sellers must have an open mind set. This means being open to seeing the offers that come in and working with them to find an acceptable price. In the past two weeks alone I’ve seen two examples of homes that did not get sold due to inflexibility in price.
- I wrote an offer for a buyer on a condo in UTC. With a $389K list price, the home had been sitting on the market for a few weeks. The last comp in the complex was $379K. My buyer offered $380K. The seller was not willing to budge and the home is still sitting on the market.
- I received an offer on one of my listings that was about $25K below our list price. I tried to get my sellers to counter, but all they would say is they want full list price and chose not to counter. Typically, I would suggest that buyer and seller meet in the middle and get the home sold.
5) The listing sells quickly to get top dollar. There is an invisible time clock on any given listing. It is hot for the first week or so and then it fades into relative obscurity. I listed a home 10 days ago on a Saturday. By 5 PM we had a full price cash offer. My seller initially thought we needed more exposure before accepting the offer. When we discussed it, he ultimately decided to accept the offer. Generally speaking, you want to accept an offer early on. The longer your listing stays on the market, the lower the price of the offers that come in.
Good luck selling your home. Please feel free to call me at 619-379-8616 if you would have questions or would like some guidance!
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