I have a been a REALTOR® for two and half decades in the Woodbridge Virginia area. I can tell you all homes sell when they are priced right.
Your Listing Agents job is to help you price your home to Fair Market Contion. We do this by looking at all the recent closed sales within a mile or so of your home. This is exactly what appraisers look at to formuate value. Remember if a home does not appraise, most buyers will walk.
Your REALTOR® of choice will coach and guide you on how best to price the home, stage the home, and will market the home and give feedback as received and present and negotiate any and all offers.
But why do some homes sit on the market and others sell so quickly? Do you know?
Here are a few seller tips:
1. Listen to your REALTOR on how to price your home. They know the market well and they help people buy and sell homes daily.
2. Never follow a person around when they arrive at your home. Leave. Never use video camera's to monitor traffic if you do, turn off the SOUND! Period.
I want you to think about the last time you walked into a store at the mall. Did you walk in and someone started to ask you questions or worse start pointing out things you might like or even worse follows on your heals trying to tell you all about an item?
Two things happen:
*Some customers simply smile and walk out of the store
*Another customer may say, I am just looking I will find you if I need something.
*Either way, the person just made the customer feel uncomfortable looking around
"Don't do that!"
3. Always remember the first offer is typically the best offer. Because the buyer is fearful someone else will get the home they want and need.
4. The longer the home remains on the market unsold means you will need to do price adjustments. Think of your home as it it were something for sale in the retail world.
Next I want you to ponder a few minutes on how things are sold in the mall. It is retail right?
Store merchandise is marketed like this:
- There are Limited Edition Items-these typically sell fast
- Hot New Trends Items- the new new....
- Past Season Items- discounted for sure
- Left Over Out Dated Merchandise- someone will find they can't resist the price and buy it.
As items sit on the shelves they begin to get discounted until sold. You've seen the ads, SALE, Deep Discount, 50% OFF, Clearance Sale 75%.
The goal of a store is to sell things. Stores do not want to be stuck with inventory. They need to free up cash to buy something newer, or what a customer needs.
Now let's relate that to selling a home. Keep in mind twenty five years ago, all we had was a For Sale Sign, maybe one photo in the MLS and people had to come see your home to buy it.Homes took much longer to sell back then.
"In today's world we have the Internet and the Multiple Listing Service allows for up to thirty photo's of you home online. Buyers slide through the photos and make a decision right then if the are coming to see your home or not."
So ask yourself:
Is your home a Limited Edition Home, a Trendy Home, a Home that needs a few cosmetic changes or is it a Super Outdated Home and needs to be sold at a deep discount?
Examples:
Limited Edition - for example when a home was a one of kind home and it sold in one week of listing. It was a main level living home featuring a Master Bedroom on main level
Fresh New Trends- this style kitchen sells home quickly
Past Season- in this example all that is needed is the carpet changed to neutral and the upper part of walks to be neutral to coordinate with brick on fireplace and carpet
Outdated Unwanted Home- this type of home sells to tens of thousands less in today's market. The best you can expect is a low ball offer from an investor who will bring the home back to life again. But it is going to cost you!
The above home was tough to sell! But we did it. We found an investor who bought it flipped it and brought it back to the neigborhood it tip top trendy shape!
So when you think of putting your home on the market, I find it easier for you the homeowner /seller to think of your home in this way.
As your REALTOR® it is my job to help you get the best price and terms for your home. No matter what the condition. When it is time to sell, let's talk about your options. Simply fill out this Home Evaluation Form
PS: Another good reason to start thinking about the mall is because when your home goes on the market. You the seller need to disappear for a little while. The last thing any buyer wants is a homeowner following them around and sharing every update, every detail about the home. If they are interested in your home there is a time for that.
Comments(3)