Sell your home, regardless of the market in your area...

Many sellers are asking:  Will I be able to sell my home if I put it on the market right now, should I wait? 

Although there is currently a large inventory of homes for sale that does not mean you cannot sell your home.  People are always going to need to buy and sell homes.  Listed below, are some of the factors that impact how long it will take for your home to sell or if it will even sell at all.

1.  Pricing it correctly- If the home is overpriced, it often will not sell or not appraise for the loan amount.   If you were a buyer and found two homes that were similar in the same area and the price of one of them was considerably lower, which home would you put an offer on?   When deciding how much to list your home for, have your Realtor complete a Comparative Market Analysis (CMA) of other homes in the area that have sold in the past six months or less; the more recent, the better.  Take a look at what other homes for sale in your neighborhood are priced at as well.  Although, they have not sold yet, it gives you a good idea of what other people are pricing their homes for in the area. If you do not want to lower your price to the market then maybe you should wait to sell.

2. Marketing and advertising your home- Listing your home in the MLS is a must and the more pictures the better.  If you have numerous pictures of your home, buyers are more likely to come see your home opposed to another that only has one picture of the front of the house.  Make sure your realtor takes high quality pictures of each room in your home.  Placing a box with colorful flyers in your front yard is another way to market your home to potential buyers, make sure it stays full!  Advertising in the newspaper, holding open houses, listing the home on Craigslist.com, YouTube.com, and Zillow.com are just some of the other websites that potential buyers frequent. If you market the home properly, it will increase the likeliness that it sells.

3. Home Staging- Staging your home to sell has become popular in recent years.  There are many professional stagers that can assist you with preparing your home to sell by giving you tips on removing clutter, staging the home with furniture if you have already moved, how to decorate it etc...  Did you know a vacant home often takes longer to sell then one that is furnished?  Potential buyers like to get an idea of how to set up the furniture, window treatments, and decorations.  Seeing the space furnished and decorated during a showing makes a huge difference!  If you go see a model home it is always staged nicely to show well.  So go ahead, make yours stand out and look like a model!