My Blog
5 MOST COMMON MISTAKES SELLERS MAKE
06/13/2009
1. Not properly staging their house.
Remember that first impressions really do count. The "curb appeal" of your home when a buyer first arrive will set the tone for the entire showing. Keep your landscape clean and neat and don't leave things lying around the front of the house. Even if you don't have a landscaped yard you can still keep it clean and neat.
Neutral is beautiful. Don't paint your home in striking colors, keep the tone neutral to help buyers to be able to mentally place their own furniture and belongings into your home, once they do that they are on the road to writing an offer. Remember the term "Realtor beige." when your selecting the colors for carpet and walls, even white walls are good and certainly are friendlier to a prospective buyer than that bright green that goes just right with your favorite couch. The carpet should also be kept neutral and of a color that does not highlight the dirt and imperfections.
Declutter your home. Start packing now of all the things that you don't use regularly, put the boxes out the the way the best way you can into a garage, closet or attic. Keep in mind the clean and neat rule from above and put things away out of sight. Have you heard of the "Rule of threes."? The idea is to have no more than three items on a surface, whether its a table, counter, fireplace mantle or dresser make sure the surface is not cluttered and try to keep the items different sizes.
2. Overpricing their house.
When preparing to sell your home a Realtor will help by giving you information on a few similar houses that are for sale or have sold recently in your neighborhood. These "comps" are meant to help you get a good idea of what your home is worth and what it will potentially sell for. Armed with knowing what the current competition is doing can help you decide how to price your home, but remember that just because someone is asking a certain price does not necessarily mean that their home is worth that price and also keep in mind that you will do well to price your home at the low end of the list to give the other seller some stiff competition. The current competition can be especially useful if the market is changing fast, but always consider what other similar homes have actually sold for when deciding how to price your home, this is a good indicator of what people have been willing to pay and may even be a reality check sometimes.
Another common error sellers make is to set their list price based on what they "need" to get out of the home, rather than what the market will actually support. We Realtors know that all of our sellers have plans for the equity in their home, and whatever your need for that extra cash is remember that you wont have it to spend unless you actually sell your home. So if your planning to use the equity to put a down payment on you next home, but furniture for the new house, send the kids to college or buy the new car you've been dreaming of, you first need to actually sell your home, so price it right. Within this idea is also the thought of listing with the discount company that may save you that 1% off the sales price, but keep in mind that you get what you pay for and if your home is not being marketed properly. That 1% wont mean much if the house doesn't sell.
Keep in mind that if your price is too high nobody will ever even see your home, even if your home has that special something that someone might be willing to pay extra for, if nobody will look at it, nobody will buy it.
3. Not working hard to make the first offer work.
There is a common saying in the business that "The first offer is often the best offer." When you get that first offer from someone treat it with respect, consider it fully and respond appropriately. Why did the buyer write an offer the way they did? Thoughtfully considering the reasoning and motivation behind the offer might give you a new perspective when deciding to accept or to counter offer.
Don't just refuse to respond, at the very least send the buyer a counter offer to consider, they may just take it, but if you don't accept their offer and don't send them a new offer to consider, then you did not sell your house.
4. Taking things personally.
Would you be upset by an offer that came in lower than what you expected?
Would you be angry if you got feedback from someone that looked at your home and said they didn't like "this" or "that"?
Don't be. A low offer is not a personal attack. A poor report from a prospective buyer on some aspect of your home is not meant to hurt you.
Feedback is a wonderful tool that will help you to sell your home. Whatever the feedback is, from an offer that comes in low, or someone who didn't like you paint color it can be very useful to help you decide if you need to make a change in price or decor, so gladly accept the ideas presented and use them the best you can to improve the next offer or buyer impression.
5. Not being flexible and making the house easy to be shown.
Leave. That's right, leave. When someone is coming to look at your home, get outta there.
Leave now. Make sure that when someone wants to see the house, that's when they get to see the house. Sometimes this will be inconvenient, but it is essential to selling your home quickly and for a good price. Professionally most Realtors will give an hour notice whenever possible, but there are those times when they are showing that house down the street and their client says "Can we see "that one" before we go home?", in a case like that you may not get your hour notice, but leave anyway, they might just buy it.
When a Realtor brings a buyer to your home everybody is much more comfortable talking about what they really think of the home when your not around. Buyers are uncomfortable walking though your bedroom or looking into a closet when you are there, and sometimes they wont look at all the things or places that they would have if you were gone, they wont have seen the things they needed to to make the house memorable or to convince them to make that offer. They often feel as though they are invading your space when your home so just go for a walk or to the store, but leave.