Article reposted from the Hallmark Abstract Service website.
The Spring house selling season is upon us (although given the snow in the northeast you would be hard-pressed to believe that’s the case) so what are some of the ways that a homeowner can insure the highest probability for a sale?
1) Choose the right real estate broker!
- This item could be more than just number one because this is one of the major keys to the shooting match!
- How do you know where to start? In any area that allows For Sale signs the broker of choice can often be very obvious.
- If signs are not allowed the name of the stud broker will typically be known by your friends and neighbors.
- Typically there is a reason people go with the top real estate brokers in an area, the primary one being that they get the job done by getting houses sold. And isn’t that what it’s all about?
- Don’t be afraid to ask the prospective brokers questions about their methodology and to give you examples of past successes and reasons why some of their listings failed to sell.
- Do they have potential buyers already in their database, have they had success in your neighborhood and price range in the past, will they be spending money to promote and advertise your listing and if so how much, do they use professional photographers, do they put their listings on MLS and all of the major real estate internet portals, what commission percentage would they agree to, etc.
2) Price your house right!
- It doesn’t matter what your house was worth in 2006, 2009 or 2013.
- Real estate is just a market in the same way that any commodity is. Each house on a block may have different bells and whistles but a neighborhood is a neighborhood.
- Your house is only worth what someone is willing to pay so listing it above what it is worth will likely not work to your advantage.
- If you interview four real estate brokers and three suggest that you list your house in the $600K to $625K range while a fourth listens to the price you think it’s worth ($725K) and agrees to list it there, going with them will likely be a mistake.
- They want your listing and are banking on the fact that you will agree to lower your asking price in a few weeks when there is no traffic and no offers.
- Buyers today are smart and use the internet to comb through the available inventory. Find a broker you can trust and list your house at a price that makes sense.
- If your house really is the gem you think that it is you will have price wars in your driveway and get above your asking price anyway!
Do you have any thoughts for what numbers 3-10 should be or disagree with 1 and 2? Leave them in the Comments at the Hallmark Abstract Service website here!
