Mistakes to Avoid When Selling Your Home
Who said that putting your house up for sale would be easy? As a matter of fact, selling your house is a bit of a science, and is always best left to the professionals. If this is the first time you are selling your home, give your real estate agent a break, and help him out a little bit.
Above all, an experienced real estate agent will have some good advice for you, and you need to be prepared to listen. Any real estate agent who is worth their salt is going to tell you not to do one of these nine things when putting your home on the market.
Be a wise seller, not someone who thinks they know more than the professionals do!
Thinking You'll Save The Entire Real Estate Commission Selling FSBO
One of the biggest misconceptions of those who are selling a house for sale by owner is that they will be saving an entire real estate commission. Fat chance, sorry! You have every right to try to sell your home on your own. You might succeed, although the percentages are low.
Don't think for a minute though that you will be pocketing the five or six percent commission the agent would have charged. For one thing, you will probably sell for a lot less than if the home was marketed to the world.
You will undoubtedly lose your opportunity to find your home in a bidding war with other buyers. You won't be saving any money at all if the house doesn't sell. For sale by owners have a staggering eighty-five percent fail rate. Yes, you read that correctly. Most for sale by owners end up listing with a Realtor after a lack of success.
Don't Overprice Your House
The number one show stopper in all home sales is overpricing. So many sellers have no idea how damaging overpricing can be to a successful sale.
Yes, you have an emotional connection with your home. Any real estate agent who has been selling homes long enough gets this. Emotions, however, need to be taken out of the equation. Your home sale is a business transaction and nothing more.
More than likely you have put a higher price on it than you're the real estate agents you're interviewing. Doing so is human nature. Overpricing your house, however, is one of the worst things that you can do.
You need to make sure that the price of your property reflects the cost of homes of a similar standard in your part of the town. You don't want your property to be on the market for months and months. By that time, buyers will certainly have lost interest.
Quite often sellers rely on unreliable pricing methods like looking at a Zillow estimate of value. Don't be the next seller that makes that home selling mistake.
Showings Are Vital
Never turn down a showing. You never know when the buyer for your home is going to walk through the door. Lost showings are lost opportunities. Have an open door policy and make sure that your home is always ready to be shown to an interested party.
By the way, that means no untidy rooms and unmade beds. A buyer needs likes to make sure that they can see themselves in your home, and that means making sure it looks homely and inviting.
Don't make the listing agent attend showings either. That is a complete waste of time and makes your home harder to sell. Read the article to find out why.
Don't Go Over the Top with Home Improvements
You may think those home improvements such as picking up a hot tub on a special offer you will help to sell your house. Sure, you may like the idea of that, but is it the right thing for the buyer? That hot tub may just represent an unnecessary expense.
Top real estate agents can recommend improvements that make a difference when selling vs. those home improvements that are a waste of money. For example, you might have a grandiose idea of wallpapering your dining room. It might cost a lot of money. What you don't realize is wallpaper is out! Nobody wants wallpaper. In fact, the buyer may discount the price of your home because they need to figure on hiring someone to remove it.
Don't Make Open Houses a Focus
Is it possible you may have a rabbit's foot in your back pocket, and an open house will help you sell your home? Sure but don't count on it. Lots of real estate agents like to play up the importance of an open house. Here is the truth - they are a complete waste of time for a home seller. Real buyers schedule showings with real estate agents. Tire kickers, the unqualified, and your neighbors will be at the open house. Is this what you want?
One is enough at the beginning when you first list the house but that is all. If your home has not sold within 45 days, it is time to take stock and find out what is wrong. Open houses do not give someone that more intimate viewing experience which is really what sells a home.
What many real estate agents never tell their clients about open houses is that they are a magnet for crime. Lots of theft occurs from sellers who allow their agent to host continuous open houses.
Don't Go Too Mad with Your Paintbrush
Don't for one moment think decorating your home in accordance with the latest trends will help. Plain and simple is the best. Don't paint the bedrooms purple or turquoise because it is the newest color in fashion. Off white, beige or a light grey are colors that work. It makes the property look clean and fresh.
The same thing applies to your back yard. There is no need for a Japanese designer garden. A well-maintained lawn and some simple shrubs and flowers will speak a thousand words.
Never Accept Dual Agency
When you are selling a home, you should never let your real estate agent practice dual agency. That is a huge mistake. You need to insist your agent remain as a seller's agent. The agent you hire should ALWAYS represent you and nobody else. You are paying your real estate agent thousands of dollars!
Dual agency benefits one party - the real estate agent. Don't let a fast-talking agent talk you into accepting this awful practice. Read the article to find out all the details.
Play Hide and Seek
You should not be there when the real estate agent pays a visit with their client! Yes, you read that right. This is the real estate agent's client at this stage. It can be tempting to be there with a big smile on your face and your Yorkshire terrier wearing a pretty pink bow. But, you are paying a professional to do a job.
That is the best way to look at it.
The truth is that most houses sell faster when the homeowner is not there. It goes back to the same old thing - the buyer would like to feel that this "their" space. Pack the family in the car, including the dog, and go out for a couple of hours.
House VS. Home
To you, it is a home, but to a real estate agent and a buyer, it is a house. Bear that in mind when you start the process. Don't take any criticism of your home personally. If you do, you may as well throw in the towel before you start.
Instead, listen to what lookers have to say about your home. Make a note of what they say. If more than one potential buyer comes up with the same objection, they might have a valid point. As they say, the customer is always right. Feedback is important but don't take it personally.
If you think about it feedback is almost always slanted to the negative, otherwise, they would be buying your home. When they are not purchasing it, they tell you why.
Final Thoughts
The above-mentioned behaviors are all things that will stop a home sale dead in its tracks. Don't make one of these home selling mistakes. Put your best foot forward and work with your agent as a team. Take their advice. After all, that is what they are there for.
Additional Realty Times Articles Worth a Read
Buying and selling a house at the same time
Don't believe these real estate agent myths
Use these additional home buying and selling references to make intelligent decisions when you are involved in a real estate transaction.
About the author: Bill Gassett is a nationally recognized Real Estate leader who has been helping people buy and sell Metrowest Massachusetts real estate for the past thirty-two plus years. Bill has been one of the top RE/MAX Realtors in New England for the past decade.
In 2018 he was the #1 RE/MAX real estate agent in Massachusetts. His real estate advice has been featured on, CNBC, RIS Media, National Association of Realtors, Inman News, Placester, RESAAS, Credit Sesame and others.
Bill covers real estate sales in the following Massachusetts communities: Ashland, Bellingham, Douglas, Framingham, Franklin, Grafton, Holliston, Hopkinton, Hopedale, Medway, Mendon, Milford, Millbury, Millville, Natick, Northborough, Northbridge, Shrewsbury, Southborough, Sutton, Wayland, Westborough, Whitinsville, Worcester, Upton and Uxbridge MA.
Reach out for his advice anytime.
