Home-Selling Strategy
As the real estate market is making its comeback, now is a good time to take a look at your strategy for selling your home.
In some markets there are multiple offers on the table and even signs of bidding wars beginning. However, that doesn’t mean that selling your home is easy and doesn’t require marketing efforts. Here are four tips to help you strategize to sell your home faster and for top dollar.
Hire a good match for you and your home. The first thing to consider is hiring the best real estate agent for the job. Selling your home can be a long process and, even if it’s quick, it’s important to have a good relationship with your agent. With that in mind, make sure you allow ample time to meet with several agents to discuss your home, your expectations, and your timing for getting your home sold. The more details you discuss, the smoother things will go. Of course, there will always be bumps along the way but if you’re working with an experienced real estate agent, these issues can be smoothed out usually relatively quickly.
Do some research. Even though you may have lived in your neighborhood for a long time, it’s time to get out and cruise the streets and walk the neighborhood. This will give you the opportunity to see what your neighbors are up to with their properties. You’ll find out about new developments and see other homes in the area that are on the market. Viewing these homes allows you to do your own comparison. You’ll be able to note the pros and cons of other homes as compared to your own. You’ll also determine which aspects of your home that you should highlight. Maybe homes in your area have pools but yours has a solar heating system. That can be a huge plus and a money-saver for the new homeowners. Or, perhaps, kitchen remodels in your area are common but maybe yours includes a pleasant view from the kitchen sink. All of these types of upgrades are very important to prospective buyers.
Capture your home with still and video images. In the not-too-distant future this will no longer be a tip and instead it will be common practice for every home listed on the market.
Photographs and videos help tell a story about your home. They can capture the essence of the home and entice buyers to come see it in person. However, the opposite is also true. Poor quality images and video can turn an interested buyer into an uninterested one long before ever reaching your home.
Ask for advice. Invite input from experts. Your agent can offer some great advice about things that should be repaired or changed to help sell your home faster. Don’t create your own marketing flyers, leave that to the pros. They can put together professional marketing brochures that highlight the key features of your home. Be sure to have digital copies as well as hard copies for your social media distribution.
Consider value range pricing. This can attract more potential buyers because it offers a window of pricing rather than an exact price point. Sellers using this method list their homes by using a high-end price as the offer they’d like to receive for their home and the low-end price of the value range is a price that would be considered a starting point for negotiations.
Most of all be prepared to act swiftly and make any necessary changes including, if necessary, reducing your listing price or value range. Keep in mind that an over-priced home can cause your home to sit on the market for a very long time without even attracting any in-person viewings. It’s better to be realistic and price your home to sell.
Published: June 28, 2013
by Phoebe Chongchua