5 Things to Avoid When Selling Your House

SELLING YOUR HOUSE

When it comes to selling your home, it's important to have all your ducks in a row. With such a big purchase on the line, and so many dependencies and things that can go wrong, it doesn't take much to scare a buyer away from plunking-down their hard-earned cash. In fact, many homes stay on the market for months and end up being removed without a sale. Especially if you own in a competitive area, where other homeowners may be doing everything right, a simple home listing just isn't enough.

It didn't use to be this way. In the past, you'd contact an agent and they'd list your home for sale on a database used by homebuyers and their agents. If the specs looked right -- location, square footage, bedrooms, and bathrooms -- offers would start coming in, and a sale could be closed in short order with minimal red tape.

Today, there's far too much going on in just about any market to think that a simple listing will get it done. And, actually, there are many things that you could be doing or not doing that won't sell your house, even if you are doing other things right. With enough wrong actions, you could end up with an expired listing and have an unsold property on your hands, which means you'll have to relist and go through the whole process again. 

But don't worry. We're here to make sure you avoid the things that won't sell your house. The good news is that most of these mistakes are easy to avoid, so let's get started.

Reason One: Not hiring a professional photographer

In today's real estate market, image is everything. And the greatest home won't stand a chance at selling if your pictures are lackluster, blurry or if they show your home in anything but the most flattering light. Just about every other home for sale in your area will feature immaculate staging and imagery, which is great at grabbing the attention of homebuyers at any stage of their search. A description with a couple of photos won't sell your home for you, and the worst part is that with access to so much information online, buyers may not even consider a home if its online materials don't knock their socks off.

Reason Two: Not pricing your home correctly

While it's an easy trap to fall into given how retailers price their products -- $1.99, not $2, $9.99 not $10 -- trying to make your home seem more affordable by knocking the price down to the next lower number actually works against you. A $500,000 home may look more affordable at $499,990, but when you change the price like that you actually take your home out of any online searches of, say, homes between $500,000 and $600,000, or homes between $400,000 and $500,000, which would both display your home. A reduced price would only showcase your home in the $400,000 to $500,000 search, potentially excluding many homebuyers from seeing your home.

Reason Three: Not staging or preparing your home for sale

The days of leaving your home's furniture "as is" during the run-up to a sale are long gone. Instead, professional home stagers rearrange and even rent furniture to show your home in the best light, and a proper staging can add tens of thousands of dollars in perceived value to your home. But if you neglect to stage, you won't sell your house and you'll likely have a hard time connecting with buyers at the higher or more competitive end of any neighborhood or market. An empty home also isn't much better than a cluttered, full home, as both won't allow buyers to imagine a life and their things inside. Actually, they'll feel like they're touring someone else's home (full and cluttered) or home devoid of personality and soul (an empty home).

Reason Four: Not doing your research

With the conveniences of modern life, there's no excuse to not do your research before listing your home. While most homes shouldn't have any problem with a listing and subsequent sale, any open violations, permits, or liens on the property could stop a home sale in its tracks even if you've got all the way to closing. If you or your listing agent neglect to follow up, you won't sell your house until you remedy all issues with the property. Under a worst-case scenario, you could actually end up buying a new home before your old home closes, leaving you to figure out how you'll be able to pay two mortgages.

Reason Five: Not utilizing social media

We keep mentioning that home sales have changed, and this is nowhere more apparent than on social media, which boasts billions of members across the globe. Odds are that in your neighborhood or town, most people you know are on social media, and buyers all over could be in different stages of the home buying process -- and they're online interacting on social media each and every day. But if you or your agent aren't on social media, you could be doing yourself a disservice, or at least reaching a much smaller portion of buyers.

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For more ideas that won't prevent the selling of your house, contact the experts at Homeway Real Estate. We can help you buy a new home or sell your existing home with the power of our network. Contact us today!

 

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