Common Mistakes You Don’t Want to Make When Selling Your House
When selling your house there are many things that demand your attention. You have several decisions during the process that can make a big difference in the details of your sale. It can be difficult to know where to focus your attention. A few simple mistakes along the way can slow down the process of selling your house.
Avoid these common mistakes when selling your house.
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Choosing the Wrong Asking Price
Both scenarios of underpricing and overpricing your home can be bad for multiple reasons. When houses are overpriced they typically sit on the market. With the amount of information available at our fingertips, buyers are more educated than ever. Buyers know when you are asking too much for your house.
Meanwhile, underpriced houses will either sell fast and cut into your potential profit, or become a house that buyers are suspicious about. When houses are priced too low, buyers become suspicious that something is wrong with the house.
Take the time to do the proper research on where you should set your asking price. The best tools to help in this exercise are found in the local comparable sales (comps). See what other homes have been sold for or are currently listed at. This will help tune you in to what the local market is (and is not) supporting.
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Not Preparing Your House
The majority of buyers in the market are looking for a house that is move-in ready. Before you put your house on the market, walk through each room while looking at them through the eyes of potential buyers.
Remove clutter and personal belongings. Create rooms that buyers can picture themselves living in. Make upgrades and renovations if there is room in your budget.
You will want to complete all of this work before the home listing pictures are taken. Most buyers are looking online before they go to a showing or open house, so your listing pictures are important.
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Expecting Immediate Results
You are setting yourself up for disappointment if you allow yourself to think that every potential buyer who comes to your house is going to make an offer. Many buyers look at many houses before finding one to make an offer on. Some people look at houses just to see what is on the market, without being serious about buying.
To help you get an idea of what the current housing market is doing, consider researching market insight such as: what is the average days on market for homes in the area? What is my marketing strategy?
While you want to sell your home quickly, and must take every step to put yourself in a position to achieve that goal, you need to prepare yourself for the fact that the process will take time.
Avoiding these common mistakes will help put you on the right path to getting your house sold. Start the process of selling your house by collecting as much info about the current market as possible. Armed with this knowledge you will be able to formulate a game plan that makes sense.