When selling your home it is a good idea to let a real estate agent represent your interest and market your home. An estate agent can more often than not handle objections and concerns calmly, without emotion of personal involvement. . Potential buyers will also discuss price concerns more openly with an agent. These concerns may many times be easily dissolved as your agent can explain solutions by offsetting other benefits offered by your home. To finance a new house most purchasers need to apply for a mortgage and as such money questions need to be asked. Serious buyers are usually more willing to discuss finances with a professional, which negotiate, on your behalf than with yourself.
However, whether you decide to sell your own home or turn it over to an agent here are some common sense approaches to securing the best offer.
- Consider every offer and evaluate terms and conditions. The net effect could be an acceptable transaction with the added benefit of a faster closing date that relieves anxiety about an unsold home.
- Avoid an urgent sale. Urgency translates into a compromise of price, terms and/or convenience. To achieve financial satisfaction when selling your home plan ahead. Time the marketing of your home so that you don't feel pressured to sell.
In many ways, the selling of your home is similar to the selling of a product. From the moment you make the decision to place your home on the market, you are no longer simply a homeowner and a resident in the property. You must now view yourself as the seller of a unique and valuable commodity. A competent real estate professional will not only help you determine the price of this commodity, he or she will help you create the demand and market it.
- There must be a demand for your property given its condition and price relative to the current marketplace.
- There must be viable and affordable vehicles for you to advertise your property in.
- The potential buyers of your property must have easy access to it to allow them to inspect it as they shop for their most suitable choice.
- You must be willing and able to separate your personal and emotional ties to the home from the property itself.
Appearance
There is nothing like a good first impression to drive a sale. There is nothing more lasting than a bad first impression. Make a list of positive and negative features of each room and prepare to maximize the positives. Write down the finer points of your home and provide this information to your realtor to be used in creating promotional materials.
If you feel that there are major upgrades or changes that must be completed in order for the house to sell, seek the advice of a real estate professional to get a second opinion before you invest your money on renovations. Unfortunately, in markets where there are more homes for sale than buyers, it is sometimes necessary to complete major repairs even though the cost will not be recouped through the sale of the house.
If your goal is to sell, you will have to do whatever it takes to make sure the house sells. Stay focused on the goal. The process of preparing your house for sale requires a critical eye, an impersonal attitude, and in some cases, money. Do it right, and you will be rewarded by a timely sale!
Choosing the Right Price for Your Home
In selecting a price, the seller should review comparisons provided by the agent that pm similar homes on the market, that sold, and similar homes that were listed but did not sell. This "Comparative Market Analysis" presents comparable homes in a format that assists the seller in identifying a price range as well as an actual target price. It is extremely important that the price be set at a level that is close to or exactly at the point where the analysis, as presented by the real estate professional, indicates the home will sell. Many sellers make the mistake of setting a price that is too high, and the results are often very costly.
This is the information age. You can safely assume that today's buyer is well informed and price sensitive. A property that is priced over the market will deter buyers who are serious about finding a property. If a buyer has to begin the negotiation with an offer that is way off the listed price, they can assume that their offer will be turned down or countered. They will look elsewhere where the chances of a successful offer situation are greater.
Why Use a Yard Sign
The yard sign is one of the most powerful marketing tools available to the home seller. This silent sales person offers seven-days-a-week, twenty-four hours a day exposure for the property. Typically, the sign will include phone numbers for interested buyers to call, as well as the name of the real estate company that has listed the house. Signs can also carry "riders" which can note unique features of the property not seen from the street, such as swimming pools, extra acreage, or outbuildings.
The reason behind the successful track record of yard signs is very simple. Most buyers have already identified the neighborhood or type of house they would like to live in. When they are actively in the market looking for the right property, they will routinely drive through those areas that are appealing to them. The yard sign triggers they inquiry call, which often leads to a showing if not to an actual offer to purchase. In the event that the buyer does not proceed to an offer, they have at least given their Realtor a better indication of what they are looking for and have taken an important step toward narrowing the search.
How to Improve the Selling Time
Selling your home? How soon will it sell? Ten days? Eighty-six days? Three hundred thirty days? What factors can influence the time it takes to produce a serious buyer?
When listing your home, ask your real estate agent for the average sale time in your neighborhood. This can be determined by averaging the actual number of days required to sell other homes in the same area over a set period of time, say the last six months.
Let's say that average is one hundred twenty days. What can be done to speed up the time it takes to attract a buyer? Plenty.
If it is priced right and the condition of your home compares favorably to others currently for sale in the neighborhood, and you are offering comparable terms, perceive greater benefits in your home at less money. This alone can cause buyers to compete favorably for your home. The key to a shorter selling time on your home is to offer one or more unique benefits to buyers. Be creative and you may enjoy an even faster sale.
The Difference Between Marketing and Selling
The next time you sell, how would you like every real estate agent in town working to find a buyer for your home? You can, by choosing a real estate agent who will market your home rather than selling it.
That may sound a little confusing at first, but there is a difference between selling and marketing a home. When an individual agent locates a buyer, shows your home and writes a contract to purchase it, that person has "sold" your home. Traditionally, homeowners have chosen an agent they felt would "sell" their home, someone with a history of showing and selling homes to individual buyers. Being only one person however, the number of possible buyers with whom they are working is limited.
Locally, there are numerous agents actively working with buyers. Individually, each may only be working with a few buyers, yet, collectively; they are working with every available buyer in the market. Wouldn't it be great if they were all bringing their buyers to see your home?
This can happen when I represent you. I will expose you home to the entire real estate community. By marketing your home I will be rallying the support of every sales agent in the area, making them aware of the features and amenities offered by your home, and encouraging them to show your home to many potential buyers. This means your home will get a much wider exposure to a broad group of qualified buyers. The benefits can be an early sale at full price.
Marketing Through the MLS
As a Multiple Listing System (MLS) member I am able to input data about current listings into a local computerized system. That data is then made available to participating real estate agents in the area. Most MLS systems today are quite sophisticated, containing the information about the majority of listings in a given market area.
Marketing in Printed Media
The value of print advertising is only as good as the knowledge of when and where to place advertisement. As a Northern Virginia Expert, I know which print media are the best place to advertise you home and when they to place them to maximize readership. I also have a team of experts who specialize in photography and layout to maximize your print advertising
Marketing on the Internet
By virtue of the fact that you are on-line reading this page, you are evidence of the growing power of the Internet in providing information to buyers and sellers of various products and services. Each passing day brings massive change to the quantity of data and choices that the general public can access in their search for knowledge. My website is deemed to be one of the most popular places for Northern Virginia homebuyers and sellers. This means your home will get maximum internet exposure.
