Eight Mistakes Every Seller Should Avoid

When selling your home there are several mistakes every seller should avoid. This report briefly summarizes eight mistakes that are commonly made by sellers. Avoid them and watch your profits soar.

Seeing Your Home through the Eyes of the Buyer

Because of the many experiences and memories you’ve had in your home, it is sometimes very hard to look objectively at it as if you were the buyer. No matter what you say, buyers have one thing in common; they want to see a home in as good as condition as possible so they don’t have to spend time and money on to move in. Their first impression of your home is always the best. You never have a second chance to make a first good impression. Your home must be clean and de-cluttered. All personal items should be removed. Only keep those items in your home that are absolutely necessary in order to continue living there. When in doubt, remove it from the home. Get very particular and look at your home in the eyes of your buyer.

Poor Marketing Plan

Only in fairy tales does the perfect buyer find your home quickly and easily. It takes a concerted marketing effort to find the right buyer for your home. This means you must have a very specific marketing plan in place. Your agent should be able to give you a very detailed report of exactly what will be done to market your home. A successful agent will market your home world-wide, every day, all-day. Be sure your agent gives you a written detailed plan of exactly what he/she will do to market you home.

Curb Appeal Brings Buyers into Your Home

Before a potential buyer ever sees the inside of your home, he/she will see the exterior. If they see something they like, they will want to view the inside. If they don’t like the exterior of the home, they may walk away and never view the inside of your home. Many buyers never find out that the reason their real estate agent cancelled the showing on their house is that the potential buyer was turned off at the outside appearance of the home. Before a buyer will make the biggest buying decision of their life, they want to feel good about what they see on the outside. Your professional real estate agent should give you many suggestions for optimizing the appearance of the home’s exterior. The time and effort that you make on making the exterior appealing will only add more money to your bottom line.

Incorrectly or Improperly Completing the Seller Disclosure Form

Before you home can be sold, you must complete a seller disclosure form. In this form it is your responsibility as a seller to document any problems you may be aware of in your home. Today, most informed buyers request a home inspection as part of the condition for buying your home. If there is a problem, it will likely be discovered. It is much better to take care of these problems up front. It is also a wise financial decision. After all, you don’t want to get involved in any potential lawsuits.

Failure to Leave Your Home during Showing

A wise real estate agent will educate you on the need to vacate your home when it is being shown. Many buyers feel they should be actively involved in showing the home. This is a “Major” mistake. It is best to leave this task to the professional real estate agent. He/she will escort the potential buyers through your home. The buyers in turn will feel much more comfortable about candidly discussing the home. If you are present, they not only will not discuss the home, they will also leave very quickly… and they probably won’t come back! Your real estate agent is your representative. He/she is trained to negotiate on your behalf. Leave the job of showing your home to the real estate professionals. You will get a quicker sale.

Over or Under Pricing Your Home

If you price your home too high, you will fewer showings. In fact, you may help sell other comparable homes in your neighborhood that are more correctly priced. If you price your home too low, you could potentially leave thousands of dollars on the table. Setting the right price on your home is a critical part of the overall marketing plan. Just because your neighbor sold his/her home for “such and such” price, does not mean that is what you will get for your home. You must do a very careful competitive market analysis in order to arrive at the right selling price. This is best done by a professional real estate agent.

Waiting Too Late to Plan for Your Move

Moving out of a home is a big challenge under any conditions. It is especially hard if you have not made a specific plan. For example, it is sometimes very wise to rent a storage facility for your personal belongings. This really helps in the process of de-cluttering your home.

You also want to take a good inventory of the items you plan to move. You should label each box clearly so that when you get to your next home, you will know exactly where the box should be placed in order to efficiently unpack.

Many of your moving expenses are tax deductible. You should have a place where you file and keep track of all the receipts and expenses associated with your move.

In summary, don’t wait until the last minute to think about moving. Take a little time up front to make a plan and then follow it. It will save you a lot of stress, time and money.

Failure to work with a Full-Time Professional Real Estate Agent

Selling your home quickly for maximum profit is the bottom line. In order to successfully accomplish this, you need to work with a full-time professional real estate agent. Select your agent carefully. When selecting your agent, ask about the following item:

• A 30 Day Marketing plan to sell your home.
• His/her experience in listing and marketing homes
• Utilization of current technology to market your home world wide, all day, everyday.
• Providing a comprehensive market analysis of homes recently sold in your neighborhood.