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If you’re planning to list your home for sale, there are plenty of things you want to do. A good real estate agent will guide you through this process and provide tips along the way.
While it’s important to have plenty of tips for selling your home, you should also be aware of the common mistakes home sellers make. Let’s look at some of the top mistakes you want to avoid making.
5 Mistakes Home Sellers Make Commonly
1. Not Hiring a Good Realtor
Without a Realtor to help you sell your home, you’ll have a lot of work ahead of you. Trying to go the FSBO route isn’t easy. Less than 10% of the homes sold in any given year are sold by the owner.
When you decide not to hire a Realtor, you will have to do all the work yourself. This includes marketing, handling showings, negotiating the price, dealing with the home inspection, and so much more.
Even getting the list price wrong can cost you. Hiring a Realtor will give you an expert to help make sure your home sells fast and for a fair price. Don’t make this mistake or you might regret it later.
2. Pricing the Home too High or too Low
If you hire a good Realtor, you will likely avoid this mistake. However, if you choose a Realtor without much experience or one that isn’t very good, this could become a killer mistake.
Commonly, home sellers will price their homes too high or too low. Both will communicate something very specific to potential buyers.
If you price a home too high, you might not get many people looking at your home. Even if it’s just a few thousand dollars too high, it might be harder to find for buyers with a specific budget.
A home price that is set too low makes buyers wonder what is wrong with the home. While many people want to get a good deal on most of the things they buy, if it seems a bit too good to be true, it raises questions.
Pricing a home just right will attract buyers without communicating something is wrong with this house. Plus, a good price might just start a bidding war and result in multiple offers.
3. Not Preparing the Home for Listing Pictures
While it might seem obvious that you want your home prepared for showings, you actually want to make sure it’s prepared much sooner. Listing pictures are vital, especially if you’ll be going even further and having a listing video done.
Before you put your home on the market, make sure it’s prepared. This means it should be clean, decluttered, and potentially staged. It’s best to speak with your Realtor as they can give you specifics of what to take care of before the listing pictures are taken.
4. Ignoring Small Repairs and Renovations
While you don’t necessarily need to invest tens of thousands of dollars into your home before listing it for sale, you should take care of small things. Remember, buyers will have a home inspection done, which will likely catch small repairs. This gives them something to negotiate with and can delay the process.
It’s a good idea to have your own home inspection done before listing the home for sale. This will give you a better idea of what to expect. Plus, anything small that can be fixed quickly and for a small amount of money can be handled.
5. Listing the Home When You’re Not Ready to Sell
This is a huge mistake and commonly made by those that have lived in their home for many years. However, it can also be a mistake made by those that simply are not prepared to sell.
It’s better to wait than to list your home when you’re not ready to sell. Maybe you don’t know what your next step will be. Maybe your home needs some remodeling and repairs before it’s listed for sale.
Whether it’s you that isn’t ready to sell or the home that isn’t prepared, it’s best to wait. You should be financially ready to sell, emotionally ready to sell, and the home should be ready to be sold.
Before you list your home for sale, make sure you know the common mistakes sellers make. Consulting with a good Realtor can help you avoid many of these common mistakes when selling your home. Of course, you need a good Realtor and you will want to trust their advice, too.
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