15 Insider Seller Secrets

15 Insider Seller Secrets:

Don’t Try to Sell Your Home without Them

 

 

Knowledge is power – Whether you’re thinking about hiring a real estate professional or thinking that selling your home on your own is the way to go, being informed about the home selling process will reduce your stress and increase the chances your home will sell – quickly, and for the most money.

  1. Hire the right realtor

 

Nearly 67% of home sellers who sold their homes on their own say they would never go it alone again.

 

That’s according to a survey by the National Association of Realtors, which also found that do-it-yourself home sellers:

• Didn’t have the time to properly market their home
• Didn’t have access to the information necessary to properly price their home
• Weren’t connected to the right marketing networks to get their home listing in front of enough prospective buyers
• Felt concerned about their liability after the sale

 

The right full-time professional real estate agent like those at MyPhoenixMLS.com, sell homes all day, every day. Their marketing efforts run 24 hours a day, 7 days a week in a variety of locations. They have special access to all the current market information to properly price your home. Their extensive marketing networks get your listings in front of potential buyers 24-7.

  When looking for a real estate agent to help you sell your home, talk with two or three before making your choice. Think about:

• Does the agent have a written marketing plan tailored to your home?
• Does the agent have the connections necessary to get your house in front of many other real estate agents and prospective buyers? According to the National Association of Realtors, 82% of home sales are the result of agent connections.
• Has your agent offered references for you to talk with?
• What’s the agent’s track record? The number of years that an agent has been in the business is less important than the agent’s track record. Are his clients happy with him?
• Is the agent’s price quote in line with the selling price of other homes in my area? Your agent’s willingness to share with you his market analysis is key – if he’s unwilling, wonder what he may be hiding.
• Does it seem like the agent is saying whatever it takes to get your listing? Or do his facts and figures seem reasonable? Look out for real estate agents that will tell you they can sell your house for an outrageously high price – they’ll tell you anything to get your listing, then you’re bound for disappointment.

 

If you decide to sell your home yourself, consider using a real estate agent as a consultant to help you with the most complicated aspects of your home sale.

  As Certified Negotiation Experts and National Association of Realtors members, the experts at MyPhoenixMLS.com can help you with paperwork, contracts, etc. – and be available if problems arise. Call us today at 602-318-1114 or 1-866-249-1678 or e-mail info@myphoenixmls.com.

  2. Understand your motivation to sell

 

Why are you selling your home? Perhaps your job has taken you to a different state. Or you’re ready to move up into a larger home for your growing family. Or you just want something different.

 

Whatever it is, being able to articulate why you’re selling your home is important, because it will determine the best selling strategy.

 

If you’ve already moved to another state for a job, perhaps the best strategy is to sell your home in the shortest amount of time, even if you have to price it slightly below market value. Or if you’re building a new home for your growing family and have time before you’ll be ready to move in there, perhaps your first goal is to sell your home for the most money, even if it takes a bit longer.

  

 

 

3. . . . But keep it between you and your Realtor®

 

Some information is best kept to yourself – including your motivation behind your home sale. If your prospective buyers know that you’ve already taken a job in another state, they could use that information to their advantage – and your disadvantage – during negotiation. If the buyer asks, simply say that you’re moving because your housing needs have changed.

4. Know your market before you set your price – and give yourself room to negotiate

 

In a buyer’s market, buyers look at your asking price not as the minimum amount they’ll have to pay for your home, but as a ceiling under which they can negotiate with you (this is less true in a seller’s market when buyers will compete against each other, upping the sales price each time).

 

So if you set your asking price at the lowest amount you’re willing to accept for your home, you’re bound for disappointment.

 

Of course, the opposite is true as well – if you set your asking price so far above market value, prospective buyers and their agents won’t take you seriously – and they may not even look at your home.

 

You should set your asking price at the market value for your home. Determining your home’s market value is a complex task – one that a real estate agent can help you with. Generally, a good way to figure out your home’s market value is to look at the prices of similar homes that have sold in your neighborhood in the last six months.

 

That doesn’t mean that you price your home at exactly the price your neighbor’s home just sold for, but that you use neighbors’ sales prices as a baseline against which you price your own home (taking into account your home’s unique features and benefits).

  For a FREE market study of the recent home sales in your neighborhood, visit www.myphoenixmls.com/homeeval.asp or call 602-318-1114 or 1-866-249-1678 or e-mail info@myphoenixmls.com.

  5. Get Your Tax Facts Straight

Be sure to talk to your CPA!  Listening to non-experts could be costly.

  

 

6. Make the right first impression

 

It’s an old adage that “You only have one chance to make a first impression.” Make sure your home’s first impression is a good one by:

• Picking up.
  Each room in your home should be neat and tidy.
• Minding the yard.
  Is the lawn mowed? Weeds picked?
• Getting rid of all odors.
  You’ve learned to live with the smells of your dogs and cats, teenage son’s gym shoes, grandmother’s smoking, and last night’s baked salmon. But your prospective buyers don’t want to live with those smells. Replace them with warm, inviting aromas – perhaps a mild potpourri or freshly baked cookies.
• Giving your home a good scrub-down.
  Now is the time to clean in between the cracks, behind and under the furniture, on top of the ceiling fans – all the places you could afford to ignore before. If your home looks and smells fresh and clean buyers will notice – and they’ll be more inclined to make you a good offer.
• Making mild repairs.
  A squeaky door hinge, dent in the wall, or chipped tile can all be easily repaired. They may seem small, but prospective buyers will notice the details and even small problems can leave a big impression in the buyer’s mind. If you’re competing against new homes you’ll have to be even more conscious of small problems – ones that a buyer won’t find in a brand new house.

 

If you’re too busy, or simply not detail-minded, hire a yard maintenance and home cleaning service to get your home in showing condition. The few hundred dollars you’ll spend getting the details in order can mean thousands more in a buyer’s offer.

  7. Paint prospective buyers a picture

 

If your prospective buyers can visualize themselves living in your home, you’re well on your way to a sale. Over-personalized decorations can hinder a buyer’s ability to imagine your home as their own. So put away your knick-knacks and replace them with well-placed, neutral decorations. Buy some home decorating magazines for ideas. Or, if you’re not the decorating type, consider hiring a home staging consultant who can help you get your home ready for showing.

 

When you’re decorating your home for showing, think about the type of buyer that may be coming through your house. If your prospective buyers are mostly young families, leaving out the kids’ decorations is a good idea. If your buyers are more likely single professionals, a few coffee table books or a well-placed vase are a better idea.

 

Once you’ve cleaned, repaired, and decorated your home to make a good first impression and to help prospective buyers visualize themselves in your home, invite a few friends over to give you their honest opinions. Your real estate agent will be able to give you a good objective opinion, too.

  8. Take in the view from the other side of the fence

 

If you haven’t been a prospective home buyer in a while, refresh your memory of what it’s like by checking for sale listings and visiting open houses.

 

Understanding how a prospective buyer feels – and what she sees that’s important (how the home smells, for example) is key to making your home as appealing as possible to prospective buyers.

  9. More is better

 

The more serious buyers making offers on your home, the better. When you have more than one buyer make an offer at the same time, they’ll compete against each other for your home, often raising their offer prices in the process. A real estate agent should be able to market your home to many potential buyers, maximizing the chances that you’ll get more than one offer.

  10. Approach negotiations professionally, not emotionally

 

There’s no doubt that selling your home is an emotional process. We all have deep connections with our homes – they’re places where we’ve broken bread with our families, where our children’s laughter echoes through the halls, where we’ve made memories that we’ll cherish forever.

 

But letting those emotions – or your ego – into the negotiation process is a mistake. Approach negotiations with prospective buyers like you would a business deal – professionally rather than emotionally.

  11. Learn whether your prospective buyer is a “fake” buyer or a real one

 

Having a bit of information about your prospective buyers can give you the upper hand in contract negotiations and help you avoid wasting your time with unqualified buyers.

 

Buyers working with real estate agents are most likely to be real buyers – and ones interested in homes like yours. If prospective buyers aren’t working with real estate agents, wonder why. (After all, working with a real estate agent is free is you’re a buyer.)

 

Watch out for investors, who often don’t work with real estate agents. While they may be “real” buyers, interested in your home, they’ll often try to negotiate a below-market price for your home.

  12. Learn the buyer’s deadlines . . . But don’t create them for yourself

 

If the buyer is pressured to close escrow by a certain date, you can use that deadline as an advantage in negotiations.

 

Likewise, if you impose deadlines on yourself, they become the buyer’s advantage. Sticking yourself to a certain sell-by date will only create unnecessary pressure for yourself and could cost you at the negotiating table.

  13. Take any skeletons out of the closet

 

When you sell your home, you’ll have to fill out a Seller Property Disclosure Statement (SPDS). When you’re filling out the SPDS, take your time and think carefully about all of the defects in your home. You need to disclose all known defects to the buyer or you could get yourself in a lot of trouble. So be truthful when answering the buyer’s questions. Don’t leave any defects off of the form thinking the buyer will never know; they will find out and that could lead to trouble down the road.

  14. It’s not personal: dealing with low-ball offers

 

If a buyer gives you an offer that is far below your asking price, don’t take it as a personal offense. Just as you want to get the best deal – the highest price for your home – so does the buyer want to get the best deal, which for him means paying the lowest possible price. Negotiations will get you and your buyer to a middle ground – a price you can both feel good about.

 

Know that most buyers will initially give you a low offer to see if you’ll take it. Analyze their offer objectively, and then decide with your real estate agent what an appropriate counteroffer would be. Remember to walk the line between giving in too easily and trying to drive too hard a bargain. You want to stand up for yourself and ask for a fair price, but also remember that successful negotiation will involve some give on your part.

 

It may happen that the buyer’s offer is so low that you think the buyer isn’t serious. Maybe he’s not. He may be just fishing – sending out low-ball offers to see if any un-savvy sellers bite. Or he may not be qualified for a large enough mortgage to afford anything close to your asking price. If you believe that a prospective buyer isn’t serious, remind him of how you arrived at your asking price (by evaluating the market for homes like yours) and thank him for his interest – and then walk away.

  15. Mind the contract

 

Selling or buying a home is probably the most serious contractual obligation you’ll ever be personally involved with. Since so much is at stake, it’s critical that you ensure that the contract is properly written. Ensure that all terms, costs, and responsibilities are spelled out explicitly in the contract of sale.

 

Your real estate agent will help you understand the fine print of the contract, and make sure that all of the important provisions are included. The most important sections of the contract include:

•  Addenda incorporated, including HOA rules and regulations
•  Fixtures and personal property, which describes which fixtures and personal property will be sold with the house (usually all fixtures and appliances such as dishwashers and ovens are included while refrigerators, washers, and dryers are not)
•  Loan contingency, which means that the buyer must make a good faith attempt to secure a loan before the close of escrow date, but if the buyer is unable to qualify for a loan, he can have his earnest deposit money back
•  Loan requirements, including a completed Loan Status Report with information about the buyer’s proposed loan, a completed loan application within 5 days after Contract acceptance, and signed loan documents 3 days prior to the close of escrow date
•  Title commitment and title insurance, including copies of any recorded documents as well as any restrictions on title insurance
•  Seller property disclosure statement (SPDS)/Inspections/Walkthroughs, which specifies that the seller must submit a SPDS within 5 days of Contract acceptance and that the buyer has a right to inspect the property and conduct a walkthrough to ensure that any agreed-upon repairs were satisfactorily made
•  Buyer disapproval, which allows the buyer to get his earnest deposit refunded if he disapproves of the title insurance, the SPDS, or the inspection and the seller refuses to remedy the problem
•  Cure period, which provides the seller or the buyer a three-day window to cure any non-compliance issues
•  Alternative dispute resolution and exclusions provides for arbitration and mediation of disputes
•  Agency confirmation lists the buyer’s real estate agent.

 

Once you’ve written and signed the contract of sale, don’t make or accept any verbal promises. If you decide to change any terms of the sale agreement, amend the sales contract accordingly.

  Does minding all 15 seller’s tips sound daunting?

 

The fact is that selling a home is a complex process. Make it easier by having an expert at your side. The real estate experts at MyPhoenixMLS.com can help you navigate the complex process and make sure that your house sells for the greatest price, with the least hassle, and in the shortest time. Call us today at 602-318-1114 or 1-866-249-1678 or e-mail info@myphoenixmls.com.