Introduction

Selling your home is one of the most significant steps in your life. Here are my essential tips you must know…

For most people, selling their home means cashing in their biggest asset. In other words, it must be handled with immense care if you desire to protect and capitalize on your property. These Helpful Tips were written with one objective in mind: to give you the information you need to maximize your profits, retain control, and reduce the anxiety that comes with the home-selling process.

The reason you look closely at why you want to sell is because your motivations play an important part in the process. They influence everything from setting a price to determining how much time and money you’ll invest in getting your property ready for sale. For example, what do you feel is more important to you: the profit you walk away with, or the length of time your property is on the market? If your aim is a quick sale, that can dictate one kind of approach. If your desire is to maximize your profit, the sales process will usually take longer.

Your reasons for selling will influence the way in which you negotiate the sale of your home, but they shouldn’t be given as ammunition to the person who may be a potential purchaser. For example, a prospective buyer who perceives that you must move quickly has the upper hand in the negotiation process. When questioned, simply state that your housing needs have changed. Your reasons are of no one’s concern but your own.

Deciding what price your property should be listed at should take careful consideration. Once you have set your price, you have told prospective purchasers the absolute maximum they will have to pay for your property. The objective for the sales representative is to get a selling price as close to the offering price as possible. If you begin by pricing too high, you might not be taken seriously by prospective purchasers and their agents. Starting too low, can result in selling for much less than market value. Setting your home’s sale price can be reasonably easy. If you live in a subdivision consisting of homes with similar or identical floor plans, built around the same time, all you should have to do is average out the asking prices for the recent resales in the neighbourhood and that should give you a good starting point. This could pose a problem for people who live in older neighbourhoods that have changed quite a bit over the years. Every home in your neighbourhood may be different in insignificant or substantial ways – the house next door may have added an office, for example, or the one across the street might have been built recently to occupy a vacant lot. As a neighborhood evolves over the years, you may find that there are less and less homes that are truly comparable to your own. If you choose to sell your home on your own, the most common way to set a value is to look at homes that have sold in your neighbourhood within the past 3 to 12 months, as well as those presently listed for sale. That’s unquestionably how prospective buyers will assess the worth of your home. It is common to learn what homes have sold for in your neighbourhood by making a quick trip to City Hall; home sale information is public record in most communities (but not all). If you would rather not risk a possible negative conclusion, you may decide to hire a Realtor. Your Realtor will do all the market research and provide you with comparisons showing where your home should be priced to best meet your goals – a fast sell, maximum profit, etc. Keep in mind a great Realtor is attuned to certain market conditions that may not be evident from comparable sales and listings.

One of the most informative ways to get to know your competition is by viewing other homes on the market and trying to identify features that are popular and to discover what turns buyers off. Plan on spending a couple of weekends touring other homes on the market to learn what other sellers are asking. Be sure to make note of the floor plan, condition, appearance, size of lot, location and other features. While you visit these homes, be observant to the details (and what other ‘buyers’ are saying), this will help you acquire a good understanding of how different features affect pricing. It is at this point that you can apply what you’ve learned to the task of setting your price. It is important to include in your equation what homes are actually selling for, not just simply what people are asking. And remember, if you’re serious about selling your home quickly, don’t be more expensive than your neighbour.

You may find that sometimes you can use a good appraisal to benefit you in the marketing of your home or property. And if you get a certified appraisal, you can use it to let potential purchasers know what amount can be financed. However, you must determine whether the costs are worth it or not. Also keep in mind that it has a limited life.

In some cases people look to their tax assessments to assist them in determining a value. There are a number of things wrong with this approach, for example assessments are based on criteria unrelated to property values, so they often don’t reflect the true value of your home. It is quite common to find two identical homes in the same neighbourhood with drastically different tax assessment values because one was purchased more recently than the other.

Almost two-thirds of the people who try to sell their own homes say they wouldn’t do it themselves again, according to research by the National Association of Realtors. People surveyed found that there were difficulties in determining a price, limited marketing approaches and avenues. As well there is a liability concern among the primary reasons they would turn to a Realtor next time. And quite often selling a home privately takes up more time and effort than you might have initially expected. Many top Realtors are more than willing to assist do-it-yourself sellers with some of the paperwork, contracts, etc.. Plus you’ll have built up a relationship with an agent if problems do arise that require professional assistance. If you decide to work with a Realtor, contact two or three. Explain to each that you’re thinking about putting your home on the market and you’d like to meet to talk about pricing and marketing. By having this group “evaluation” done, you should end up with a fairly good price range to assist you in your decision. If a Realtor’s price is substantially higher or lower than the average price range, you should ask him or her to justify the estimate. Just as you should be concerned with a price that is too low, beware of agents who gives you the highest price — they may be trying to buy your listing. Educated Realtors know the market, and your neighbourhood in particular. They will supply you with information on past sales, current listings, a marketing plan, something on their own background, and references from past clients. Take the time to carefully evaluate candidates on the basis of their sales experience, negotiating abilities, qualifications, enthusiasm and personality. One of the most important factors is to make sure the person you choose is going to put in a lot of hard work on your behalf.

It is important to make sure you leave yourself enough room in which to bargain. If what you ask for is unacceptable to the buyer, and their first offer is unacceptable to you, then you had better make sure you have some negotiating room. Start with the absolute minimum price you would accept, then pick the price you’d get if the world were perfect. This gives you your range to keep in mind when working with your Realtor to negotiate the sale. In setting your asking price, review your priorities. Do you want to maximize your profit or sell quickly? You will price high if you want to maximize your profits, or close to market value if you want to sell quickly.

Each year, corporate North America spends billions of dollars on product and packaging design. The lesson here is that appearance is critical—and it would be foolish to ignore this when selling your home. You may not be able to change your home’s location or its floor plan, but you can do a lot to improve its appearance. And you should. The look and “feel” of your home generates a greater emotional response than any other factor. You may price your home to sell, but a prospective buyer reacts to what they see, hear, feel and smell.

The key to effective marketing is knowing your product’s good and bad points. In the case of your home, accentuating the good can mean a faster sale for more money; failing to deal with the bad can mean months on the market and a lower-than-desired sale price. One of the biggest mistakes you can make is to rely solely on your own judgement and personal feelings. Remember this is YOUR HOME, a place of fond memories. There are bound to be emotional and personal issues that can impair your ability to make an honest assessment of your home’s strengths and weaknesses. In assessing what improvements you can make, you should ask others for their opinions. It is important that the person gives an honest answer; some may try to spare your feelings, and that is just what you don’t need. Fortunately, your Realtor won’t be shy in discussing what should be done to make your home more marketable.