Recent home sales data suggests that home sales are finally turning up indicating that the housing market may have finally bottomed out. Still, if you are thinking of selling your home, the current market remains a very challenging one. To get the best price for your home, consider these tips:
Do a cosmetic makeover. There’s a lot of competition in this buyer’s market. The market is flooded with foreclosure properties where banks are discounting prices in order to quickly move these toxic assets off their books. You’ll want to do everything possible to make your home stand out. Remember, buying a home is a particularly emotional purchase where if the buyers ‘fall in love’ with your home they may be willing to pay thousands more than another home of comparable location, square footage, etc. Your best source for deciding what cosmetic surgery will provide the best bang for the buck is an experienced realtor. These professionals have viewed thousands of homes with buyers and can tell you which improvements will be most attractive to potential buyers.
Don’t over-price your home. In this market, it’s important to get your selling price right. What you paid for the home or what you think your home should sell for is immaterial. Your greatest opportunity to sell your home is in the initial few weeks that it goes on the market. Price it too high and you run the risk of it being ignored by the realtor community and individual buyers. If it then stays on the market a few months, people begin to wonder what’s ‘wrong’ with the property? A realtor has the ability to run comparable sales and determine what would be a competitive price for your home. If it doesn’t sell in the first four to six weeks, be prepared to lower your price.
Maximize your visibility. In today’s high-tech world potential home buyers are using multiple sources for their search so be sure you are covering all of your bases. In addition to the basic ‘For Sale’ sign in your yard; brochure flyers in a box in your front yard; an ‘Open House’, and newspaper and community circular advertising, consider Internet advertising including a ‘virtual’ tour of your home where you showcase its most prominent features. Your realtor can help you develop a multifaceted ad campaign.
Don’t get caught with two homes. You find your dream home and decide to put it under contract assuming you can sell your home before you have to close on the new one. Big mistake in this home market and this economy. While the housing market is improving, it is still taking longer to sell homes than in the past. One way to protect yourself is to make your offer contingent upon the sale of your home. This strategy sometimes weakens your negotiating position as sellers strongly prefer non-contingent offers. Another strategy is to get a contract on the sale of your home before placing a contract on a new home. A final strategy is to make certain that you have the financial where-with-all to support two house payments until your home sells.
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