Selling a
Home
So you've decided to
sell your home. Perhaps you're taking a job in a new community and you need to
sell. Maybe you've outgrown your existing home and you need to move into
something larger. Perhaps your family has grown up and moved out and it is time
to downsize into a smaller home. Whatever the reason, you've decided to sell
your home. What follows are some useful hints and ideas to make the selling
process easier.
Things to Consider When Selling Your
Home
There are four main areas to consider when you decide to
sell your home: choosing your Realtor, pricing the home, preparing your home for
the market, and showing your home to potential buyers.
Choosing Your Realtor
Selecting a Realtor is as
important as any decision you will make in the selling process. You may be
spending a considerable amount of time with your Realtor, so the person you
select to help you should be someone you respect, and someone who is
knowledgeable. Check your Realtor's credentials. How long has he or she been in
the business? What kind of marketing will your Realtor do? Will he or she give
you references? Will your Realtor utilize a website and virtual tour so that
your home has a presence on the Internet? Also, you should find out from your
Realtor what he or she expects from you. Will you be responsible for open
houses? How often will the home be held open? Will there be restricted hours of
showing? Will the home be on a lockbox?
Pricing Your
Home
The Realtor you select to help you sell your home will be
the best source for determining the price your home should be listed for. He or
she will have access to the Multiple Listing Service database and should be able
to provide you with a Comparative Market Analysis of what the home should sell
for, based upon sales of comparable properties in the neighborhood in which your
home is located. Remember also, that a Realtor's knowledge of whether it is a
buyer's market or a seller's market will have an impact on what your home should
be listed for. While your Realtor wants to get you as much as possible for your
home, realistically, it is going to sell for what a buyer thinks it is worth,
and that value will be determined by what other homes have sold for in the area,
in the current market. If you are unrealistically high in your asking price,
your home will not sell, and in fact may become 'stale' on the market. Most of
the sales activity generally occurs within the first month of a home going on
the market, so you want your home listed at a realistic price, so that offers
come in right away.
Preparing Your Home for the
Market
The most important thing to do to your home is to make it
as attractive as possible. Start with the first impression that a potential
buyer has when they drive up, the so-called 'curb appeal'. Mow and edge the
lawn, get rid of the weeds, and plant some nice, colorful flowers if it the
correct season. Stand back and critically look at your home. How do you see your
home? If you stand in the shoes of a potential buyer, you will probably see
things that need to be done.
Preparing your home for market does not stop at the outside. Preparing
your home inside is just as important. Just as you cleaned
up the outside, the inside should be just as clean. Put away any items
that would contribute to a cluttered appearance. While family pictures and other treasures have meaning to
you, to a potential buyer they are just things which tend to make a room seem smaller.
Make sure that the lights are on and the window coverings are open
when a buyer comes into your home. Light and cheerful is much better
than dark and cheerless when it comes to showing your home. Sort out closets
and arrange things neatly. It will make your closets look bigger, and further contribute to the
sense of tidiness. Pride in your home will be seen by a potential buyer, and
hopefully make them want to buy your home.
If you are one of the lucky people who has more money than time, I can refer you to a professional who specializes in 'staging' homes to look their absolute best while they are on the market. If you are selling a vacant home, staging allows you to create a warm and inviting feel in what would have been an empty space.
Showing Your Home to Potential Buyers
Perhaps the most invasive part
about the marketing period will be actually showing the home. If your home is
placed on a lockbox, brokers will call your agent's showing service when
they have a client who would like to tour the home. They will schedule an
appointment and use the lockbox to gain access to the home if you aren't there.
If you are there, most sales agents like to have you remain out of the way as
they show the home, although they may ask you questions regarding the home that
you should cheerfully and honestly answer. Unfortunately, sales agents may ask
to schedule appointments in the early evening if they have clients that work
during the day, so be prepared for some disruption in your daily lives. Weekends
are a particularly popular time for showing homes, so you may want to plan to
enjoy the outdoors or be away from home on prime showing days. Keep your home
ready for showing at almost any time! If brokers can't show your home or if it
is an awkward experience for the broker and his or her client, your home is
going to be 'forgotten' and it won't sell.
If you have to be home during showings, please ignore comments that you might
overhear from potential buyers. Each buyer is looking for their ideal home, and
things in your home may not perfectly match their idea of a dream home. It is
very normal for them to talk about what they see and compare it to what they
ultimately hope to find. When a buyer views your home and
matches their dream with what they see a successful sale will
result.
SPECIAL FEATURE: How can I keep my sanity when my home is on the market?By Dian Hymer
Inman News Features
From a prospective buyer's perspective, the ideal way to preview a listing is when the seller is out of the house and the home is looking its best. This means that all the essentials you need for your day-to-day life must be kept out of sight—toothpaste containers, hair dryers, newspapers, sponges, dishtowels and kitchen appliances that clutter countertops.
Keeping your home ready to show on short notice and then leaving when buyers show up can be trying and inconvenient. But there are ways to make the experience bearable.
First, set up showing instructions that you can live with. Ideally, your home should be available to be shown when buyers want to see it. The easier it is for agents to show your home, the more often it will be shown. There's usually a direct correlation between the number of showings a listing receives and the time it takes to sell it: the more showings, the quicker the sale.
A vacant listing can be shown any time without disturbing the owner.
But, if you're living in a property that's on the market, insist that agents call you before they come. Most agents will respect these instructions. However, occasionally an inconsiderate or unwitting agent will show up with no advance warning and with an eager buyer in tow.
A seller in Contra Costa County, Calif., who worked at home was continually annoyed by agents who showed up without calling first to let her know when they'd be showing the house. Agents simply opened the lock box, took out the house key and let themselves in with no advance warning.
To gain peace of mind, the seller asked her agent to remove the lock box and leave it with her. This way, agents could not gain access to the listing without talking to the seller first. The seller put the lock box on the front porch for agents who had made appointments in advance.
HOME SELLER TIP: To cope with short notice viewings, keep plastic bins handy so you can quickly scoop up toiletries and kitchen utensils and hide them out of sight in a closet or cabinet. Not only will this make it easier to clean up quickly, it'll make it easier to find what you need later.
Pets can be problematic when a home is on the market. If your cat is to stay inside, put notes on exterior doors to remind agents not to let the cat out. Dogs require a little more planning. Some people are afraid of dogs. If unsuspecting agents show up at a listing with their buyers and there is a barking dog, they may decide it's too risky to enter.
Some sellers have the dog stay elsewhere when the house is on the market. If this isn't possible, make sure that agents know that there is a dog in the house and that they need to arrange showings with the seller. One solution to the problem is to take the dog for a walk during showings. Plan to take pets away during open houses.
Cooking can be messy. Also, some cooking odors are offensive. So, plan to eat out more often while your home is on the market, especially during summer months when listings are often shown after work hours.
Entertain someplace other than home if your listing is being shown a lot. Rather than have children's overnight parties at your home, see if other parents can make their homes available.
THE CLOSING: The less you have to pick up and clean up, the easier the selling experience will be.
Dian Hymer is author of "House Hunting, The Take-Along Workbook for Home Buyers," and "Starting Out, The Complete Home Buyer's Guide," Chronicle Books.
Copyright 2003 Dian Hymer
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