Top Seller Mistakes
1. Overpricing Your Home!
When you hire Bouwman Realty Group, we will give you a strong market analysis and help you determine a reasonable price for your home, so you can avoid overpricing your home. Uninformed sellers often choose the listing agent who suggests the highest list price, which is the worst mistake a seller can make. At BRG we are experts in our local market. We will be honest with you. Many sellers base their listing price on an inflated view of their home’s value, and are likely to end up selling after multiple price drops for less than they would have if they priced it right the first time. We will guide you in setting a price for your home which will give top dollar, with minimal time on the market.
2. Failing to Make the Inside of Your Home “Show Ready” !
Fix things that are broken and replace things that are affordable that will make your home shine. Replace the stained carpet and give those walls a fresh coat of neutral paint. Buyers are emotional creatures (we can’t say this enough) When they walk into your home we want them to feel warm and fuzzy and picture themselves living there. A lot of people can’t see beyond small repairs. Don’t give them excuses to make low ball offers. Properly staging your home will dramatically improve your selling price. Give your home a heavy duty cleaning and primping. Take flowers you trimmed from outside and put them in a vase on your kitchen table. Get rid of excess furniture and clutter. Keep your pets out of the house when it is being shown. Make it smell nice, make it look pretty! BRG will assist you, we have the experience and eye in transforming homes into “show ready”. We also have a professional home designer available for consultation.
3. Rejecting Offers!
If an early offer is near the asking price, as long as the asking price was in line with the market, it can just mean that the property was priced correctly and everything is exactly as it is supposed to be! It’s good practice to respond to every offer – even the ones that are way below your desired listing price. If you haven’t received any offers yet and a low ball offer is made it’s worth it to see if you can negotiate the price up before rejecting it. Entering negotiations will also pressure other buyers to bid before it’s too late. If you reject the first bid to wait for a better offer you might end up settling for a significantly lower offer.
4. Taking Things Personally! !
If you’re offended by a low ball offer or criticism a buyer may have of your house, you are letting your emotional connection to the house get in the way of selling it. Keep in mind that the buyer isn’t attacking you personally. Instead, the buyer is feeling out the market and trying to get the best deal possible. Remember this is business. You have to stop thinking of it as home. From now on it is property. Once you’re thinking like a seller instead of a homeowner, potential buyer criticism or low ball offers are just part of the process. Any opinion, whether it’s positive or negative, is a good sign because it means they are looking proactively at your home and using their constructive criticism to improve showing your property.
5. Not Making Your Home or Yourself Readily Available!
If you want to sell your home, you can’t be finicky or picky about when potential buyers can view your home and you have to return phone calls, texts or emails when your agent needs to show your home. Although it seems like a no brainer, it is all too common for the seller to limit showing availability or wait two days to return a phone call.
6. Forgetting the Importance of Curb Appeal!
First impressions are important! If you polish and primp inside your home but neglect to pull weeds or paint your front door, you run the risk of potential buyers leaving without ever entering your home! Power wash the siding, wash the windows, manicure the lawn and flower beds. We will guide you in this process.
7. Failing to “Depersonalize your Home”!
Selling a home can be very emotional and it can be hard to take down personal items, but depersonalizing a home is crucial. A buyer has to be able to picture living in your home, and that image can be hard to imagine with the owner’s pictures and personal items cluttering the house. (take down those wedding pictures, portraits of the grandchildren, plates with little Joey’s hand print when he was five….) When you go to market it’s no longer a home, it’s a product. At BRG we will be honest with you and guide you in this process.
8. Being a “Hovering Seller”!
Some sellers insisting on being present during viewings – don’t do it! Having the owner present makes the agent’s job trickier and the potential buyers very uncomfortable (it can blow a deal!). Go have a nice dinner out, relax, and let us do our job!
9. Waiting Until Spring or Summer to Put the Property on the Market.
Homes sell all year round, take advantage of potential buyers looking in the ‘off season’. Often times there is less inventory – giving you an advantage in the market.
10. Bad Photos in the MLS!
94% of buyers begin their home search on line. The majority of the photos that are generated on the Web originate from the MLS. Your photos on the MLS should be “Picture Perfect”! Your home needs to stand out and shine above the competition. At BRG we use a professional photographer. We make sure your home is presented in the most beautiful marketable manner.
