Answers for selling your home (real estate, for sale, work)

[nickindependence]

Since we are in a buyers market currently with no light at the end of the tunnel, i wanted to offer some advice and what you can do to efficiently market your home with good results.

In todays market there is an abundance of homes available with prices to suit all pockets and with buyer negotiating power being at its highest. The first i tell my customers is from the moment you put you property on the market, it has to always be a show home. A buyer may come at anytime and the last thing they want to see is plates in the sink and childrens toys spread around the floor. The property must be imaculte at all times. I know this is difficult but you would be surprised how important it is as first impressions count.

We have all seen HGTV, and it doesnt take a rocket scientist to realize that by painting your walls a neutral color you are appealing to a wider audience. So if you have rooms that are a dangerous purple color or such, it is worth the investment in a couple of tins of paint and a weekend to remedy the problem. Just as it is important to ensure your front yard is neat and tidy. A welcoming tidy home from the curb will draw buyers straight in the front door.

All of these are pretty common sense things, it is amazing however how many people dont think about it.

The final and just as crucial consideration is choosing a realtor. When selecting one you should interview them to see what exactly they will do to sell your house. Some realtors may have specialities or offer special services. Just as to find out a little about them. For example, im originally from the UK and write a newspaper column there and market to the British market. Buyers and sellers alike appreciate this extra work because they are in effect doubling the amount of people who see their properties as they will be advertised abroad. Ask if they provide international advertising and have a high profile abroad. This can only help you sell your property.

The final thing is to make sure you and your realtor are on the same page as each other. You must trust your realtor to do everything in his power to get your home sold, so you must have a good relationship with that person and it works both ways. Be open to suggestions, if the price you want is too high then discuss ways which you can be more competetive like lowering your price or offering to pay for closing costs.

All of these pieces of information may seem like common sense but will go along way to helping sell your property.

Good luck

[cmj_fla]

Thanks for the advice. My parents have had their home on the market for a few months now and won't take any of my advice about their wall colors and so forth. I think I will print this out so they can see it given out by a professional. They have also had problems with their Realtor but I am beginning to think it's them... they are being a bit hard headed about this whole thing, but I guess when you have lived in a home for 35 years it's harder to sell it for less than you think it is worth or change anything about it.

[nickindependence]

When you have lived in a home for so long it is hard to break the attachment. For example, they have a lifetime of memories there, raising a family, perhaps grandchildren, etc etc. All of these things in the mind of an owner give it a certain sentimental value. Unfortunately, that value will never be realised in a sale because those momories only apply to them. The property is only worth fair market value and in all honesty like everything in the sales arena is only worth what somebody is willing to pay.

This is why i give this sort of advice to people to try to understand what they are up against and how just by making a few tweaks they hopefully are able to sell their property, and hopefully for close if not exactly the price they want to achieve.

I hope this has been helpful. If you need any other advice you know where i am, but i would recommend a neutral color scheme. This way nobody can dislike it but it also allows potential buyers to see a blank canvas so they can envisage how they can put their own stamp on the property and make it theirs.

Good luck

Nick

[ucfjtm]

Originally Posted by nickindependence

I hope this has been helpful. If you need any other advice you know where i am, but i would recommend a neutral color scheme. This way nobody can dislike it but it also allows potential buyers to see a blank canvas so they can envisage how they can put their own stamp on the property and make it theirs.

Please follow this advice. I couldn't believe the people across the street repainted their house from a neutral gray-blue to canary yellow, then put it up for sale. It's an eyesore. They've listed their house at an overvalued $350k (Zillow's at $320k, and Zillow has been about $50-70k high for recent sales) for six months, but I'd bet that new color has seriously reduced many people from even considering it.

[her2001]

How about get a realtor that makes it easy to see images on properties and get information.

I was looking last night on Yahoo and 30% of the listings wanted you to register on the real estate agents site. This was after registering on Yahoo. Another 5 % had dead links.

If my house was for sell I would want it exposed as much as possible to buyers.

[CJFlorida]

The neutral color thing and removing family pictures is fine. Age old advice that even my grandpa told me.

In this market the problem is the prices are way, way too high in many cases.

If you are not getting offers within 10% of your asking price, lower the price until you do.

Buyers smell blood in the water and rightly so. Perhaps you will be lucky and find a newbie buyer who does not know about the bubble collapsing. But those folks are becoming more and more rare.

Buyers have all the power. Lower the price until it sells if you have to sell. If you don't have to sell and can wait the next 5 plus years out, great.

[nickindependence]

You make a very good point and half the trouble is that homes are over priced for the market. Houses are selling but because the market is flooded at the moment there is more choice for people.

I am of the opinion that market hasnt reached the bottom yet and still has further to decline before it will pick up. There are many articles which disagree with this and no-one including me knows what really will happen but i believe that we wont see the market recover in any meaningful terms until the middle if not later of 2008.

However following the guidelines i set above will improve your chances. There is no hard and fast secret to selling a property and anyone who tells you that is lying. But there are ways ou can improve your prospects.

Turning to the poster who is searching on Yahoo classifieds. This is a good starting platform, but dont expect to be able to get any sort of depth or meaningful information from this as it is really a guide and a good method for a large Realty company to try to win your business.

There are a number of websites which i would recommend, im not sure if i can say them as i dont want to get into trouble for soliciting business even if they arnt anything to do with me, but his goes back to why you should use a realtor. They can take all of this work off your shoulders and if you work wit ha board associated REALTOR, then you have access to every listing out there that is on the MLS, not only a handful of properties which are listed by a company etc.

For example, i am a board certified Realtor, and my website has a direct link to the MLS which is provided by the board. But even this wont give you every property out there at the moment in your search criteria. The only way you can get that sort of indepth search is by working with a Realtor.

Good luck

Nick

[CJFlorida]

Originally Posted by nickindependence

You make a very good point and half the trouble is that homes are over priced for the market. Houses are selling but because the market is flooded at the moment there is more choice for people.

I am of the opinion that market hasnt reached the bottom yet and still has further to decline before it will pick up. There are many articles which disagree with this and no-one including me knows what really will happen but i believe that we wont see the market recover in any meaningful terms until the middle if not later of 2008.

However following the guidelines i set above will improve your chances. There is no hard and fast secret to selling a property and anyone who tells you that is lying. But there are ways ou can improve your prospects.

Turning to the poster who is searching on Yahoo classifieds. This is a good starting platform, but dont expect to be able to get any sort of depth or meaningful information from this as it is really a guide and a good method for a large Realty company to try to win your business.

There are a number of websites which i would recommend, im not sure if i can say them as i dont want to get into trouble for soliciting business even if they arnt anything to do with me, but his goes back to why you should use a realtor. They can take all of this work off your shoulders and if you work wit ha board associated REALTOR, then you have access to every listing out there that is on the MLS, not only a handful of properties which are listed by a company etc.

For example, i am a board certified Realtor, and my website has a direct link to the MLS which is provided by the board. But even this wont give you every property out there at the moment in your search criteria. The only way you can get that sort of indepth search is by working with a Realtor.

Good luck

Nick

Someone sold their house today and someone will sell their house tomorrow. My guess is that they priced it very aggressively.