As a seller, there are pros and cons to many decisions you might face. Make informed decisions by understanding what the choices include.
For example:
Is it better to use a Broker or sell on your own
To answer this, let’s consider why people want to sell on their own.
They do it because they are hoping to make more money that way, since ultimately there is a cost associated with enlisting the help of an agent.
What people do not know is that often a seller will try to sell on their own, and after no success will finally decide to get help from an agent. In the meantime, time and possibly money is lost or wasted because the house just sat on the market when it might have already gotten sold.
A better way to think about the expense of hiring an agent is to consider it an investment. This investment will cover advertising and coordination of all the steps involved in house sales. It will cover the professional consulting you would want to do in order to figure best pricing for your house, as well as how much and what sort of work to do to make the house optimally ready to sell.
In most markets, it actually takes lot of work to sell a house and it is not something that most people find fun. It is extremely disruptive. Having a professional to help with all the steps and details of the process can make it much less stressful.
And in addition, it is statistically found that hiring an agent results in an overall higher net for the seller after everything is finished.
That being said, if you live in a location during a market where there is extremely high demand and very low housing inventory, and you know your way around the process for selling homes, you may be able to very successfully sell on your own.
How to price your house
Pricing your house at the optimal point is important and tricky.
The most common mistake that sellers make in selecting their sale price is to price the house too high. As the owner, your will tend to find many reasons to justify as high a price as you can.
However – it is the buyer who must pay the price, and so they do just the opposite; i.e. they find as many reasons as possible for why they should get the house for less money.
The bottom line: it is the market of interested buyers, buying right when you are selling, that determines the value of your house. Not you the seller.
Now, a common idea sellers have is this:
“I will price my house at a high number and see if anyone bites. If they don’t like my price, they can always offer me less. So I have nothing to lose by starting high – even too high.”
This logic is problematic.
First of all, when people are looking for a house to buy, they usually start online and do their “searches” in a way that sets an upper price limit for what they get in results. If your house is priced even $100 above their upper limit, they will never even see your house.
Second, for whatever reason, houses that stay on the market for a long time (relative to those that sell quickly when new on the market) tend to sell for a lower price eventually than they might have, had they priced it lower to start with.
Whether this seems to make sense or not, it is a common pattern.
In any case – what it means is that you do the best as a seller when you price it at the sweet spot that best fits your house, its condition, and the activity of the market right around you.
Figuring out that sweet spot price is what your real estate broker/agent will help you do.
How much work is needed prior to sale
How much work do you want to do on your house prior to sale? This is very important because, of course, a house in great condition is always more attractive to buyers than a house that needs work.
However, it costs money to make improvements. And if you spend money on improvements, you may or may not see a return on that investment when you sell.
This is because, once again, depending on where the house is and what other houses around it are like, some improvements don’t pay for themselves. There is something called “over-improvement” and you want to avoid that because you never regain your money spent on that.
On the other hand, certain types of improvements can significantly raise the sweet spot selling price for your house, and more than pay for themselves.
At the very least, an immaculately clean and tidy house, freshly painted, will always sell faster with more interested buyers than the less inviting ones in the same market.
It is very helpful to consider your options, weigh the potential costs and benefits, and develop your strategy for improvements before you decide to sell. Once again, your real estate professional can help you to understand your options better.
Are there title or lean issues
This does not apply to everyone but if it does apply – it must be addressed. Are there outstanding title or lean or other legal issues that will complicate the sale? What will be required to get them straightened out?
This is important because if open issues are not resolved prior to the closing, it can delay the closing or even cause the sale to never even go through. No one wants this hassle on top of all the work that goes into selling a house.
Sell while in house or move out
Will you be able to vacate the house while it is on the market or will you continue to live in it? This may dictate how much work you want to do in the house to prep it for sale.
Your decision here will also affect your lifestyle while the house is on the market. If you are still in the house while it is being sold, you will feel the inconvenience of always keeping the house “show-ready” and vacating the house so that strangers can come and inspect it. This definitely “gets old” very fast! And it highlights the importance of pricing exactly right so that it sells as fast as possible for the best price possible!
Questions?
Once again – your professional real estate broker can help you figure these things out. Do not be shy about asking for help to fully understanding your options and strategies.
Contact us – we would love to help you understand more!