5 Common Mistakes Made When Selling Your Home, and How You Can Avoid Them
Every year, millions of homes are sold in the United States. Over 5 million homes were sold in 2019 alone!
However, selling your home isn’t as simple as putting it on the market and waiting for a buyer. And if you make a crucial mistake along the way, you can end up losing both time and money on the sale.
To help you avoid these missteps, we’ve put together a list of 5 of the most common. Keep reading to learn more.
1. Not Prepping Your Home for Sale
A lot goes into the process of preparing to sell your home. And the first thing you need to do is get your house market ready. This means going through each room and completing a thorough cleaning and decluttering.
Your home should be spotless and organized throughout the entire process, as each potential buyer should have just as good of an experience as the next.
Pack away any personal objects, such as family photos and religious items. It’s important that those who tour your home are able to envision themselves living there. If your home is full of you and your family, it will be difficult for them to do so.
A good rule of thumb is to remove 30% of your belongings from each room. You don’t want your home to look bare (unless you’ve already moved out), but you don’t want it to appear cluttered either.
Put extra focus on the closets and other storage areas. One of the top items buyers look for is ample storage space. Removing as much as you can from closets and cupboards will make them appear larger.
2. Setting an Unrealistic Asking Price
For every homeowner, their home is priceless – as it should be! You’ve spent years, possibly decades, in this space, growing your family and making it your own. But when you’re thinking of selling your home, you need to be able to step outside of your bias and take an objective look at the house.
Your real estate agent will be able to help you with this, but it’s crucial that you set a realistic and fair asking price for your home. Pricing it too high will diminish interest and your home will sit on the market far longer than it should.
If your home has not sold or had much interest after a month or so of being on the market, your real estate agent will likely suggest dropping the price. And depending on how high you priced it, you could end up selling your home for the lower price anyway.
The only difference is, by pricing it too high to begin with, you’re going to lose a great deal of money along the way.
3. Not Hiring an Agent
Speaking of getting help from your real estate agent throughout the home selling process, in order to have the ability to do so, you need to have an agent from the start. Many buyers think they can put their home on the market “for sale by owner” and get the same results as they would have with an agent, but this isn’t the case.
Sure, you’re perfectly capable of selling your home on your own. However, you won’t get as much money from the sale and your house will sit on the market for a longer period of time.
Real estate agents are home selling experts. They have all of the tools, knowledge, and connections needed to sell your home for what it’s worth and do it quickly.
4. Taking Poor Photos of Your Home
Thanks to technology, the vast majority of the home buying and selling process is done online these days. Yes, you’ll still have potential buyers scheduling in-person showings, but only after the online listing of your home caught their interest.
This is why, now more than ever, it’s vital that you have high-quality photos of your home to go along with the listing. Potential buyers need to fall in love with your home before ever seeing it in person. And having poor photos of your home online is the best way to make buyers scroll right past it.
If you’re not great with a camera, it’s absolutely worth it to hire a professional to snap a few photos of each room of your home, as well as the exterior and outdoor spaces.
5. Limiting Showings
Selling your home is a hassle and an inconvenience. It’s best to go ahead and accept that before going into the process. Your real estate agent is going to have people calling at all hours of the day to view your home, and, within reason, you need to let them.
The more interest in your home, the better. One of the best tips for selling your home we can give you is to keep your home is showing condition at all times and be prepared to leave for an hour or so at a moment’s notice. You never know, the next person to view your home could be the one to buy it.
Avoid These Mistakes to Get the Most Out of the Sale of Your Home
For many people, buying a house is the largest investment they’ll make in their life. To get the most out of your investment, it’s important to take the proper steps when selling your home.
Thankfully, through the years and billions of homes bought and sold, you have a blueprint of what not to do. Follow it, and you’re more likely to sell your home quickly and for more money.
Looking for more real estate tips and tricks? Be sure to check out our blog!
