Thursday, May 24, 2007

When You Are Ready To Sell

Realtors contend that well-priced homes sell in any market and any season but home sellers today have to assume a declining market when determining their asking price.

Since you have no control over the declining market, focus on the items you can have control over, the three P’s of home selling: pricing, promotion, positioning. Price it competitively, promote it everywhere it can be posted and position it well through home ‘staging’ principles made famous by Barb Schwarz. Free your home from clutter and claustrophobia before you put it on the market and clean it thoroughly. Staging will create an opportunity for buyers to focus on the home and the architecture instead of your life and hobbies.

The home seller who needs to sell with a certain period of time should structure his home sale with price reductions in mind on a scheduled basis. Some real estate agents push for price cuts after 14 days or 21 days. Most agents will tell you that the first 30 days of the listing is the critical period. After that the listing is ‘stale.’ You don’t want buyers wondering if something is wrong with your house when the only thing wrong is that you priced it too high.

Although many real estate brokers and agents are highly skilled in their knowledge of their local real estate market and can produce solid CMAs (comparative market analysis) and BPOs (broker price opinions), the trained professionals who conduct the most thorough reports are licensed appraisers such as members of American Society of Appraisers.Their web site offers the following tips for maximizing your home sale price:-

Update the paint and carpeting. The best thing you can do to update the look of your house is give the outside and the inside a fresh coat of paint and add new carpet. When in doubt, nothing works better than a fresh coat of white paint. -Give your house curb appeal. If you are going to spend any money on the yard or landscaping, work on the front yard. It is more important to buyers that a home looks good from the street. They can always fix up the backyard later.

-Clean house. Even if you have to put things in storage, clear your rooms and garage of clutter, knickknacks, etc. Sparse and simple are better than clutter and will make your rooms look bigger.

For homeowners who are thinking about selling in the long term, appraisers note that many people put time and money into areas that don’t increase value. For the best bang for your buck, think about the following:-Add square footage. When it comes to your house, nothing will offer a greater return on investment than putting an addition onto your home. -

Build out your garage. You may not think so at first, but your garage is of great interest to buyers. By adding a garage or expanding the garage you have, you will increase the value of your property. -Think before you build that pool. Even though you may love the idea of having a pool, don’t build one thinking of it is an investment. Many buyers don’t want a pool and don’t want the upkeep.

Location, location, location. The best thing you can do to make sure your home sells is to buy in a good location in the first place. When it comes to the value of your home, the location is still the most important factor.The bottom line advice is to sharpen the pencil and do the best you can on your own home pricing to compete with the other sellers. Yesterday’s prices are history so focus on the most recent sales of comparable properties.

Incentives or gimmicks can get you added attention but the value has to be there for the buyer to get excited about your offer to pay closing costs, etc. You might consider offering to pay the mortgage for 3-6 months for the home buyer. That incentive could calm relax the nervous buyer who is fearful of not selling his own home as part of his trade up or downsizing move. You can also offer agent bonus incentives but it can create a conflict for agents who work as buyer’s agents and must put the buyers’ interests first.

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