Many Sellers think that they are the best person to sell their home, and they know exactly what needs to be done to get their home sold. That, is not always a true statement. As a real estate agent we have to be able to show the seller why they need us to represent them then of course we have to perform our duties and get the property sold. We’re going to talk about a few myths of selling your home.
All you need to sell your house is the internet. If a homeowner takes some pretty pictures and listing their home as a For Sale By Owner it’s going to sell in days. This is not always true. Yes, many buyers who are actively looking for homes are looking on the internet, but a large majority of the buyers are being represented by a Real Estate Agent. The first place the real estate agent is going to look for properties for their buyers is the MLS and usually it’s not until all possibilities in the MLS have been exhausted that they start looking for For Sale By Owner properties.
Property Value. Many times as a seller you may see that a similar house in the neighborhood sold for a certain price and your house may be newer, or better because it’s yours, so obviously you can get more. This could be true but it’s not necessarily what’s going to happen. The price of the home depends on the market, the conditions of the home, improvements that have been made in the home and the actual location within the neighborhood.
Pricing…Overpricing. Yes, we know that you want to get the highest possible price for your home, so you plan to price it high so you have plenty of room to negotiate and then the buyer will feel like they are getting a good deal. The truth is, if your price is too high it’s not going to get the buyers in the house because they are not going to be looking at homes that are out of their price range. Also it may make you look unrealistic to others and they won’t want to submit an offer.
Paint and Decor. Your favorite color is orange and you like your entire house to be that color. You also love round windows so you replaced all the square windows with round windows. You think everyone will love orange paint and round windows. Probably not so much, many home buyers prefer to stick to more a neutral colors and more conventional shapes and sizes. When they are looking at your orange, round windowed house they may be counting the dollars it takes to fix them, and it could either reduce the amount of their offer or scare them off completely.
Clutter, deferred maintenance and staging. You love elephants and you have a large dusty collection that’s in every room, the toilet in the guest bathroom runs if you don’t jiggle the handle and the light switch in the family room doesn’t work, but you’re used to it. People know that you live in your house it’s fine. Well cutting the clutter, fixing the bathroom and doing all the maintenance will save you money and possibly gain you money in the sale of your house. Sometimes when selling a house, less gets you more.
Get your return in investment. You paid a certain amount for your home and invested “X” amount over the time you’ve lived in and you are moving and you’re going to get everything you put in the house back, plus maybe a little more, right? Wrong? Unfortunately just because you paid a certain amount for a house doesn’t always mean that’s what it’s going to be what it is worth in today’s market. When you sell your home you will get the Market Value of your home. Sometimes that will bring you more money, sometimes you won’t make your money back.
My house doesn’t always have to be available to be shown. If they want to see it the house that bad they are going to come on my schedule. Well, if you’re in a popular area and your house is priced right, yes this could be true, but many times if it’s not available or only has limited times for showing many agents aren’t going to show it. Getting people in the door, gets the house sold.
Once we have an offer it’s a done deal. Once we’ve accepted the offer, we’re as good as closed right? No, there are a lot of hurdles to cross before a house officially closes. The buyer has to be approved for their loan, the inspection has to go well and you don’t have a foundation problem that you knew nothing about, the roof doesn’t need to be replaced and oh yeah it appraised for value. Last but not least the buyer didn’t change their mind. Once it’s under contract it doesn’t mean it’s over, it’s not over until the documents are signed and the checks have cleared.
Real Estate Agents get paid so much for just looking at homes or just putting a house on the MLS. Yes, that’s all agents do. No, sometimes agents might actually lose money on a sale. Advertising costs money and to get your house sold we have to advertise, you get an hourly wage or set salary for doing your job. We don’t we don’t get paid until the end, so when we are sending emails and talking to you all through the day, that’s just the beginning of the work we as agents do. Before a house is even listed in MLS or we take it to you we’re doing research, looking at comparable properties. Yes, we get paid one lump sum but if you have a good agent they are probably worth every penny and more.
So if you’re looking to buy or sell a home, call us at (828) 771-2310. If you’d like to look at some of our current listings click here!