The Top 5 Mistakes That Can Cost You Money When Selling Your Home
Your home is usually your largest asset and therefore when it comes time to place it on the market and selling it, you don’t want to be unprepared and sell for less than you should be, by making small but very significant errors. Ultimately everybody wants to achieve a quick sale and a great price for their property. So don’t lose your money, keep these common pitfalls in mind when going on market.
1: Not preparing your property for sale
- Always put time, effort and money (if required) into preparing your property for the Real Estate market.
- Buyers have high expectations today and will not tolerate or pay a high price for a property that is not presented well.
- Ensure everything from the street appeal to the back fence and everything in between is neat, tidy and attractive.
- Modern or really stylish furniture is essential. If you are trying to sell a home with bad furniture choices you’re behind the eight ball already. Bad furniture will detract from your home and reduce your sell price.
- Declutter every room. Remove anything that makes the rooms appear smaller than they actually are. Pack away and store items which are not used on a daily basis.
- Taking the time to present your home to the Real Estate market is without a doubt my number one Top tip. And this applies to both family homes and investment properties.
2: Overpricing the Property for Market
You need to fully discuss the pricing with your Real Estate Agent. Listen to their pricing analysis. Read through the proof of their research which has brought them to their pricing estimate. For example your Agent will have completed their homework and will be able to tell you what has sold within the area and how they compare with your property in relation to features and benefits.
Although agents do like to test the market, being unreasonably high in price will affect how many buyers will or won’t view your property. Today’s clients have all the information at their fingertips about what has sold and therefore they are incredibly savvy buyers.
You will generally know if your pricing is not correct within the first 3 or 4 weeks. If you are receiving lots of viewers online but nobody is picking up the phone then there is usually a pricing problem.
On another note please don’t be tempted to price your property according to what you wish to buy elsewhere. You just cannot compare apples with oranges if the market just doesn’t apply. For example we have some home sellers wanting to sell in the regional areas to move to a city area which both have completely different price ranges. You are not usually going to cover your cost of buying in a high priced market from a low cost market no matter how hard you try.
3. Ensure all Repairs and Maintenance are completed Upfront
Go over your home noting all jobs that need to be attended to and book them in for repair. You may be happy to live with these seemingly small issues but others won’t be. Have a pest & building inspection completed by a professional yourself as most buyers will request one of these upon showing interest in purchasing. It’s best to have any building and pest issues noted and seen to prior to a buyer finding them themselves. If it is a large repair which you don’t wish to attend to then your agent can disclose the information to any potential buyers. This is much better disclosed up front rather than a nasty surprise for your buyer at a later date further along the process.
If you are undertaking any repairs and maintenance ensure that they are completed by a licensed tradesperson. A tacky repair will sound an alarm to any potential home buyer, worrying them as to what other bad repairs have been completed that they can’t see.
Remember always that the tag line – “Move in with nothing to do” has been used for years for one reason. Buyers don’t want to move in and have to start spending money on any unforeseen repairs and maintenance straight away.
4. Selling Your Home Yourself
So you’ve seen how easy it is to sell a home! I mean No.2 Smith St sold down the road within a matter of days, so really how hard can it be? – Right?
Well the thing that you may not have realised is that the house may have been presented to the market in an absolutely immaculate state after receiving advice and guidance from their Real Estate Agent. The Agent may have also spent a lot of time and effort assisting the home owners with their paperwork. The Agent may have had the property styled for the home owner, would have organised all of the best marketing in the areas where the buyers are hanging out. That Agent who has years of training, experience and market knowledge more than likely negotiated a much higher price than what the home owner would have been capable of achieving with a buyer. They may have been working with this buyer for years, trying to find them the perfect house that met all their criteria. A lot of hard work goes into listing and selling Real Estate. I know of many home sellers who have thought that they would sell privately to save themselves the agents’ commission when in fact the price that they sold for was undervalued in the current climate and they would have received the commission plus more in an advertised & negotiated sale by a professional Real Estate agent.
Don’t sell yourself short!
5. Not Realising the Importance of Marketing
“You can’t sell a secret” This saying is so true in the world of Real Estate.
An agent who takes a happy snap with their mobile phone of an untidy home and just sticks it in their window is outdated! Those easy times of Real Estate selling are gone!
Ensure that the Real Estate Agent that you choose is up to date with all the latest technology. That they are proficient at Social Media, they have the properties listed with all the major search engine sites and they too have an amazing website, which is bright, attractive, user friendly and informative.
- Does your agent have an active and up to date data base full of potential buyers?
- Is your agent perceived as the area specialist?
- Does your agent have a podcast and a regular blog? If not why not? You need to ask these questions.
- Does the Agency have a great window space, beautiful signage, well trained and enthusiast team members?
- Do they have the ability to organise home styling, decorating hints and tips.
- Do they do videos, virtual tours, 3D scans?
If they don’t know what these things are then find another agent pronto!
They are handling your most valuable asset and they need to be marketing savvy.
All of these tips are a guide for you to assist in achieving a higher selling price in a shorter period of time. Of course there are a lot of variables associated in a property sale which must be considered also, but the Team at R & R Property are dedicated to educating their clients to assist them in having the best Real Estate Journey possible.
To find more hints and tips check out our other blogs and our Podcast – R and R Property Podcast with The Real Estate Girl Denise Haynes
www.randrproperty.com.au
P: +61 2 4994 5766 | +61 2 4997 4325
