When a homeowner decides to put their home for sale, they are surprised to find the task too emotionally challenging and time-consuming. Some may feel like it’s an invasion of property, especially when strangers poke around. You’re also opening up your home for criticisms from potential buyers. To top it all, these buyers may offer less than what you believe your property is worth.
When unsure of what you’re doing, it’s easy to make mistakes. Let’s explore the most common mistakes homeowners make when selling their homes for the first time.
Common Mistakes When Selling A House
Allowing Emotions to Take Over
When selling your home, it’s easy to become emotional, especially if this is the first one. You’ve spent time and effort looking for the perfect first purchase, saved up for it, and created lifelong memories with family. Most people generally find it hard to let go.
When you think about it, it’s not impossible to do. Once you’ve decided, you should also start thinking as a salesperson instead of the homeowner. Look at it from a purely financial perspective.
Foregoing Getting a Real Estate Agent
While hiring a real estate agent is quite expensive, it’s not a smart move to do it on your own. It’s tempting, yes, but if you haven’t done it before, it would be a challenge.
A reputable real estate agent can help you set a competitive selling price for your home. An experienced agent has negotiating skills, thereby increasing your chances of selling your home faster.
Real estate agents from Single Tree (St. Louis) can help you with all the paperwork. They have a listing of potential buyers who would be interested to buy your home. They can also make sure that the transaction goes smoothly, minus delays or unforeseen legal issues.
Setting an Unrealistic Price
When selling your home, setting the appropriate asking price is key. When you have a real estate agent, they can provide a comparative market analysis to come up with a reasonable selling price. It’s easy for a homeowner to think that your home is worth more, but a real estate agent can provide you with statistics based on the comparison among the homes in your area.
Don’t think about setting a lower price, as per experienced real estate agents, you may get many offers and eventually increase the price to its actual market value. Underpricing your property may be a strategy to drum up interest in your home. Plus, you can always refuse any offer that is too low.
Selling During the Winter Months
If you ask seasoned real estate agents, they will tell you there is a perfect time to sell a property. The winter months, particularly around the holidays, are a slow time for home sales. Most people are busy attending parties. In addition, the cold weather makes it more appealing to just stay home. Only a few buyers would likely be looking to buy a house during the holidays.
As the temperature goes up, you may consider listing your home for sale.
Skimping on Images Online
Since most potential buyers look for homes online lately, your listing won’t attract potential buyers if you fail to upload high-quality images of your property. Plus, with a large number of low-quality photos of homes for sale online, if you do a good job, your listing will stand out and generate more views and buyers.
Excellent quality images should be clear and crisp, showcasing your home’s best qualities. Hiring a professional real estate photographer ensures that you get high-quality results rather than taking snapshots on your smartphone.
Adding a video home tour further enhances your listing. You can attract more potential buyers to view your home offline. You may even get more offers just by doing a virtual tour of the entire home.
Hiding Major Issues
Most buyers will ask for a thorough inspection of the property, you cannot get away with hiding major issues with your home. You can fix them before putting your home on the market. Your other option is to price your home below market value to account for the issues. Or you can also list your home at a normal price and offer potential buyers credit to fix them.
Failing to Prepare for the Sale
Most sellers opt now to “stage” their properties because they don’t want to spend money on them. If you can’t afford a professional, you can do them on your own. Cleaning the house, doing repairs, and staging the property for viewing allows you to attract more potential buyers.
Your real estate agent can help you with this. They already have a network of professionals on their list who can help make your property more sellable.
The Bottom Line
Knowing what to do when selling your home is crucial. Prepare mentally and financially for less-than-ideal situations, if you don’t make any of the mistakes above. The property may sit on the market longer, especially in a declining market. Your best bet is to contact a real estate agent in your area. Single Tree (St. Louis) has experienced and knowledgeable real estate agents who can help you sell your home. Reach out and start your real estate journey.
