11 Common Home Seller Mistakes

Selling your home can be difficult. It’s often times an emotional, stressful, and time-consuming process. We’ve put together this list of costly seller mistakes to help you if you’re thinking of selling your home.

1. Incorrectly Pricing Your Home
It is important to have access to the latest comparables on the market, have an unbiased approach, and price the house competitively. Homes that are priced too high end up sitting on the market for a long period of time and typically result in multiple price reductions and lower offers from buyers who feel less urgency.

2. Underestimating Curb Appeal
“You never get a second chance to make a first impression”. Make sure to keep the lawn mowed, leaves raked, gardens and walkways weeded, sideway cleared, and bushes trimmed. Paint window trim, plant some bright flowers, and be sure to pick up any trash or debris that might have dropped or blown on your property.

3. Being Too Emotionally Involved
Sellers need to emotionally detach from the house when selling their home. This is a real estate transaction, and they need to think like a businessperson, with a financial perspective.

4. Bad Photos
According to Realtor.com, 92% of homebuyers begin their search online; they begin their search with images. Sellers should not rely on iPhone photos or taking their own pictures. A good real estate photographer doesn’t just photograph rooms – they capture the home’s character, personality and charm.

5. Postponing Repairs
A home that has little to no differed maintenance is more likely to get a higher priced (or full priced offer) than a home needing obvious repairs. When sellers don’t take the time to repair problems prior to the home going on the market, they typically get a lower offer and the buyer asks for money back at closing to go toward repairs.

6. Not Taking the Time to Prepare the Home for Sale
Take some time to de-clutter, tackle the honey-do list, clean, and depersonalize your home so buyers can imagine themselves in your home. See our Top 10 Tips for Prepping Your Home for Sale

7. Attending All Showings
Buyers need to be able to imagine themselves in a space and they can’t always if the sellers are home. Additionally, buyers are less likely to give honest feedback directly to the seller so not to hurt any feelings.

8. Refusing to Negotiate
Sellers should always start with a fair and competitive price, but also be flexible for negotiating.

9. Not Disclosing Everything Upfront
Disclose everything about the home in appropriate disclosures upfront. If you’ve had pests, water in the basement, or even a leaky toilet for the past month. When buyers uncover issues that weren’t disclosed – through the inspection or after the sale – it can often times turn into an expensive problem (or lawsuit) for the seller.

10. Not Hiring a Realtor
There are many different layers to selling a house. Hire a skilled professional who can help you with preparation, pricing, marketing, negotiating, and to be your advisor during this process. Transitions often times get complicated once they’re under deposit, depending on the various types of contingencies that have to be met.

Selling your home with an agent could net you $60,000 more on the sale of your home. The National Association of Realtors 35th anniversary edition of the Profile of Home Buyers and Sellers report indicates homes sold with an agent or broker received a median of $245,000 in 2016 compared to the median selling price of $185,000 for For-Sale-By-Owner (FSBO) home sales. The price drops even lower to $168,300 when the FSBO knew the buyer. Selling For-Sale-By-Owner could cost you $76,700 (1). Hire a professional.

11. Selecting a Realtor for the Wrong Reasons
People often times feel obligated to work with a family member or friend who is Realtor, as opposed to selecting an based on their sales experience. Real estate is usually our greatest asset, and it should be trusted to someone most qualified.

Want to find out how much your home is worth? Visit here or contact Mike Conroy at 802-363-3356 or [email protected].

Conroy & Company is a Keller Williams Vermont team of Realtors located in South Burlington, Vermont. Our mission is to serve our clients with the highest level of personal commitment to helping them reach their goals. Our focus is to bring the latest technology and marketing skills to our clients, and do so in the most personal, hands on way possible. Our collaborative, strength in numbers approach to exceeding your expectations, has helped keep us in the top 2% of Vermont agents/teams ever since 2003.

Source:

(1) Riggs, Amanda. “Homes Sell For More With A REALTOR® Than If You Sell Solo, Research Says.” Economists Outlook. N.p., 2016. Web. 07 June 2017.