We’ve all heard about how “bad” the real estate market is. But what’s bad for sellers can be good for buyers, and these days, savvy buyers are out in spades trying to take advantage of the buyer’s market. Here are 13 thing you can do to help sell your house.
92% of homebuyers start their house hunt online, and they will never even get in the car to come see your home if the online listings aren’t compelling. In real estate, compelling means pictures! A study by Trulia.com shows that listings with more than 6 pictures are twice as likely to be viewed by buyers as listings that had fewer than 6 pictures.
Get a $125 FlipCam and walk through your home AND your neighborhood, telling prospective buyers about the best bits – what your family loved about the house, your favorite bakery or coffee shop that you frequented on Saturday mornings, etc. Buyers like to know that a home was well-loved, and it helps them visualize living a great life there, too.
Plus: 13 Moving Tips to Keep in Mind
If you belong to neighborhood online message boards or email lists, send a link to your home’s online listing to your neighbors. Also, invite your neighbors to your open house – turn it into a block party. That creates opportunities for your neighbors to sell the neighborhood to prospective buyers and for your neighbors to invite house hunters they know who have always wanted to live in the area.
Facebook is the great connector of people these days. If you have 200 friends and they each have 200 friends, imagine the power of that network in getting the word out about your house!
5. Leave some good stuff behind. We’ve all heard about closing cost credits, but those are almost so common now that buyers expect them – they don’t really distinguish your house from any of the other homes on the market anymore. What can distinguish your home is leaving behind some of your personal property, ideally items that are above and beyond what the average homebuyer in your home’s price range would be able to afford. That may be stainless steel kitchen appliances or a plasma screen TV, or it might be a golf cart if your home is on a golf course.
We’ve all heard about closing cost credits, but those are almost so common now that buyers expect them – they don’t really distinguish your house from any of the other homes on the market anymore. What can distinguish your home is leaving behind some of your personal property, ideally items that are above and beyond what the average homebuyer in your home’s price range would be able to afford. That may be stainless steel kitchen appliances or a plasma screen TV, or it might be a golf cart if your home is on a golf course.
In many markets, much of the competition is low-priced foreclosures and short sales. As an individual homeowner, the way you can compete is on condition. Consider having a termite inspection in advance of listing your home, and get as many of the repairs done as you can – it’s a major selling point to be able to advertise a very low or non-existent pest repair bill. Also, make sure that the little nicks and scratches, doorknobs that don’t work, and wonky handles are all repaired before you start showing your home.
Plus: 5 Easy Improvements to Hook a Buyer For Your Home
Stage the exterior with fresh paint, immaculate landscaping and even outdoor furniture to set up a Sunday brunch on the deck vignette. Buyers often fantasize about enjoying their backyards by entertaining and spending time outside.
Homes that don’t get shown don’t get sold. And many foreclosures and short sale listings are vacant, so they can be shown anytime. Don’t make it difficult for agents to get their clients into your home – if they have to make appointments way in advance, or can only show it during a very restrictive time frame, they will likely just cross your place off the list and go show the places that are easy to get into.
Today’s buyers are very educated about the comparable sales in the area, which heavily influence the fair market value of your home. And they also know that they’re in the driver’s seat. To make your home competitive, have your broker or agent get you the sales prices of the three most similar homes that have sold in your area in the last month or so, then try to go 10-15% below that when you set your home’s list price. The homes that look like a great deal are the ones that get the most visits from buyers and, on occasion even receive multiple offers. (Bidding wars do still exist!)
Work with your broker or agent to get educated about the price, type of sale and condition of the other homes your home is up against. Attend some open houses in your area and do a real estate reality check: know that buyers that see your home will see those homes, too – make sure the real-time comparison will come out in your home’s favor by ensuring the condition of your home is up to par.
Do this – pretend you’re moving out. Take all the things that make your home “your” personal sanctuary (e.g., family photos, religious décor and kitschy memorabilia), pack them up and put them in storage. Buyers want to visualize your house being their house – and it’s difficult for them to do that with all your personal items marking the territory as yours.
Keep the faux-moving in motion. Pack up all your tchotchkes, anything that is sitting on top of a countertop, table or other flat surfaces. Anything that you haven’t used in at least a year? That goes, too. Give away what you can, throw away as much as possible of what remains, and then pack the rest to get it ready to move.
If you find an experienced real estate agent to list your home, who has a successful track record of selling homes in your area, listen to their recommendations! Find an agent you trust and follow their advice as often as you can.Read more: http://www.rd.com/home/improvement/13-tips-for-selling-your-home/#ixzz2W0ij3DP5
You were a incredible help during our recently sold home! The photographs you took were brilliant stunning! Your expertise is second to none. Futhermore, you brought a full sized coach filled with possible buyers to our home for viewin. This is truly amazing! Buring our listing period, we view many offers from other agents. But they weren't able to get the price we desired. Together with yor trememdous connections fo clients, you brought just the right purchaser for our home. Finally it was listed and sold by your own clients, in which we were very satisfied with. Both of you were thorough an thoughtful and we will certainly recommend you to friends & family who are looking for an honest, sincere, experienced and hardworking realtor.
Bonnie & Daniel, we can't find enough compliments to say how much we appreciated your hard work in selling our Bayview Hill property for us. Your ongoing communication with us has been superb, and we felt like you were not only our real estate representative, but a close friend as well. In addition, home renovation can be a very overwhelming process for all home owners. But you two were always one step ahead and provided us with everything we needed without overwhelming us in anyways. It was so impressive seeing a coach of 30 potential home buyers came into my house for showing. This is so fascinated and incredible. We never saw any other agents selling houses like this! I believe this could only be done by your because of the years of experiences and you guys are truly the real estate pioneer of Bayview Hill.
Within one week after listing, our home was sold for the price above our expectations! We would highly recommend you to anyone either selling or purchasing. You are very passionate and we have found you to be the best real estate agent we have had the please of dealing with. Thanks again for everything you guy did for us and congratulations on a job well done!
We would like to extend our gratitude for your professionalism and hard work in selling our house in less than one week. We were highly impressed by your knowledge f the local market and key community contacts, which assisted us in selling our house quickly and efficiently. It was a pleasure working with both of you, as you each brought your unique skills and expertise to the table. With Daniel's excellent negotiation skills and Bonnie's keen eye for design and detail, the two of you make the ultimate realtor team.
We would highly recommend your services to anyone looking to buy or sell !
I would like to recommend both Daniel and Bonnie for their professionalism in the services they provided us during the sale of our home in Bayview Hill located in Richmond Hill.
They were both very helpful in assisting us to ensure that we are ready to put our hoe on the market along with their expertise in knowing what our home should be listed at. Can't imagine that they can produce much higher than asking price and more importantly that the sell price is higher that other local agents quoting us!
Both my husband and I would recommend their services as theya re experts in their field, they were very ethical in how they managed the sale of our home. We have deep impressions of the integrity of Daniel: walking his words. Both Bonnie and Daniel, the # WAN team works very closely at every issue personally. Most definitely we would recommend them to anyone who wants true professionalism, honesty and mostly that they work for the seller.
Dear Bonne and Dan,
First of all: THANK YOU BOTH for every way you have helped us accomplish out goal of selling our home for the highest value. When we decided to sell our home, where we have lived for 25 years, we inerviewed 5 real estate agents with signs in our neighborhood. The Wans had far more knowledge, experience, and success in our area than anyone else, wih 22 years in Bayview Hill and over 1000 homes sold -- plus they live here, have raised their chrildren here, and care deeply about our community. We also related to your enthusiatic, tireless, supremely ethical style of work. Our home needed some preperation before listing. Again your expertise in identifying, prioritizing what to do (and what not to do) and even finding an independent contrator to complete the work excellently, on a tight time schedule was amazing. The contractor was as gracious and as tireless as you both, working 16 hour days to finish on budget, on schedule. Also, your community contacts and stellar reputation in the town of Richmond Hill were invaluable in overcoming any issues. Selling any house seems very stressfull, and you were there for us, no matter what time of day (or night), no matter what issue. We never met anyone who works harder than you. Even after our home went under contract, you stayed in touch constantly, communicating and strategizing to ensure completion of the sale in a way which met OUR interest to value our home at the highest possible price. While we noticed other agents lower prices, perhaps to meet their own needs during the process. But the best bonus was far more important than money; as a result of our admiration and joy in working with the Wans, we became friends, a friendship we hope lasts a lifetime. By the way, if we ever have another house to sell, we will choose Dan and Bonnie again, for all the best professional reasons.
THANK YOU.
Bonnie and Dan,
Let me first thank you for working os hard and late to make this sale possible. I first did not appreciate your offer to help and took your honest effort with suspicious.
You have to understant that after previous two "sales" and countless other agents who decieved us and wasted so much of my time I was hesitant to give try to someone unknown to me.
I am glad I chose you. I am sorry again for not realizing you as a hard working and outstadning gentleman.
I appreciate your work and will recommand you two to anyone looking for the house to buy/ sell.