5 Mistakes Sellers Can Easily Avoid
When it comes to selling your home there many things that can go wrong. Sellers might price their property too high, or too low. Buyers could bring an attractive offer which won’t be backed by a bank loan. Agents could list a property without doing any marketing to get the property sold. The list goes on. Some mistakes can’t be foreseen, such as market shifts, others are completely avoidable and here’s a list of the most important ones you can avoid.
Many homeowners make the mistake of pricing their homes too high or too low. Surely, everyone wants to get the most out of the market for their property. That’s very understandable, nut using a recent sale as a comparable is the most common mistake we see. The thought pattern is always the same; ‘My neighbor/friend/family member has sold their house for X amount, so I should definitely be able to get X amount for my house.’ Three things to take into consideration. 1. That house is sold and thus no longer on the market. We obviously. This also means that this particular buyer, who has bought your neighbors’/friends’/family members’ home is no longer an active buyer. This buyer will not buy another similar property AGAIN. 2. Homes are not the same. They are similar but never identical. The home that you have been living in for the last 20 years has certain amenities, updates, decoration, technical specifications, garden furniture, and so on. At our agency we have even seen apartments with identical floorplans being sold at different prices simply because the furniture was different and the walls were painted with different colors. 3. You are the worst person to judge your home. Why? Because it’s your way of living, your stamp has been put on the property and what is convenient for you is a deal breaker for a potential buyer. That’s why most homeowners who chose to sell without an agent end up selling their property below market value, simply because they can’t evaluate their property correctly. Get you property estimated by a professional is the solution. Simple as that.
- Style
Your style is what suited you during your ‘stay’ in your home, but style is subjective. In order to circumvent this issue, as agency we ask our clients to update their property to a style which suits most buyers. We are aiming for a ‘vanilla flavor’, because everyone likes vanilla. Not everyone like pistachio or lemon. The goal is to update the property with a contemporary paintjob, uncluttering the rooms and removing personal items. Buyers must be able to imagine themselves living in your home, before ever making an offer.
- Negotiating out of emotion
Once an offer has come in, we often see sellers jump up out of excitement. When the offer comes in too lower than expected their excitement is replace by fury and disappointment. Let’s not forget that buyers are looking for a good deal and that seller want as much money as possible. Where sellers only have to sell and receive the money, buyers need to go through lengthy procedures with loan application, life insurances and pay off their mortgage for the following decades. Especially if these are younger buyers who have never bought or sold before, their emptions can run wild and stress levels are through the roof. Just knowing where both parties are coming from can help you, understand the others position and realize that offers aren’t made to spite or annoy you. Buyers make offers that seem reasonable to them. Take away your emotions at this stage. Difficult we know, but if you remain stoic for just a few days you can get a deal signed. If you don’t you might lose these buyers altogether.
- Time is not on your side
Sellers often underestimate the time it takes for a property to get an offer. Selling a property could take as much as 6 months to a year in a good market. Just because your neighbor sold to the first buyer, doesn’t mean that you will too. (Remember that this buyer is no longer in the market.) In most cases, if the market is stable, the marketing is on point and the price is within market limits, a sale is possible within 3 months. Add to those three months another 2-3 months to move from signed sales agreement to loan approval and finally notarial deed. To make it easier for you, think of the ultimate date that you wish to be in your current home and move in to your next home, count back 6 months from this date and you will have the starting date of your sale.
- There is no ideal buyer
How often have we heard from sellers that the buyers simply need to fall in love with their property. Oftentimes these arguments are translated into higher than average listing prices. In every market there is always one seller who simply thinks that their home is worth so much more than all the other homes out there. Consequently, their home will attract few showings, because it’s eliminated at the very beginning by potential buyers. If that one specific buyer is not on the market at that moment, doesn’t have the budget or has already signed elsewhere, we find ourselves with a proeprty that goes ‘stale’ on the market. No showings, no offers and the proeprty just sits there. Buyers will soon think that something might be wrong with the proeprty or that the sellers are just not realistic. By then the harm has already been done and the sellers can only start competing on price. Lowering their price over and over again until someone comes and brings an offer even below market value. The sellers have to accept or unlist their property to avoid further damage. We have a saying in real estate, that all properties are unique, but none are special and buyers aren’t fools.
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