There’s nothing that creates more anxiety than uncertainty. If you’re thinking of selling your home, you might be wondering, “How can I get the most money for my house?” This is a common question, but it should be tempered with the realities of negotiating a win-win deal with buyers. Check out our top 5 list of tips for a drama-free selling experience.
#1 Get Focused On What’s Now and What’s Next
If you’re ready to sell your house, it’s time to have a conversation with your agent. Start by asking these questions:
“How do we need to market this house?”
“What’s going to happen when buyers come?”
“Are buyers calling you or me?”
“Do I need to respond to agents?”
“Once we get a contract, what happens next?”
Focus on “what we’re doing now” and “what’s next” conversations. Stay in the moment and try to not overwhelm yourself with too much information.
#2 How to Get the Most Money for My House: Price It On the Comps, Not on Emotion
As agents, we want to get you top dollar for your home. We’ll look at “comps,” or what comparable homes in the immediate area are selling for. This is the same process that buyers and buyers’ agents will use to decide what they want to offer for the home, and how a bank (via an appraiser) will decide how much it will lend for the purchase of a home.
Of course you love your home. You’ve likely been there a while and have put lots of love and care into it. But the listing price isn’t a personal reflection of that love and care, or of you. Be realistic about the asking price and listen to your Realtor’s advice. Removing the emotion from this decision will ultimately serve everyone, especially you as the seller. Overpricing your home based on emotion can make the sales process drag on, and the longer a home sits on the market, the harder it can be to sell it, even at the right price.
#3 Put Your Best Foot Forward Every Day
As a seller, you’ve got to assume that any day buyers may be visiting. Assume that every day is “showing” day. That first impression may be your only opportunity to get a buyer interested in making an offer. Your home should be clean, free of clutter, and pets should be “out of the way” (dogs outside, crated, or confined to one part of the home if possible). In short, you want to make it easy for buyers to imagine living there.
If you’re busy, there are ways to streamline the process of keeping your home in order for showings. Consider getting a maid to come by on a Wednesday to clean up the house to prepare for Thursday through Sunday showings, the busiest days. Have the maid mop, do laundry, and pick up around the house.
Use paper plates, temporarily, so you don’t dirty any dishes the night before you have buyers coming to do a walk-through. Utilize landscapers and pool cleaners to make sure that the outside of your home looks presentable. Also, try not to have restrictive showing times or limit access to certain parts of the home.
#4 Don’t Take Negotiations Personally
Potential buyers are not insulting you when they write an aggressive offer. It’s very possible they did the research and have reasons for providing you with a “low” offer. Or, it could be that they really just love your home, but they’re on a budget and thought they’d try to strike a deal.
Don’t take it personally. You can always make a counter offer. Talk to your Realtor – this is where an experienced agent will have creative ideas about how to make up the difference between the offer and what you want for your home. Hang in there until all of the possibilities are exhausted.
#5 Don’t Lose Sight of the Big Picture
Don’t focus too much on any one detail, because there’s so much more to listing and selling a home in the big picture. Stalling or killing an otherwise great offer over a $150 repair that you think is silly is cutting off your nose to spite your face. Talk to your Realtor about which concessions make sense and which don’t. Sometimes, concessions create goodwill and get the job done – closing the transaction is the goal, don’t lose sight of that.
Want to know more? Watch the Facebook Live video featuring our Designated Broker/Owner Joseph Maggiore and Realtor Ryan Simon.
Wondering about those “We Buy Homes for Cash” commercials? Learn more in our recent article.