Selling a house doesn’t need to be as hard as solving rudiments of Physics, but some previous experiences of sellers have made the concept of home-selling complicated. So, selling your house for the next venture, you definitely want the selling process to be smooth and successful.
Home is the most expensive thing that one can ever sell; messing it up can cause a considerable loss which can affect your financial goals.
Setting the price higher for negotiation, not hiring the professionals are the types of mistakes one can do while trying to sell a house; and such mistakes can easily be avoided.
Well, below are 10 common home selling mistakes that people have made before that you should avoid if you are planning to sell your own home and sell my house fast.
1. Considering Selling Home without Hiring a Realtor:
If you think you don’t need any realtor’s help for selling your house; then it’s one of the common mistakes that you are committing. A survey stated that only 10% of homes are sold that are being sold by the FSBO’s (For Sale By Owner), yes, numbers speak the truth. Hiring professional is mandatory because there can be so many things that as an amateur you cannot do: like how to handle the showings, accurate the pricing, negotiating with the buyers and with the inspector (if required), and the marketing strategies—only a professional can help you in such cases.
One more thing you should keep in your mind is that you need to hire an expert and trustworthy realtor, make sure to check the realtor’s license and of course, try to get reviews about the person. Getting references from friends, relatives, and neighbors works best in such cases.
2. Setting an Incorrect Pricing:
As under-pricing is not going to make you money, do not think that over-pricing is going to help you. Putting an unrealistic and impractical price tag on your home is a mistake that you should avoid. Understand and evaluate the market by researching, check what are the price other property holders are getting in the same neighborhood, talk to your realtor, and then set the price. Don’t think that you can make a huge difference if you set the price higher by few thousands and give a chance to the buyers for negotiation, ultimately you will get to see that you are getting less than you expected, so setting a correct price is necessary.
3. Selling a Home Without Being Ready:
Home is where we spent most of the time, if you are at home for a long time, you will automatically be emotionally attached to it. So before searching about the techniques of “how to sell my house?”, realize if you are emotionally ready for it, plus if you want to move to a bigger house be determined that you can afford it, because bigger house needs more maintenance, and that can cause you more expenses, that’s why is required that you are ready both mentally and financially.
Make sure that you are getting a borrower for mortgage loans and all that are going to be required to purchase a new house.
4. Not Preparing the Home for raising its Market Value:
Avoiding the three above mentioned mistakes means you are on the way to successfully selling your house, however, not preparing your house for the real estate market is another common mistake that often the sellers commit. If your home doesn’t have a positive vibe, then it gets hard for the agents to sell it. Potential buyers want a de-cluttered clean house, if you cannot offer that, then the buyers can get easily scared away. Check out this real estate investing blog for useful tips on property selling.
5. Showing the House Unprofessionally
The impression is must to a buyer if a buyer visits your house, and your rooms are looking messy because of the kids’ toys, or it is not cluttered free, worse it stinks for the garbage you forgot to throw out—then that can be enough for the buyers to think negative. You need to prep your house for the showing, yes, staging your home for sale can take some time and effort, but you have to do if you want to sell your home successfully. Plus you need to be professional while showing your house to the buyers because as mentioned earlier that a first excellent impression is always going to stay in the mind of the buyers.
6. Hiding Repairs
A disastrous mistake can happen if you try to play smart and hide the major repairs to the buyers before selling out your house. Trust me it is going to cost you less if you repair all the necessary things way ahead and then list your home for sale, because if the buyers find out that there are several things in your house which needs repairing then there’s a chance of asking for the credit back for all the repair or worse, a buyer can even back out and change his/her mind.
7. Over-Improving:
Yes, it is required to fix those things that are, but it doesn’t mean that you need to go gaga and overdo everything that is going to create a hole in your pocket. As your neighborhood properties have standard price estimation, then over-improving your house is not going to make you a lot of money.
8. Selling the House in Wrong Time:
Delaying the sale can cost you pay extra amount for extra taxes; an expert realtor knows well if you’re getting the right price or not. You might think to wait for few more days to get some extra amount; some tax break of long term capital gains can occur without your notice, and you have to pay that amount. Be in contact with your accountant to check the calendars for the tax payment dates.
9. Listing the Property with Lousy Photos:
Online house search has become common these days as most everyone is searching for something on the internet. So if you are posting an ad online for your house then make sure that you do not post random photos of your home, because posting lousy images is such a mistake which can ruin the first impression for a buyer. Post beautiful photos which look great as well as welcoming.
10. Having Unrealistic Expectations:
Just because one of your colleagues has sold their house within a week doesn’t mean that you also need the same time for doing that. Possessing unrealistic expectation can actually make you frustrated, understand that some processes might need some time, like a buyer needs mortgage commitment for buying your house, unless until the buyer gets the mortgage, he/she can’t buy your home that is why it is necessary to keep patience and don’t have crazy expectations.
There are many mistakes that a seller can make during their first time experience of house selling; however, if you can avoid the mistakes as mentioned above, you can save some money and can have a successful selling experience. You just need to make sure that you are dealing with an expert and trustable realtor who is a pro in real-estate market and then you are good to go.
