Tips on Selling Your Home
1. Getting your home ready to sell!
2. Things not to do when selling!
OUTSIDE: Trim all shrubs. Pull all weeds. Flowers planted. Leaves raked.
Water lawn to keep green. Pick up and discard or store all implements,
materials and debris that are not part of the lawn decor. All windows washed.
Garage should be swept, neat and tidy. During the winter, all walks and drives
should be shoveled and salted.
LIGHTING: Open all shades and draperies during the daylight hours.
Replace all burned out light bulbs with the maximum light producing bulbs. Turn
on all lights throughout the house and basement prior to showing the house.
STORAGE: All clothing, shoes, hats, accessories, tools, papers,
magazines, books and personal items not contributing to the decor of the room
should be stored in closets or dressers. All closets should be tidy, neat and
clean. Kitchen counters should be clean and free of any articles not
contributing to the decor of the room. All magazines, books, ashtrays, food,
bottles, containers, boxes, cans, toys, hobby accessories, tools, dishes,
cookware, etc. should be stored in the proper cupboards or closets or storage
areas.
CLOSETS: The interiors of all closets should present an
organized, tidy and uncluttered appearance. All unneeded or unused items should
be discarded. Display your storage and utility space by removing all
unnecessary accumulations in attic, stairways, basement, closets and garage.
WINDOWS: All windows should be spotlessly clean inside and out. All
window sills, as well as any space between the window and storm window should
be spotlessly clean and free of any flaking or loose paint. All windows should
be in good repair with no cracks. Screens should be clean and in good
condition, free of rust and holes. Any paint on glass should be removed with a
razor blade prior to cleaning.
FIXTURES: All bathroom and kitchen fixtures and counters should be
sparkling clean. Polish chrome faucets and handles in the tub and sinks. All
sinks, tubs, toilets and counters should be clean.
FLOORS: All flooring should be clean and waxed if necessary. All
carpeting should be very clean regardless of its age. If the carpeting has not
been steam cleaned for more than two years, now is the time to do it.
DOORS: All doors should be free of scotch tape, posters, decals, or
stickers. All door handles should be clean and in good repair.
CERAMIC TILE: All joints between tiles should be clean and white. Use DAP
bathroom tile sealer to reseal the joint between bathtub and wall and floor.
WALLS: All walls should be clean and free of gouges, scratches, smudges,
scotch tape, posters, thumbtacks, etc. Walls should only have decorative items.
Posters and paper pictures taped to walls should be removed and all evidence of
the tape markings removed.
ODOR: Nothing smells better than fresh air. On warm days, have your
windows open and shades up. Make your home feel and smell bright, fresh and
clean and you will have a faster sale. KEY POINT: Make very sure that there are
absolutely no pet odors.
1. "Hard Selling" During Showings:
People buy homes on emotion, not logic. Buying a home is always an emotional
decision. People like to get a feel for a house to see if it is comfortable for
them. It's difficult for them to get comfortable in a home if you follow them
around, telling them all of the things that you've done to the house and
pointing out every improvement that you've made. It may even have the opposite
effect that you want to accomplish by making the prospective buyer feel that
they are intruding into your private space.
Resist the temptation to talk to the buyer the entire time that they are in your
home. Let them discover the home on their own. I recommend tasteful signs to
point out hidden features that they might miss. Another good idea is to have a
photo album on the kitchen counter with photos of the home during other
seasons.
2. Mistaking "Lookers" For Buyers
If you're selling your home yourself, you'll always get more activity than if
your home is listed with a real estate broker. If you open your front door to
everyone who walks down the street and sees your sign, you may be spinning your
wheels. I recommend that you ask buyers a few questions first to make sure they
are qualified before wasting a lot of time with them.
A qualified buyer is one who is ready, willing and able to purchase your home if
it fits his needs. Over the years, I've found that many people who look at For
Sale By Owners are curiosity seekers, nosy neighbors, and people with poor
credit hoping to get you to help them with the financing.
Other buyers may be qualified, but they're six months to two years away from
being ready. They don't want to bother a real estate agent yet, so they call
and look at For Sale By Owner homes to get a feel for what's available. Many of
these folks have a home to sell first, or they need to save money for the down
payment, or they may need to work on their credit rating. When everything else
is finally in place, that's when they seriously begin their search for homes
working with a real estate agent.
I always "screen" buyers to make sure they are qualified before showing them
homes. I won't show a buyer a home unless I know he can afford the house, how
much he has to put down, how good his credit is, how much he can pay each
month, and how much money he will realistically walk away with when he sells
his present home. Those are just a few of the questions that I recommend that
you ask prospects before you show them your home. I've learned the hard way to
ask questions before you waste a lot of time working with a buyer who may be
unqualified or just looking for decorating ideas.
3. Pricing Your Home Incorrectly
As a seller, you want to sell your home for the most money possible. Putting too
high of a price on your home will often get you less money than you could have
realized by putting a fair market value price on your home.
Keep this statistic in mind: On the average, buyers are comparing your
home to fifteen to twenty other homes. If your house is not priced
competitively, people looking at your home may reject your home in favor of
superior homes priced very comparably.
Overpricing your home usually increases the time on the market, and many buyers
are aware of how long homes have been for sale. The longer your home is for
sale, the more buyers are inclined to feel that there's something "wrong" with
it, and the lower the offers will be.
4: Failing To Prepare Your Home For The Buyer's Eye
Buyers look for homes, not houses. Buying a home is an emotional decision and
they end up buying the home that makes them most comfortable. It's what we call
the "Ah-ha" effect. We've watched dozens of times as buyers have walked in
through the front door and gasped "Ah-ha," and immediately fall in love with
the house.
Owners who fail to make necessary repairs, who don't spruce up the house inside
and out, who don't do all the little things that make a house show like a
million bucks will suffer from lower offers and longer market time.
Think about it this way: if you were selling a car, wouldn't you wash it and
maybe even give it an extra good cleaning inside and out to get the highest
possible price? That's because a buyer looking at your used car is purchasing
on emotion, just like someone looking at your home.
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