The seven deadly mistakes most home sellers make. Our daughter and son-in-law are in the process of selling their home. We thought it would be interesting to look at what the right things are to do to sell a home. What the wrong things are about selling a home. We came across this list of mistakes that many people make when they decide to sell. They may be useful and it would be interesting to examine them in some detail. If you are planning to sell a home in the near future it may be worth a read. Avoiding these issues may help you sell your home more quickly. It may even help you sell for a higher price which is always interesting to many people.
Seven Deadly Mistakes Most Home Sellers Make
Here are the seven deadly mistakes most home sellers make. We will discuss each in more detail.
- Failing to analyze why they are selling.
- Not preparing their home for the buyer’s eye.
- Pricing their homes incorrectly.
- Selling too hard during showings.
- Signing a long-term listing agreement without the written performance guarantee.
- Making it difficult for buyers to get information on their homes.
- Failing to obtain a pre-approved mortgage for one’s next home.
Seven deadly mistakes most home sellers make
Failing to analyze why they are selling
Knowing why you are selling will lead to making many right decisions vs. wrong decisions during the sale process. It will also help to avoid self-sabotage of the sale process. For example, someone who is transferred is a pretty clear-cut reason for moving. While moving to find a larger home in a better location can be a little fuzzier especially if one partner is not fully committed to the move.
Not preparing their home for the buyer’s eye
Clutter and too much personalization distract the potential buyer from visualizing what their furniture and knickknacks would look like in your home. If they begin visualizing there is a definite interest that may lead to an offer. In addition, most people do want a home that is move-in ready and does not need a lot of renovations or maintenance before they move in or major repairs. Get your home ready before you put it up for sale.
Pricing their homes incorrectly
Pricing a home is always tricky. Too low means it will sell fast, but you may leave money on the table. Priced too high and it may not sell at all. Motivated sellers who have been transferred are sometimes urged by their real estate agents to sell quickly by lowering the price. Beware of agents who will guarantee the sale by buying it from you if it does not sell within a specified time frame. You can be sure that the price they will pay you is below market value.
Selling too hard during showings
Potential buyers need time to explore your home and visualize what their furniture etc will look like in your home. They also will visualize what it would be like living in that home, the neighborhood, etc. Pushing too hard will distract them, however, knowing when to push a little bit and knowing when to back off is something that many agents learn over time and people who are more observant or are in sales.
Signing a long-term listing agreement without the written performance guarantee
Avoid this like the plague. Agents need to be motivated to perform just like everyone else and if there is a chance that they will lose the listing to another agent, they will work much harder to show your home and to sell it through advertising, etc. Keep your listing arrangement to a maximum of three months and avoid automatic renewals.
Making it difficult for buyers to get information on their homes
This is a large purchase for most buyers, for some, it is the largest purchase they will ever make. They will want to know all kinds of details and the motivated seller will have all of this information readily available. This could include all of the basics about the home as well as dates when the roof was replaced, the furnace, the hot water heater, the air conditioning, Â the square footage, the taxes, the cost to heat and cool the place, etc. make it easy for the buyer to get interested in your home.
The Last of the seven deadly mistakes most home sellers make
Failing to obtain a pre-approved mortgage for ones next home
Obtaining approval takes time and if you are in a hurry you may want to take this step of being pre-approved for a mortgage. Also if you are moving and planning to move into a larger home, you may get a nasty surprise if your mortgage approval gets bogged down because you cannot get approval for the size of mortgage you need due to credit issues, etc.
We hope this list helps both buyers and sellers alike and let us know your comments and any additional suggestions that might make sense to be included in this list of seven mistakes that home sellers make.