5
Mistakes to Avoid
When Selling
Your Home
By Cheryl Bowers, Bowers Realty Group
1.
Overpricing your home for the
neighborhood. The homebuyers of today
are not concerned with how much you paid for
the house, but rather how your home will compare
to the other properties in the area. These informed
buyers know the market far better than the seller
since they have seen how the competition stacks
up. Listing your home for more than the market will
bear can help to sell your competition’s home.
2.
Failing to make minor repairs or
adding a fresh coat of paint. Many
buyers will likely paint at least one room;
however, they expect to see the walls free of nicks
and chips and zero holes larger than a small nail.
When staging a sale, it is best to paint in neutral
colors to allow the buyers to envision themselves
in the home; too often, they find it difficult to look
past the brightly colored walls or accent colors.
3.
Not making the house a ‘home.’
Nowadays, a buyer wants to buy into a
lifestyle, and the challenge is to create that setting
—whatever it may be. Think about model homes:
few people live as the house is shown, but the
builder is selling a vision of what life could be
like if you lived there. Do the same by selling the
appeal of what makes your house a “home.”
4.
Hiring an inexperienced agent. You
need an agent who knows the ins-andouts of selling homes. This includes professional
photos, ad copy, as well as Internet exposure. An
experienced agent will have a defined strategy to
HOME
achieve selling your home and will communicate
with you throughout the process. If your agent’s
strategic marketing plan is to list it and see how it
goes, you need a new agent.
5.
Becoming emotionally involved. It’s
difficult not to develop an emotional bond
to your house since it is your home. That’s why
you have an agent representing you and your
best interests. The sales gaffe a few sellers make
is planning to be home for showings as they think
they can highlight the home’s features better than
anyone. Well, it is not helpful! Never walk the
potential buyer through your home and point
out the fixture you made by hand our your DIY
improvements that you love so much. It may turn
out that those features are exactly what they don’t
like about the property. This is a business deal and
is not about your personal taste. Allow people
their space to have private conversations with
their family members or their agent while viewing
the home. You want the potential buyer to make
an offer, but that won’t happen with you there. ■
Plainfield August 2015
Market Stats
(Single Family Homes)
Number of Homes Listed...................204
Number of Homes Closed..................129
Average Sales Price.................$247,553
Percentage Sellers Received from List
Price to Sales Price........................97.6%
Source: www.teambowersrealtors.com
Cheryl Bowers is the owner/managing broker of
Bowers Realty Group and lives in Plainfield with her
husband and four daughters.
[email protected]