A good broker will free you from marketing your home. If you hire a qualified agent, they will be in charge of marketing your home and getting it in front of as many prospective buyers as possible. The easiest way to get the home’s listing out to the world is by adding it to the MLS. The MLS is only the beginning, the marketing get you to the greatest audience is accomplished by the seller’s agent with ads, social media broadcasts, signs, interoffice promotions, and other world wide networks.
In order to get your home to sell for it’s top price quickly, the house needs to be at it’s best. De-cluttering & staging are the easiest way to make your home shine. Many times clearing out extra stuff and arranging a few key furniture pieces and accent decor in an attractive way will transform and opens the space and help people envision purchasing the home and moving in.
If the home is stacked to the brim with a lifetime’s collection of ‘things’, and looks like a before photo, or worse yet, something out of the shore ‘Horders’ it will be overwhelming and impossible for potential buyers to imagine living there. If the home is a mess buyers will cross your home off their list and they’ll never really consider buying it. Potential buyers need to be able to picture where their furnishings, clothes, art, etc will be put, so they can get excited about the home enough to put in an offer.
A presale inspection will also make the transaction easier as the seller will know exactly what possible issues exist in the home and the sellers can decide on how best to fix any issues without having input or negotiations with a buyer. Unexpected issues that come up in an inspections have de-railed many home purchases or cost the sellers money because they were forced by the buyers to do a more expensive repair than they otherwise would have done on their own. Basically, a pre-sale inspection allows the seller to remain in control of the transaction. Staying in control during an important negotiation like selling your home will help the the seller get the best possible outcome and smooth the closing process.
The home also needs to be priced correctly. Your price should be adjusted to reflect the market and your property’s worth. The key is to get as many people in to see the home as possible and not elimate potential buyer by pricing your home outside of their buget. If your property is overpriced, you will limit the audience to people who are looking at the higher price point and can afford to buy the ‘overpriced’ home, but they won’t be interested your overpriced home because it won’t show well against other homes in that same price range that are nicer, more finished and perhaps larger with better features. Buyers are smart, don’t think you can fool them with an overpriced home. The buyers who would be interested in buying the home at it’s actual worth are simply not going to look at your house if it overpriced and outside the price range of the homes they are considering as it won’t be pulled or be even seen. If you have a good buyer’s agent, they should know if a home is overpriced and might take you to look at it anyway, with the expectation that your REALTOR will be able to negotiate a lower price more in line with the actual value of the home if you decide to put in an offer.
As we all know, you only get one chance to make a first impression. A strong first impression and logic based home pricing, will get most sellers the best result.
Call or contact me to if you have any Real Estate questions ~ I look forward to helping you.
Tara Lubin | Jameson Sotheby’s International Realty
REALTOR – Global Real Estate Advisor – Chicago & North Shore Suburban Chicago, Evanston, Wilmette, Winnetka, IL and beyond
630.707.3473 | [email protected] | [email protected]