Common Mistakes Home Sellers Make
Making your house your home
We all love our home and pride ourselves on making it the place we love to live. The problem begins with the fact we are not selling our house to us! If you have ever gone to someone’s house for a social event you know there are some things they do to make it “their own” that cause you to scratch your head. It could be the pink cabinet in the bathroom to the trophy stuffed buck over the fireplace mantle, everyone likes what they like. When a home buyer comes to see your house they want to see something they could imagine being theirs. Too much personalizing will get in the way as most people can’t get past what is there and how they could ever make your house their home. Your house should look ready to have the family over for Christmas. All junk out of the way, fresh paint and carpet and if the house is vacant at least minimal staging to start the imagination process for the buyer.
Overpricing
Most of us don’t understand the process of pricing our house to sell. There isn’t exactly a “blue book” for our houses, though we can try to get realistic values.
The best way is to have a realtor “comp” our house. This is a process whereby the realtor finds out how many houses have sold in the last 90 days within a 1 mile radius of your house that are comparable in bedrooms, bathrooms, square footage, lot size, house age and construction type. Unless you live in a subdivision that has been built in the last 10 years, this process can have a lot of variables that affect the value of your house.
Suppose you have a vinyl sided 3 bedroom 2 bathroom with 1600 square foot and a one car garage, your house will not be the same as the 4 bedroom 3 bathroom brick 2000 square foot house with a 2 car garage even if it is “harry’s house just across the street, and I know my house is worth just as much as his”.
There are other factors like the age of major components like the roof, furnace and a/c, and how updated the interior of the house is. Does your kitchen still have 1960’s retro metal cabinets or oak with crown molding? Floors, doors and bathroom updates are also features that will affect value. Do you need any repairs or updates?
As you can tell this subject is like a well, deep. So just suffice to say that all houses are not valued the same way. It is difficult to price your house just by the houses you see on your block.
It’s A Buyers Market
The market is oversaturated with distressed property and buyers now have a buffet of houses to choose from. With so many banks flooding the market with foreclosed properties the prices are down over the past 5 year average.
It is also tougher to secure financing as a retail buyer. Banks have increased the difficulty of loan qualification so those who do qualify are a lot pickier as to what they want. They want more concessions from the seller to choose their property over the other 5 that they would be just as happy buying.
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These and other factors create a tough environment to sell your house. We offer solutions for these and other problems that stand between you and the cash you want for your house.
Call Rex now at 317-979-2782 to get your solution today.
