Don't believe anyone that says selling a house will be easy. It
doesn't matter if your house is in great condition and priced perfectly,
the inspections, showings, and open houses are a hassle. Every home
sale involves those tasks. If you're worried about selling in a timely
manner, here are some things you can do to make your home more
attractive from the start.
1. Do what you can to make the exterior of the house appealing. The shrubs and trees shouldn't be overgrown so take the time to trim them back. Giving the fence or porch railing a fresh coat of paint can create the look of new. Flower beds should be free of debris and leaves.
2. Go through your house and remove the collections, personal items, and clutter. Use a box and gather it all for the time being and put it away. Now is the time to use your attic and garage.
3. Scrub, sweep, repeat! Your house can never be too clean when people are looking through it at a showing. Don't neglect key places and the smell of cleaning products goes a long way.
4. Don't expect to make a high profit off your house in this market. Houses are selling slowly after a lot of negotiations and yours will most likely be no different.
Those are just some easy reminders of things you can do without starting a huge project to help your house sell. The other area to consider is the seriousness of your real estate agent. Be sure your house is on their personal site and is being marketed as heavily as the others in their inventory. Just because yours has been on the market for a while doesn't mean everyone has seen it so it should still be in circulation.
If that isn't happening, consider hiring another agent who cares about your property and wants to make the commission off of it. Agents, like any other person in the workforce, can become complacent and sometimes lazy. Don't allow them to affect your future. You can do a lot on your end to procure home buyers and even provide concessions for the sale to make it happen. It is possible to sell your property fast.
If you are able to work with home buyers and provide them with answers to their questions, and you are proactive with the contracts, you should see some good activity. There are times, however when all those things fail to bring in offers, you may have to face the reality that your house just may not sell. It is the same as others in the area and not enough buyers are able to get financing right now and the inventory outweighs the demand. Your house may be just like all the others but the buyers wind up choosing the competition. It may be blocks closer to the school or the master bedroom may have a larger closet. These are little things that buyers look for and when they can find the whole package in a house, they are likely to choose that one. Your house was probably on their list, if they were looking in that area but other features outweighed the ones you had to offer. It can be discouraging, but your agent should be able to give you advice on what you need to do in the future. If the competition has things you don't, you need to find out what you have they don't. Your house may have a larger backyard yet you aren't advertising the exact size. It didn't seem important in the past to measure the guest room or the family room but now that you have competition, you have "up your game."
You can't afford to be complacent with the pictures, the details, or turn away showings, regardless of when they call. There are times in real estate when this happens and houses stay on the market or stay vacant for long periods. It is possible your house may not sell for years. Don't let this happen to you.
By Melissa Gifford
1. Do what you can to make the exterior of the house appealing. The shrubs and trees shouldn't be overgrown so take the time to trim them back. Giving the fence or porch railing a fresh coat of paint can create the look of new. Flower beds should be free of debris and leaves.
2. Go through your house and remove the collections, personal items, and clutter. Use a box and gather it all for the time being and put it away. Now is the time to use your attic and garage.
3. Scrub, sweep, repeat! Your house can never be too clean when people are looking through it at a showing. Don't neglect key places and the smell of cleaning products goes a long way.
4. Don't expect to make a high profit off your house in this market. Houses are selling slowly after a lot of negotiations and yours will most likely be no different.
Those are just some easy reminders of things you can do without starting a huge project to help your house sell. The other area to consider is the seriousness of your real estate agent. Be sure your house is on their personal site and is being marketed as heavily as the others in their inventory. Just because yours has been on the market for a while doesn't mean everyone has seen it so it should still be in circulation.
If that isn't happening, consider hiring another agent who cares about your property and wants to make the commission off of it. Agents, like any other person in the workforce, can become complacent and sometimes lazy. Don't allow them to affect your future. You can do a lot on your end to procure home buyers and even provide concessions for the sale to make it happen. It is possible to sell your property fast.
If you are able to work with home buyers and provide them with answers to their questions, and you are proactive with the contracts, you should see some good activity. There are times, however when all those things fail to bring in offers, you may have to face the reality that your house just may not sell. It is the same as others in the area and not enough buyers are able to get financing right now and the inventory outweighs the demand. Your house may be just like all the others but the buyers wind up choosing the competition. It may be blocks closer to the school or the master bedroom may have a larger closet. These are little things that buyers look for and when they can find the whole package in a house, they are likely to choose that one. Your house was probably on their list, if they were looking in that area but other features outweighed the ones you had to offer. It can be discouraging, but your agent should be able to give you advice on what you need to do in the future. If the competition has things you don't, you need to find out what you have they don't. Your house may have a larger backyard yet you aren't advertising the exact size. It didn't seem important in the past to measure the guest room or the family room but now that you have competition, you have "up your game."
You can't afford to be complacent with the pictures, the details, or turn away showings, regardless of when they call. There are times in real estate when this happens and houses stay on the market or stay vacant for long periods. It is possible your house may not sell for years. Don't let this happen to you.
By Melissa Gifford
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