Real estate is cyclical, and you can’t always plan on selling your house at just the right time. So when you are facing a crowded market you need to have a well-thought out strategy before you list your home.
There are three simple steps you can take to ensure your house gets listed and sold within a timely selling period.
Become the buyer
As silly as it may sound, walking through your home and experiencing everything from the potential buyer’s perspective can be a crucial step in prioritizing what improvements need to be made.
The goal is to set your house up to appeal to the masses, which could mean painting over your bright red accent walls or updating the appliances in the kitchen. Whatever it takes to give your house more of a neutral palette that will not overwhelm a buyer.
Know your value
Many sellers rely on their agent to bring all of the expertise to the table when listing a home. While this is typical, it shouldn’t be a crutch. Your agent won’t mind you bringing your own research to the table, so long as it based on facts. A great way to evaluate what your home is worth is to look at your location.
According to NAR’s 2013 Community Preference Survey, 78 percent of homebuyers think neighborhood quality is more important than the size of the home. Are you in a neighborhood with a fence or a gate? Do you know what schools you are zoned for? How much are your property taxes or HOA dues? These will all be significant leverage in your negotiation with the buyer.
Make a bulletproof marketing plan
Having a plan of how you will market your home is essential, especially if your house is one of many in your neighborhood that will be listed.
For most sellers, marketing plans are simple and usually consist of open houses, fliers, newspaper ads and glossy color magazine ads. Another avenue you could take would be a well-rounded social media campaign utilizing Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. YouTube is a great tool to show your home online, which can help diversify your potential buyer market. If you are someone who is tech savvy you could make a website to further your online presence. In this digital age, the first step in every homebuyer’s search starts online, so if you are not online you don’t exist.
Following through on each of these actions can make a typically stressful selling experience quick and easy for all parties involved. There is no fool proof way to sell a house, but there is a substantial difference for those who have a plan and those who don’t.
Source:
http://www.realtor.org/reports/nar-2013-community-preference-survey
