If you have been paying attention to social media, the news or chatter around your town, you have certainly heard that the real estate market is hot and sellers hold all the cards. Yes, the market is hot, but sellers you better listen up if you want to take full advantage. In this post I’m giving you my top 5 home seller tips.
Selling Your Home in 2022
Selling your home for the most amount of money in the shortest amount of time with the best terms is just about every home seller’s goal. I could give you a whole bunch of statistics, but I’m going to make it simple for you. Right now, the first quarter of 2022, your home has never been worth more money. Ever. If you have owned your home for 5 years or more, you are probably sitting on some serious equity. Maybe it’s time to sell your starter home and move up to your dream home in a better school district. Or possibly you are planning on retiring soon and want to downsize and buy a second home at the beach or in the mountains. Some of you have been stuck working at home while your kids are digital learning and your current configuration is just not working for you. Whatever the reason you are considering selling, you need to do it right. There’s no reason for you to throw any money away by making mistakes. But Teresa, the Jones’s just put a sign in the yard, went to the Mall for the day and poof, they had 20 offers over asking price, closing in 2 days, no inspections, no appraisal and a free trip to Disney! Sorry y’all it’s just not that simple. But, if you do it right and avoid these 5 mistakes, your sale could look even better than the Jones’s.
Home Seller Tip #1 Depersonalize
I was working with this sweet family that had 2 young boys. I had just sold their current home, and we were on the hunt for the next one. Mom and Dad had fallen in love with a house that had not even hit the market yet. We were the first to see it and hopefully the only showing. The house was decorated beautifully for Christmas. They loved the floor plan and the golf course lot! Everything was going so well until we went down to the finished basement. That’s when I heard the older son gasp and callout for his Daddy. There hanging on the walls were 6 mounted deer heads and multiple animal hides. This little boy was mortified! He just kept asking why they are mean to animals. Why don’t they like animals. He was in tears. And probably scarred for years to come. It was all we could do to divert his attention to his new room, how close the golf course was, anything but the deer heads. It doesn’t have to be deer heads. It can be sports memorabilia, religious items, political posters, or simply bold color choices. You want your house to appeal to the broadest set of buyers. If you are going to get top dollar, think neutral. Take down family photos, sports memorabilia, doll collections, even books that someone could have an opinion about. If you have a chartreuse dining room, paint it! You may feel like you are stripping the house of character, but you are actually removing yourself from it. When you put it on the market, you really need to think like its not yours any longer.
Home Seller Tip #2: Declutter
If you have been in your home a long time, you have probably collected a lot of extra stuff. If you have kids, you may have stuff for various ages, stuff for activities or sports and so on. It accumulates in cabinets, closets, the garage, the yard and anywhere it fits. This will be the first thing a potential buyer will notice, not the crown molding in the living room or the hardwood floors. Clutter is very distracting. I recently listed a big beautiful home for a couple who where downsizing. They had been in the house for over 20 years. They raised their children, who now have children in the house. He was a product rep who worked from home. Yall, there was a lot of stuff. They were not good at throwing or giving things away. I had encouraged them to begin the process while they were getting the house ready in other ways, but they were convinced it would still sell quickly. It did not. It took us almost 90 days to get a solid contract. And that contract was below the price we were hoping to get. I had multiple agents tell me that their buyers just couldn’t see through all of the stuff to appreciate the house itself. When a house has minimal stuff, a buyer can envision their furniture and their decor in the space. When you declutter, a buyer can really see the house and all of the features and get a feel of living in it with their stuff. Recently there was a house that hit the market that was the best example of how to declutter that I have ever seen. The sellers had done some great updates to the kitchen and bathrooms that were so obvious because there was no clutter. The house was fully furnished, but only with enough items to define the spaces. The photos literally drew you in and made you want to see it. The open house had over 500 people through it, the house was shown another 200 times, and they received 155 offers, all well over asking price. Its definitely worth the effort!
Home Seller Tip #3: Make Repairs
Today’s buyers may be working harder than ever to buy a house, but they are not stupid, nor are their agents. They are reading Seller’s Property Disclosures, checking out HVAC systems and manufactured dates on water heaters and asking lots of questions. A buyer may overlook a loose doorknob or a sticky drawer, but the roof better not be leaking or the trim rotting off. And if the roof is leaking, for the love of God do not hide it or lie about it! That will get you sued, and there goes your equity! Not to mention it makes you a bad person. There are no perfect houses, not even the new ones. But if you do not address the things that are broken, you will get low offers. The perception will be that you may be in financial trouble and will accept less for a quick sale. Getting top dollar will mean making a few repairs. When I look at listings for my buyers, I am looking for houses that have newer roofs, newer HVAC systems, fresh paint etc. But if they like a house that needs work, our offer will reflect that. When I list a house I compile a report of things that have been done to the house in case something doesn’t get noticed during the showing. Buyers will pay more upfront for a house that doesn’t need repairs just so that they do not have to deal with it later.
Home Seller Tip #4: Price the House Correctly
In a rapidly changing market like we have seen, it can be really tempting to take the price your neighbor got for his house and add $20k. Afterall, they had so many showings and multiple offers. Somebody will show you the money, right? Maybe. But do you want 1 offer or multiple competing offers? I have seen situations where the house was priced just below market value, and 100s of buyers rushed to see it immediately and there was a bidding war resulting in a much higher price than just $20k over what your neighbor got for his house. I’ve also seen houses that were overpriced sit on the market for a bit causing buyers to wonder what’s wrong with the house. The longer it sits, the less likely you are to get that price. I had a listing that really should have hit the market at $499,000, but the seller wanted to price it at $509,000. I advised them that we would be missing out on all the buyers searching up to $500,000 knowing that they would probably end up paying more. We struggled to get showings. After several weeks we lowered the price and finally got a contract.
Home Seller Tip #5 Do Not Choose the Realtor Who Suggests the Highest Price.
Choosing the right realtor to sell your house is sooo important. It’s probably never been more important. Here’s why. The realtor who lists your house is in charge of selling probably your biggest asset. Many sellers think that in this hot sellers’ market, any realtor will get the job done. A realtor that tells you what they think you want to hear and not the truth, is probably not prepared to do the job at hand. They are using probably the only skill they have. A good realtor is not afraid to tell you the truth. A good realtor is skilled at tough conversations. A good realtor will be able to show you the data and how they arrived at the price for your home. If a realtor is unable to have this conversation with you, how will they handle the negotiations with buyers? Avoiding this mistake and choosing the right realtor will save you the consequences of the other mistakes I’ve already covered.
Selling your home does not have to be stressful. Choosing the right realtor to handle all of this is important. I have prepared a comprehensive sellers guide to help you get started.
