Real Estate Pitfalls
If you are selling your home, or considering selling your home, there are likely some things that you already know you shouldn’t do. For example, you can discern that while you love your porcelain doll collection displayed in the guest bedroom, you should probably put them away before showing your home. Or that you should fix that hole in the wall from when your son and his friends were playing an innocent game of Nerf football. Let’s consider some real estate pitfalls that people often make when selling their homes.
The first is, not valuing the need for quality photos of your home. Keep in mind, people aren’t likely to drive around looking for “For Sale” signs posted in yards or checking the newspaper for listings. Nowadays everything is listed online. This means the first impression of your home will be its pictures. If you were to peruse the listings and pick out the bad ones—you’d likely pick some with un-staged rooms, badly lit photos, minimal number of photos or photos taken at weird angles. Hiring a professional photographer, particularly one with experience in real estate photography will help you to avoid these faux pas and give your potential buyers the first impression you are after.
Another way to make a positive or negative first impression is through the way your listing is written. It’s true that not many people take the time to read any more and more often than not, it is skimming that they are doing and not reading.However, if you’re listng contains misspelled words or run on sentances or doesn’t comunicate clearly or maybe doesn’t explain exactly your house is laid out or is mising a few word or has bad grammar….
Do you see how irritating that last sentence was to read? Don’t be irritating to your potential buyer. Poorly written listings could also cause you to lose some credibility as a homeowner. So, have someone read over the listing and then make the adjustments needed!
Another way a seller can lose credibility is by not repairing or cleaning their home. I understand that the idea of putting money into a home you don’t plan to use can feel a bit like throwing it away but if you notice things in your house that seem to be out of place or in disrepair then so will any potential buyers. As a result, you could end up losing out on a sale or having to lower your price to entice a buyer. Fix the things that need to be fixed and hire a professional to clean your home prior to putting it on the market—in the long run it will be worth the cost!
Finally, hire a realtor. This isn’t a requirement of course but it will save you; possibly money, likely time and definitely frustration! My coworker recently listed his house without a realtor and he and his wife got fed up after just two weeks. Realtors can help you manage the potential buyers and home showings, as well as informing you of the legal requirements. Not to mention they are experts at what they do so they know how to price your home to sell and can advise you on taking the right price.
Best of luck in your home sale, as you take it on! If you are still looking for some more information, check out our selling guide here: http://info.smcapproved.com/how-to-sell-your-home-faster