Selling a home?  Avoid these selling mistakes

Selling a home is a major life event that can trigger a lot of feelings – and a lot of decisions that just might wind up working against you!  After all, your home is special to you; it’s your castle, your retreat.   It reflects your taste, your style,your hard work (or even your lack thereof)…  And your home holds memories, as well as your belongings.  Maybe lots of your belongings.  

There are basic things that you’ll be asked to do when you put your house on the market.  Some of these things may seem a little unreasonable, maybe a little harsh, but these are the things that help sell homes.  Some homeowners have trouble following the advice of real estate professionals when first putting their home up for sale, then wonder why it’s not selling.  So let’s learn from their mistakes…

Overvaluing a Home

The truth is simple.  If your home is overpriced, it just won’t sell.  It’s important to take note of similar homes in your neighborhood that have sold and see what they went for.  An experienced real estate agent will be able to tell you what your home is worth.  And, though you might have put a great deal of money into making renovations to your home, don’t assume that you can just add that onto your home’s value.

You put too many restrictions on showing times, or you are always present at showings

It’s just common sense. Agents must be able to access your home to show it to prospective buyers.  Your home should be kept clean and ready to show, sometimes on short notice.  Also, if your house is going to be shown, that is the time to leave for a little while. Buyers can become very uncomfortable if you are hovering around while they are looking around.  They may not feel free to tour your home and address any issues they see with their realtor.  They might just leave your home without giving it the consideration they might have if you were not there…

Your Home is just not clean enough

A visibly dirty house is not going to make a good impression on buyers.  Stained carpets, streaky windows, dust…  Your home has to be “best company” clean, and kept that way.  You never know when your house will be shown. If necessary, have a cleaning service come in for a one-time deep clean, then make sure you maintain that clean!   Make sure bathrooms are clean every morning, beds made, no dirty dishes in sink or on countertops, no piles of laundry around.  Do a quick scan before you leave the house in the morning and make sure clutter is put away, and all rooms look their best.

Your Home is just too cluttered – and has too much personal “stuff” around

Here’s a simple truth.  When people see clutter, they think “Not enough storage space!”  Now is the time to start the de-cluttering process.  In addition to making your house show-ready, it will make your packing and moving to your new home that much easier!   Donate what you can, and the items that you really want to keep you might want to consider packing up and storing.  This goes for closets, too.  Yes, buyers will be looking into your closets, and again don’t want to feel there is no space.  Donate what you no longer wear, pack up and store out of season items. Linen closets and under counter cabinets should also be uncluttered.

Then comes the really hard part…  Taking down all those photos of your family, the kids’ school portraits, vacation shots.  Buyers need to be able to walk into your home and visualize it as their home, not yours!   Your walls should be a neutral canvas that will let the buyer envision the possibilities.

Your Home needs a lot of repairs!

Most buyers don’t want to move into a home that will require the expense and effort of making lots of repairs, even if some are just “small” repairs.   The less repairs needed, the more appealing your home!  

And, last but not least…

You don’t have the right real estate agent!

The right agent will help keep you from making these selling mistakes, and others, and will then market your beautifully clean, uncluttered, depersonalized, correctly priced home so that you can achieve the best results!