If your home is in good condition and it’s located in a good neighbourhood, then you might think that it won’t be too difficult to sell if you decide to do so. However, there are a number of major mistakes that you could make over the course of the selling process that could make it much more difficult to sell your house, which in turn could cost you a lot of money. The following are three of the biggest seller mistakes that you should be sure to avoid:
1. Pricing your home too high
Determining a fair price for a home can be difficult. Many owners make the mistake of tallying up how much they’ve invested into the house, from the initial price to renovations that they made, in order to come up with a price. However, the value of your home is determined by the market, not by what you think the value is.
If you price your home too high, nobody is going to buy it. Most homebuyers use real estate agents to help advise them against paying for over-priced real estate. You won’t generate any serious interest and it will cause your house to languish on the market for far too long. When a house is on the market for too long, buyers are going to think that there might be something wrong with it, even if you’ve dropped the price.
To properly price your house, you need to look at similar houses that sold in your area within the last year. This will give you a good idea of what you can sell your home for.
2. Not marketing your home properly
While putting up a for sale sign is a must, your marketing efforts shouldn’t end there, especially since most buyers start their home search online. You need to create an online listing that contains detailed descriptions of your house, any unique features your property has and clear, well-lit photographs of the inside and outside of your home.
Potential buyers won’t bother scheduling an appointment to come see your house if your listing doesn’t make a good impression on them.
3. Not using a real estate agent
It’s not uncommon for owners to think about selling their homes without the help of a real estate agent. A real estate agent will take a small percentage of the profits, after all. An owner who thinks that they’ll have no trouble selling their house may not want to pay that agent fee.
However, an agent can help you properly price your house, help you stage it, help schedule open houses and showings, and use their resources to help you find motivated buyers. In other words, it’s well worth the money to use a real estate agent to sell your house.
Selling a house can be challenging, even if you live in a beautiful home in a popular neighbourhood. To avoid making it even more difficult to sell, be sure to avoid these three major seller mistakes.
