I Want to Sell It Quickly
Okay, you are thinking I'll take the price I paid for my house and add a nice mark-up. There's my price! Hold On! That's not going to reflect today's correct market value for your home.
Your goal is to sell your home in the quickest possible time and for the best price possible. What are the important steps to accomplish this goal? The first is to price it correctly. Forget your personal opinion and consider what a ready, willing and able buyer will be willing to pay. We have to put ourselves in the buyers shoes. He doesn't care how much you paid, how much cash you need for a down payment on your next home or how much you have invested in upgrades.
Other than the picture that is on your listing, the price is the first thing the buyer notices about your home. Most times he or his realtor even search for homes by price. If your price is higher than all the others in your community that are similar to yours, yours may not even be considered for a preview. Your home may actually be much nicer than all of the others, but buyers may never know that if they won't even come to see it because it is priced too high.
In order to compare your home to others that are in the market, you need a Comparative Market Analysis which your realtor can provide. The CMA, as it is often called, will show the following:
- Houses in your size, price range and area that have been sold within the past six months or currently are under contract
- Asking and actual selling prices of those houses
- Current inventory of houses on the market
- Major features of all of the above houses
You also need to consider market conditions before you price your home. Be sure to get the market conditions for your area, don't look at national or even metroplex conditions. Are home prices in your area trending upwards or downwards? Are they selling quickly or slowly? Consider other things like the job market, interest rates or the season. Your realtor can help you obtain this information. If there are negatives, you probably need to lower the price a little in order to sell quickly.
A CMA will include the Days on the Market (DOM) for each comparable house sold. Today's savvy buyer will be able to find out how long a house has been on the market. If it has been on the market longer than others, they will ask, "Why, what is wrong with it?" Just the number of days on the market alone will stop many buyers from even looking at your property if there are plenty of other homes at which to look. Thus, another reason for pricing correctly to sell quickly.
In a seller's market, you can price a bit beyond what you really expect, just to see what will happen. In a buyer's market, which is what we currently have locally, overpricing my hurt you.
There are other ways to hasten the sale of your home. Consider sweetening the terms. Think of what you can offer; pay the closing points or discount points, pay the HOA for a year, "buy down" the interest rate or offer a discount if the sale is closed by a certain date.
Another important factor in selling your home quickly is the condition of your home. Make sure that your home looks spectacular in every way. Repair any defects. Consider upgrading items that are of importance like flooring, kitchen items, lighting fixtures,bathrooms and landscaping. Consider using a stager. Keep your home immaculate!
You may think, my home is great in so many ways, why does it matter how the bathrooms look, how clean it is or some similar thought. It matters because a buyer may really like your home, but then sees something that really "turns him off." That thing that "turns him off" may be of paramount importance to him or may be something he just can't live with so he says "no" to your home and moves on to the others. You just lost a sale because of that one thing.
Make your home the "model" home on the market and it will sell faster than the others. An exceptional looking home creates an emotional response in the buyer that can lead to a financial response, a sale!
An exceptional appearance and great first impression can create an emotional response that can lead to a financial response.