10 Costly Mistakes Home Sellers Make
Costly Mistake #2. Using a real estate agent (someone with a
license) instead of a Realtor.
When you're looking
for help buying or selling property, it's important to remember that
the terms "real estate agent" and "Realtor" are not
synonymous. Realtors provide an extra level of service, and to
be a Realtor you must be a member of the National Association of
Realtors (NAR). The equivalent organization in Canada is the
Canadian Real Estate Association (CREA). Both are non-profit
trade organizations that promote real estate information, education
and professional standards. The National Association of
Realtors also has earned a strong reputation for actively
championing private property rights and working to make home
ownership affordable and accessible. The NAR and CREA members
adhere to a strict code of ethics founded on the principle of
providing fair and honest service to all consumers.
Realtor business practices are monitored at local board
levels. Arbitration and disciplinary systems are in place to
address complaints from the public or board members. This
local oversight keeps Realtors directly accountable to the
individual consumers they serve and therefore the consumer is more
likely to find better service and accountability by using a
Realtor. Today it's not uncommon for mortgage lenders to try
to list your home for a reduced fee, in the hopes that they can earn
money on your next purchase AND earn fees on the home loan you
receive. True professionals let the lenders do the loans, and
the Realtors do the house selling or purchase assistance. If
you use a person with just a "real estate license" they will not
have access to all the UAR purchase forms, may get you involved with
litigation - with no means to settle it on a local level, as there
is no trade organization or local real estate board that monitors
their actions...
Costly Mistake #3. Complacent marketing when selling a
home
When selling your home there are no guarantees that
the ultimate buyer of your home will simply walk through the front
door. In many cases you may have to bring your home to the
buyer. Effective marketing will help ensure that your property
receives maximum exposure to attract a ready, willing and able buyer
in the shortest period of time. Ask your Realtor to list for
you all of the ways he/she intends to market your home and on what
time-line. Also, be sure to ask about the home being advertised on
the Internet, and his own personal web site with photos, too.
Costly Mistake #4 Trying to negotiate a cheap commission with your agent
when selling
Most good Realtors charge a fair price to
sell a home. If you try to squeeze all of the profit out
of
a sale from your agent - how hard will they work to sell your
home? If an agent reduces their fee,
many times they will
place your home in the MLS system and pay the cooperating broker
a
reduced fee also (since they took your listing for less).
The problem with this is, many agents will
refuse to show your
home, as they see your agent is not paying a customary commission
for the
sale - this hurts your showings. Some agents
do not tell an owner that they are paying a
reduced
fee to the agent who has the buyer - thus deceiving the
owner. Some owners (if they knew this)
would want the full
commission for a buyer's agent put into the MLS - however, if that
happens,
then your agent would make only a small fee for all the
work they are doing - and most (not all)
agents I know, don't
work very hard for a small amount - or for free. If an agent
has a buyer for his own listing, he may not want to show his buyer
YOUR home. Why? Cause he could make a lot more in
commissions by selling another agent's listing that is paying a full
commission. It's a fact of the market. Agents work hard
when they know they are being paid. Consider carefully whether
you will try to negotiate a small selling commission...it is really
in YOUR best interest?? If you do
negotiate a lower commission when selling - insist your agent place
it in the MLS for a full commission to the buyer's agent (thus
helping you) and reduce his own fee,
instead.
Costly Mistake #5. Taking for granted the "curb appeal" of your
home
When you're preparing your house for sale, remember
the importance of first impressions. A buyer's first
impression can make or break whether they even want to go inside for
a look. It is estimated that more than half of all houses are
sold before the buyers even get out of their cars. With that in
mind, be sure to stand outside of your home and take a realistic
"fresh look" and then ask yourself what can be done to make the
"curb appeal" improve. Also ask your Realtor's opinion as to
how to improve the curb appeal. It could make a huge difference in
your final sales price.
Costly Mistake #6. Forgetting about health and safety issues
Be upfront and disclose to your Realtor any problems with
the property. The problems are going to be discovered
anyway. A decade ago, health and safety issues were rarely a
part of the typical real estate transaction. Today, however,
it's common for inspections relating to health, safety, and even
environmental concerns to be a part of most sales contracts.
Moreover, in many states, the seller must disclosure to the buyer
any knowledge of existing property problems. In many cases,
these issues have been or can be factored into the home's listing
price.
Costly Mistake #7. Forgetting what you would want to see if you
were the buyer of your home
Remember that although people
can be different in personality, they tend to be the same when it
comes to expectations at someone else's expense. In other
words, a prospective buyer would probably like to see a perfect home
from top to bottom, inside and out, when it comes to your
home. Call me for "Rod's
Checklist" of how to make your home show
better!
Costly Mistake #8. Thinking you need to be at home to explain
things to a prospective buyer
You will be better served if
you allow your Realtor to do their job without you there. Most
potential buyers usually feel more comfortable if they cans speak
freely to their Realtor without the owners being
present. If people unaccompanied by an agent request to
see your property, simply hand them a marketing flyer on your
property and ask them to call me, I can then insure that the
buyers have the ability to purchase your home should they want to
do so. That way, we don't waste time showing your home to
buyers who are not serious about buying it.
Costly Mistake #9. Not pricing your home correctly or not following your
agent's pricing advice.
Perhaps the most challenging
aspect of selling a home is listing it at the correct price.
It's one of several areas where the assistance of a skilled real
estate agent can more than pay for itself. Listing the home
too high can be as bad as too low. If the listing price is too
high, you'll miss out on a percentage of buyers looking in the price
range where your home should be. This is the flaw in thinking that
you'll always have the opportunity to accept a lower offer.
Chances are the offers won't even come in, because the buyers who
would be most interested in your home have been scared off by the
price and aren't even taking the time to look. By the time the
price is corrected, you've already lost exposure to a large group of
potential buyers. The listing price becomes even trickier to
set when prices are quickly rising or falling. It's critical
to be aware of where and how fast the market is moving - both when
setting the price and when negotiating an offer. Again, an
experienced, well-trained agent is always in touch with market
trends - often even to a greater extent than appraisers, who
typically focus on what a property is worth if sold as-is, right
now. Many sellers feel that a Realtor wants to underprice a
home in order to sell it quickly & earn a commission.
However, this is simply not true with most professional, good
Realtors. As professionals, our job is to try to obtain the
HIGHEST price for our clients, and yet still sell the home in a time
that the sellers prefer. Most agents will try to work with a
seller to get them the most money, in the shortest amount of time,
and with the fewest problems.
Costly Mistake
#10. Not planning your move early
enough.
Many sellers simply don't plan their move early
enough and then feel totally overwhelmed at the time of moving out
of the house. If you are able to move at any time of the year, don't
wait until summer, the peak-moving season. Consider also that the
first and last few days of the month are extra busy. If you plan to
sell your house, get it on the market as soon as possible.
Keep a record of all expenses related to the move, some of which may
be tax deductible. Fill out the Personal Household Inventory for
each room. This is important for establishing the amount of declared
valuation for the shipment and as a permanent inventory for
insurance purposes. List, as nearly as possible, the year of
purchase and original cost of each item. The total cost of the move
will include transportation charges, any charges for declared
valuation, plus charges for any extra services performed at your
request. All of these charges are based on tariff rate
schedules.
Don't make the
mistake of choosing the wrong agent!...email me at rod@rodusa.com or call me directly at:
435-668-7885. Service to you, is important to
me! |