5 Mistakes to Avoid When Selling Your Home

These 5 things will harm your home sale by not only prolonging the process, but also costing you money.

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What are five mistakes you should avoid when selling your home?

1. Over-improving your home. Sometimes it’s necessary to make improvements. Other times, improving a whole kitchen isn’t necessary. Always seek the advice of a real estate professional on which improvements to make so you get the best return on your investment.

2. Remodeling without permits. It’s very likely in our area that the township has a use and occupancy permit in order to transfer title once the home is sold. If they go through your home and discover that you don’t have the proper permits for any remodeling you may have done, they may make you redo it. Needless to say, that would be hugely expensive and disastrous to your sale. 

3. Limiting your showings. As agents, if we hold showings that are too open, too easy, and scheduled with little-to-no notice, we can understand how that might be annoying. However, if you require that your agent only shows your home between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. every other Tuesday, that’s too tight of a window. Not only will that limit your showings, but it could also frustrate agents to the point where they might just decide to move onto another home. Don’t limit your showings, but instead set a schedule that’s comfortable for you as well.

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Hire an agent who has mastered the Internet.

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4. Having an open house every week or relying on an agent whose whole strategy relies on open houses. Open houses are a great way for buyers to see your house and for us to drive traffic into the home once the listing is launched. Exclusively relying on them to snag buyers is a bad strategy, though. The way to have your house open all the time is hiring an agent who has mastered the Internet. That way, buyers can see your home 24 hours a day from anywhere in the world.

5. Not following your agent’s lead. Nobody knows more about your home than you do, but your agent should know how to market your home. You don’t have to follow your agent’s lead blindly, but following their advice should make the process smoother, cut down on your showings, and increase your price.

If you have any questions about this topic, please don’t hesitate to shoot me an email. I’d be happy to help you!

Which Pricing Strategy Works Best?

There are many different pricing strategies you can use when selling a home. We’re focusing on the three most common ones today.

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Buying a Main Line home? Search all homes for sale

When you sell your home, there are three different pricing strategies you can follow. There are advantages and disadvantages to each one, so we are going to go through them and explain the strategies in further detail:

1. Price it high and look for a “needle in the haystack” buyer who will pay a premium price for the home. The obvious drawback to this one is that it limits your potential buyers. Most buyers in the marketplace now look at multiple homes, so they will know you are overpriced. It could detract from your traffic and cause you to reduce your price later if you can’t find that unique buyer. You could always hit a home run though.

2. Price your home right at its market value based on recent sales. This strategy really has no visible drawbacks. It attracts most of the current and potential buyers and is usually the best strategy. The only possible downside would come if you hired the wrong agent who isn’t quite sure about the state of the market. You could be in for trouble if that is the case.

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Pricing your home at its market value is usually the best option.

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3. Price your home low to create an auction-like atmosphere to bring in multiple buyers and multiple offers. This strategy can be very effective in a competitive seller’s market. It can drive the price way over what the property was listed at. However, you could also end up selling your house for less than you thought if the offers stop coming in or a buyer gets cold feet.

Ultimately, you should pick the strategy that works best for your specific situation. If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to give us a call or send us an email. We look forward to hearing from you!

How to Find Your Real Home Value

If you want to find your home’s true value, you should hire an expert.

Selling your Main Line home? Get a free home value report

Buying a Main Line home? Search all homes for sale

Whether you are looking to sell in the near future or are just curious, you want to figure out the value of your home. Should you use an online tool to find out the real value of your home?

When you use a website to find your home’s value, the website uses an algorithm that is based on homes that are both for sale and have sold in your area. It can also sometimes be loosely based on your tax assessment.

It’s very important when using these home valuation tools to keep an eye out for our expectations. The expectation is more of a guidepost, and sometimes it can be way off. For example, Zillow has admitted that their Zestimate tool can be up to 25% off in either direction.

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Zestimates can be up to 25% off in either direction.

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Many consumers are frustrated by this, which is understandable. That’s why we tell our clients to call us and give us their information. We will look at your home, homes that have actually sold in your neighborhood, homes for sale, how your home looks, and any improvement that you’ve made. From there we will be able to tell what is and isn’t real on the internet. 

So go ahead and use online valuations as a guide, but if you want to know the true value of your home, feel free to give us a call or send us an email. We would be happy to help you!