TIPS TO SELL YOUR HOME QUICK AND AT TOP DOLLAR

It is the million dollar question that gets asked at every listing appointment. How much is my home worth and how can I get top dollar. And the answer is rather surprising. Here is the real deal. There are many reasons why a home may have not sold, but here are a few top of mind.

First and foremost, price your home to sell. If you price your home to high and in combination with less than stellar photography and lack of professional staging advice what happens can be to much extra time spent on the market and resulting in a cancelled sale. So how do we fix this. Well first things first.

HIRE A PROFESSIONAL REAL ESTATE AGENT:

First and foremost, hire a professional and responsible real estate agent that takes their job seriously. And guess what you will achieve greater results with less of a headache. Studies have actually proven that sellers trying to sell independently to try and save themselves the price of commissions actually end up making less on the sale of their home. So leave it to the professional.

PRICE YOUR HOME TO SELL:

ALWAYS ask your real estate agent on a pricing strategy. There are three ways to look at a value of a home. There is taxable value, appraisal value and market value. Taxable value is a number compromised of various factors to derive what you will pay in for your taxes for any given year. The appraisal value is a valuation of a property’s value based on a given point in time. And the market value is an opinion of what a property would sell for in a competitive market based on features and benefits of that property. The market value can always flux depending on the overall real estate market, supply and demand and what other similar properties have sold for in the same condition.

So why is a pricing strategy so important? You want to make sure you are following suite with what other comparable homes are selling for in the area. Price your home a little under where you think it should be. Why? You will stand a better chance at getting more traffic in the door and it allows for more opportunity for buyers to come in above asking price. If you are selling at or above market value you are only allowing for 60% of buyers to consider your property. Studies have shown if you list 10-15% under market value your percentage increase to 90%.

Instead of trying to maximize profit, focus on creating demand for your home. And in return instead of having one buyer potentially thinking about purchasing, you will have multiple buyers contending for your property.

FIRST IMPRESSIONS ARE EVERYTHING:

Think about it this way. If you were browsing on a online dating site, are you going to reach out to someone with a less than stellar profile photo or that person who has a glamour shot photo? Moral of the story here, you have ONE SHOT in most cases to impress a buyer. If the photos are dingy, dark, cluttered or if the home is not staged to sell. Guess what folks, IT WILL NOT SELL. So work with a professional stager and photographer to ensure you stand out.

TIMING:

Always work with a real estate professional on the best time of year to list your home. Make sure you understand what the current health of the market is. We all know that spring time is the most crucial in Minnesota as most are trying to find a home and move before the snow flies. And for many they want to move before kids are back in school. If you list in August/September you can most likely expect to spend some additional time on the market. People are getting back to school and work after long summer vacations. In Minnesota we typically begin to see the lift in the market come late February after the super bowl.

SUMMARY:

The first two weeks on the market are THE MOST CRUCIAL to your success. During these weeks you will be exposed to the most amount of buyers and have the highest chance of visibility on the market. If you are over priced, not correctly staged and lacking stellar photography you will reap that effect. Get your pricing strategy locked in before you list so you are not spending time on the market that you could have prevented.