Tips on Selling Your Home | Real Estate

If you’re getting ready to put your home on the market, or perhaps just considering the possibility of doing so, there are some helpful tips you can use to make the process less painful and arduous.

The first and best tip is very simple:  secure the services of a reputable, ethical, and knowledgeable real estate agent.  Selling by owner is an option, but it can be difficult and time consuming at best, and downright risky at worst.  Some “do it yourself” sellers feel they can protect themselves from risk by hiring an lawyer, failing to consider two things.

First, real estate law is complex and that lawyer who was recommended by a friend of a friend may not specialize in real estate law.  Second, some lawyers generally limit their assistance to evaluating written offers, and then executing signed contracts.  Not all get involved in price negotiations and none help with the advertising and showing of your home.  Good real estate agents provide these services.

The second tip has to do with understanding the nature of the overall real estate market in which you will sell your home.  There are some differences between selling your home in a classic “sellers” market and a classic “buyers” market of which you can take advantage.

Buying and selling real estate is a bit like a game pitting two players against each since the best outcome for one player is not necessarily the best outcome for the other.  Sellers want to get the highest price possible for their homes while buyers want to pay the lowest price possible.

In a buyers market there are more homes available for sale than there are buyers looking to purchase; a clear advantage for the buyer.  Sellers have significant competition and are more willing to negotiate price to make the sale and need to invest more time and effort into making their homes more attractive to prospective buyers.

In a sellers market, there are more buyers than there are available homes to buy; a clear advantage to the seller.  Sellers are more likely to get higher prices for their homes in shorter periods of time for less effort.  Obviously there are no guarantees since even in a sellers market some homes are more attractive than others.  Right now Australia is still in a sellers market in most areas.  A good real estate agent can advise you of the situation in your location.  In a really hot market, you as a seller have a huge edge in two areas:  price and preparation.

Your real estate agent should show you a list of both the asking prices and actual selling prices of homes in your area that are comparable to yours.  If the real estate agent suggests listing your home at a price significantly lower than the comparable properties, get another real estate agent’s opinion or hire an independent valuer.   From both, challenge their reasoning.  If necessary, get opinions from as many real estate agents as you need until you find one who can rationally defend the asking price at which you will list your home.

The biggest advantage you have is in preparing your home for sale.  Good real estate agents will tell you kitchens and baths sell homes and in a buyers market, some investment in upgrading older kitchens and baths is generally a good idea.  This is less true in a sellers market, since buyers are more willing to purchase a home and then proceed with their own renovations.

But there is one tip that holds true in both a buyers and a sellers market.  Prospective buyers like homes that are clean, well kept, and clutter free.   In the front of your home features flowerbeds overgrown with weeds, uncut, scraggly grass, and untrimmed, out of control hedges, you need to invest a little time and perhaps money in landscape improvements.  Confronted with such a site, some buyers become reluctant to even get out of their cars.  If you are the type who never likes to throw anything away and the interior of your home shows it, you need to hire someone and get rid of the mess.  Finally, a little paint goes a long way towards freshening up the appearance of your home.  Even in a sellers market, steps like these can help you get top dollar for your home.