As we in the real estate industry know, there are numerous problems that can occur between the time a home is put on the market and the time it closes. Many issues, from pricing your home to your availability to show and market your home, even sentimental emotions can hinder the all-important process of the sale.
Following are seven important questions you should sit down and consider, honestly, and they will prove invaluable in the sale and marketing of your home.
1. Do you really know what your property is worth in today’s market? Will you price too high and discourage potential buyers, or too low and lose part of your equity?
Real estate prices are never fixed. The same home can be worth thousands more or less within the same month in volatile markets. What the homeowner paid originally for the home is not relevant to the list price; only what the current market will bear. The original price is only important to determine the equity position, if the homeowner can in fact afford to sell the home.
Nobody, even the most bargain hunting buyer wants to work with an unreasonable seller, and the quickest tip-off that a seller is unreasonable is pricing the home too high. The opposite can happen too. Sometimes for a quick sale, or because the home was purchased so long ago that today’s prices seem extravagant, a homeowner will price a home too low. A good agent can evaluate the seller’s position, and find other ways to create the conditions for a quick sale besides leaving equity on the table.
2. Can you show other houses as comparables?
Do you have a comparable analysis of the area? Even if you have printed comparables, the information alone isn’t enough. There is always pertinent information missing from CMA’s, and the buyers are probably going to want to see the other homes in the area to evaluate the comparables for themselves. Are you going to be able to show these other homes to your prospective buyers? If they are shopping for other homes in the area, are they going to be shown your home? Just how do you know how your house is comparing?
3. Are you available to prospect on a full time basis until the house is sold?
Most homeowners work at another profession and find it impossible to show the home except on weekends or after dark. Many buyers can’t or won’t have the patience to wait to see the home – they are too afraid someone else will come in and write a contract. They want to look at homes they can view and write contracts on without waiting.
And where does the homeowner obtain potential buyers? Can you prospect for homebuyers during the day? If you are going to sell your home, you will need to. Less than 50% of buyers use the newspaper to buy a home – how can you be sure they saw your add? Over 82% of buyers use a Realtor. Can you network with real estate agents to find a buyer for your home? You will have to cold call every Realtor in your area to tell them about your home,
a time consuming task unless you are an agent or have the home listed. That is the purpose of the MLS – it is the Realtor’s message board on what homes are for sale.
Can you leave work to show your home to a potential buyer? Are you available to stop what you are doing to take calls about your property? Will your boss understand that you have another full-time job – selling your home? If the answer to those questions is no, you need an agent who does work full-time on your behalf to market your home and bring it to a closing.
How often do you want to hold an open house? Depending on your marketing strategies you’ll need to do it often, 39% of homebuyers attend open houses.
You will want to put a sign in the front yard, 38% of buyers look at homes with yard signs.
And what about online services? Few online companies carry for sale by owner listings – but more than 18% of homebuyers look for homes on the Internet, and that number rises daily. Where do they go? Where they can look at an abundance of homes – Realtor.com, Westusa.com, azrealtorpros4u.com, and other sites with hundreds of thousands of listings plus search criteria to make finding a home easy. Do you have that at your disposal?
4. Can you answer objections and criticism without getting emotionally involved and upset?
The chances for finding a buyer with the same tastes and appreciation for your home as you have are slim to none. You can bet that the first words out of the buyer’s mouth are what they would change if the house were theirs. That wood paneling in the den that you think is so handsome may strike a Gen-X homebuyer as dark and outdated-looking. Flooring, paint colors and decorative accents you have chosen may provoke titters. Your dog is your best friend, but can you be objective about the way the carpet may smell because of his accidents, fur, and muddy paws? And willing to do something about it? What about those numerous small repairs you always meant to do? The buyer will find the cabinet door that sticks, the rattling lock, the missing window screen and the broken tile in the bathroom quicker than you can say Jack Rabbit.
And the buyer will draw every one of these items to your attention; criticizing and discounting the home you love before your very eyes. Can you keep smiling?
The Realtor can absorb a lot of the electrical charge between the buyer and a seller. The seller will always see his/her home in its most favorable, and even unrealistic, light. A buyer typically will judge flaws more harshly than a seller, leaving plenty of room for a gap to widen in negotiations. The seller wants the most money for the home, and the buyer wants the most home for the money. A Realtor can get the two to meet in the middle.
5. Can you call a prospect back without placing yourself in a poor bargaining position?
Do you know what to say, what not to say, and what questions to ask? How do you know this is a qualified buyer and not someone who simply wants to gain entry to your home? How much should you reveal? Do you know how to qualify a buyer? How to negotiate?
6. Are you familiar with all the financing possibilities to guarantee the sale? Do you have the sources of financing?
In a perfect world, the buyer will come to the table with cash in hand for the house. But the reality is that the buyer will require some kind of financing. Do you know where to send them? What kind of credit do they have? Can they afford the home? How can you prevent tying up your home in a contract with someone who can’t afford the home, wasting precious marketing time, and perhaps losing the interest of other more qualified buyers?
7. Do you really have the time to handle all the details?
The seller must handle repairs, the presentation of the home, paperwork, negotiations, other interested buyers, plus shopping for a new home and moving preparations all at the same time.
Selling a home involves a great deal of preparation and evaluation and that is just to arrive at a marketing plan. Sometimes this can involve making repairs on the home, staging the home, preparing for an open house, and even choosing the right moment to place the home on the market. Then you must handle advertising to attract the buyer. What works – what doesn’t work?
The seller must become expert in real estate contracts and their legal responsibilities. Do you know your liabilities? Are you familiar with disclosure? Are you confident that you know enough about the real estate transaction to follow through without professional advise?
Then when a buyer is interested, the seller may have to show the home multiple times before a contract is signed. In the meanwhile, numerous discussions will ensue which change the negotiations constantly. Do you know how to move a sale along when it is stalled in negotiations? Do you know when to walk away?
Since the buyer and seller are presumably saving money on a Realtor’s commission, the seller will have to perform the Realtor’s job and provide the services a Realtor would provide for both the buyer and seller. Is that what you want to do?
It’s tougher than you think to do it yourself! In addition, an industry survey states that houses sold by agents bring an average of 9½% more than similar owner sold homes, more than paying for the commission and with a little left over. Owners who use an agent net more money, more time and more piece of mind.
Think about it!
If there is anything we can do for you, answer questions, offer a free market survey, or help save you time, money, and energy in selling your home, please call Jim and Robyn Nuth with West USA Realty at our office 602-375-3300, or our direct line at 602-525-3224
