Selling Your Home? 13 Rock Solid Facts You Need To Know!

For more great articles from real estate professionals, go to myactiveagent.com

A good realtor helps you with selling your home. Part of being a good real estate agent is telling sellers the truth about selling their home. Sometimes the truth hurts, but as it is said, “no pain, no gain. In this article, I will detail 20 facts you need to know when selling your home. So let’s jump right into it.

1. Don’t help your neighbor sell his home by overpricing your home 

This happens a lot. Many times sellers are not aware of what their neighbors or, in this case, their competition’s home are selling for. By overpricing your home, you can make your competitions home look very attractive to would-be buyers. After all, all of us like to think we are getting a good deal.

2. Learn and know your local real estate market before selling your home

I thought this would be appropriate to come next. You can’t avoid mistake #1 if you don’t have a clue about your real estate market. If you are not sure, ask a real estate agent to send you a comparative market analysis. This will provide you all of the data you need so you can be sure to price your home correctly.

3. Having trouble selling your home? Price it Right!

A big reason why sellers fail to sell their home is that they don’t have it priced right. Sellers love to blame everything or everyone as the reason why their home didn’t sell. Reasons like the realtor didn’t show it enough, or the buyers are too cheap and not willing to pay for what it is worth. Unfortunately, we as sellers don’t decide what real estate is worth, the market does. The real estate market is the ultimate judge of value and pricing. If you sell your home, it is because you had it priced right!

4. Selling your home is inconvenient.

Yes, it is! When you are selling your home, you are putting your life on hold. Buyers are most active during the evenings and on the weekends. Those are the times many of us are off and want to relax or do our own thing. Those days are gone when you are selling your home. If you, as the seller, are not willing to accommodate the buyers, you could have a pretty rough time selling your home. Bite the bullet, suffer through the inconvenience, and sell your home.

5. Buyers are willing to pay more for a well-maintained home.

Being a home buyer is also stressful. Many of whom are changing jobs, schools, and locations by buying your home. They like to have the peace of mind knowing they will not get socked with huge repair bills. A lot of people are even willing to pay top dollar to get a well maintained home. If your home is well maintained, it is a definite advantage.

6. Buyers expect you to negotiate when you are selling your home

 Very few buyers in an average market will want to pay the listing price of your home. Furthermore, if they have a good realtor, they will try to negotiate everything under the sun, including sales price, earnest money, repairs, and closing costs. If you are selling your home and refuse to give on anything, there is a good chance you will drive buyers straight into the arms of your competition.

7. Hiding a defect will hurt you

You do not want to be the person that gets served court papers because you are being sued for non-disclosure. Honesty is the best policy. If your home has a major defect, know how to work a deal around it instead of covering it up. You will be glad you did.

8. Professional photos and videos are a given when selling your home

 If you are not using professional photos and videos, you can be sure your competition is. Today, in the information age, it is expected. Potential buyers will pass over your home without a second thought if your photos are bad. The images are the first thing the buyers see when looking at your listing. If those are bad, forget it. Using video is now becoming more common. There are many video templates you can buy to showcase your home. Again, you can be sure your competition is doing just that.

9. Removing ownership

It’s very important buyers can picture themselves as the new owners of your home. If you have all kinds of personal photos of you and your home, it will make buyers feel as if they are a guest in someone else’s home. That is not good. Remove all of the personal things from view when you are selling your home.

10. The closing date is your move-out date

Many who are selling their homes assume that they will have time to move after the close date. Many sellers are in hopes of using their proceeds from the sale to begin moving. Unless that is stipulated in the sales contract, you will be expected to be 100% moved-out the day you sign the papers and close the escrow. Make financial arrangements to make the move happen without the benefit of your proceeds.

11. Neutralize your home 

Many of us love to personalize our home using vivid colors and decorations. This can work against you in a big way. What you love a prospective buyer could hate and walk away. Be sure your home has neutral colors with neutral decor. You want the buyers to focus on the home itself, not colors or decorations.

12. Cluttered homes sit 

If you are serious about selling your home, you will need to be sure that it is clean, neat, and void of any clutter. Clutter brings chaos and stress. Buyers do not want to look at a chaotic home. Cluttered homes also appear smaller, hiding many of the homes’ potentials. If you are selling your home, remove the clutter before putting your home on the market.

13. There is no substitution for experience. 

Most people are better off using an experienced professional. Most for sale by owners will end up listing with a professional realtor. When my car breaks down, I hire a professional to fix it. If my AC goes out, I hire a professional to fix it. If you are selling your home, you should hire a professional to sell it. Sellers that hire a professional have far less stress and more enjoyable selling experience. Experience is a valuable commodity.

__________________________________________________________________________

Benjamin Ross is a real estate expert and professional who serves the state of Texas. Benjamin started his career in 2002. He was a director for private investment companies, responsible for acquisitions and management of real estate. 

As a Realtor, it is Benjamin’s priority and intention to treat you, the client, the way he would want to be treated if he was the client. Benjamin believes every client is unique with a unique set of goals. It is Benjamin’s job to help his clients accomplish their goals big and small.

As an Investor, Benjamin has an extensive history working with real estate investors. It can be challenging to find a realtor with personal real estate investments and the experience that comes with it. The fact that Benjamin is a real estate investor and Landlord makes him unique and beneficial to his clients.

As Source Expert, Benjamin also serves a variety of journalists and bloggers. Benjamin has a passion for teaching others about the real estate industry. Knowledge is power, and Benjamin does not mind sharing it. 

As a team player, Benjamin embraces the knowledge and experience of others. He is always open to new ideas and opinions of others if it results in the success of his clients. Benjamin loves to partner with other professionals across the state of Texas. 

As a Community Leader, Benjamin has partnered with the PSJA (Pharr San Juan Alamo) school district helping future business owners navigate their path to success. Benjamin serves as a mentor as well as engaging with high school student within the classroom, teaching them what it takes to be successful. Benjamin also contributes financially to further promote the activities of the school district, especially for low-income students. Benjamin takes pride in and loves serving his PSJA community near McAllen, Texas.

Real Estate Aside…

Benjamin owned and operated a therapeutic group home for special needs children. He specialized with the care of children who had down’s syndrome and severe autism. Benjamin started a non-profit company, Yoshua Haven, and partnered with Toys for Tots to ensure disadvantaged children in the state system had Christmas gifts during the holiday season. Secondly, he partnered with warehouse distributors to help distribute food to the homeless and low-income families in the DFW area.

Benjamin has three beautiful daughters and a loving fiancee. He resides in Corpus Christi and McAllen.

__________________________________________________________________________

Benjamin’s Published Articles and Quotes (see all)

Because of Benjamin’s knowledge of real estate, his quote’s and articles have been featured in many publications nationwide.

See Benjamin’s Zillow Reviews. Feel free to contact Benjamin any time at myactiveagent.com