Sellers Guide - Listing A Property in North Texas or Maine
We believe first and foremost in protecting our Sellers and providing you the best Return on Investment (ROI)!
There are many things to consider when selling your property.
We validate ownership including addressing multiple heirships interests. We then proceed to work with you to obtain appropriate property disclosures required including mineral interests, water rights, well and septic information, and city utilities if applicable. Deed restrictions and HOA requirements are very important to understand as well. We strive to have most title work completed upon listing to ensure no surprises are encountered later in the transaction.
Surveys are an important part of the process and we will help determine the best approach to deal with existing or new property boundaries.
Our company policy is to always provide professional photography that highlights the best features of your property while providing an accurate depiction for prospective Buyers. We will provide your guidelines and staging input so that your property is presented in the best light.
In all markets, appropriate pricing is important to ensure your property sells at its highest and best level. There are several different pricing strategies that can be employed depending on the market and your goals. Competitive pricing, with focus on the type of contracts accepted, can often result in successful competitive bidding situations. We respect that you, as the Seller, is in control of all offers you choose to counter or accept. We have extensive experience with all types of competitive bids and types of offers. Offers can be very different in regards to terms and all details must be considered. Specifically, many types of loans from Buyers carry terms that must be met and considered carefully before acceptance. We offer the best advice with respect to your ROI.
We recommend you review the following information prior to listing a property:
Factors Which Impact Home Sales
Having a house sitting on the market can be expensive and stressful.
When you put your home on the market, you never really know how long it will take to sell. In some markets, you may have five full-price offers within 24 hours. In others, your home may sit for weeks. If you’re in the “my house won’t sell” situation, here are some things to consider.
There are several reasons your home sale may stall. Here are some of the most common scenarios:
1. List Price is Too High
Even if everything about your house is on point, if it’s priced incorrectly for the market, it’s not going to sell. “Probably 70% of the time a house isn’t selling is primarily price,” says a Realtor interviewed with a prominent brokerage. For example, “you think your home is worth $200,000 and the average days on the market is 15. You price it at $200,000, and after 15 days on the market, you haven’t gotten an offer even though people have looked at it. Your price is wrong.”
To fix this, you’ll have to lower your price. Consult one of our agents on this issue, because they’ll have a better idea of what’s selling in your area and how your price compares to other homes with similar specs.
2. Too Personalized
You may enjoy your collection of figurines or hunting trophies, but buyers may not appreciate them as much. Your buyers should be able to picture themselves in the home, and that’s more difficult if you’ve left out all your family photos and sentimental knick-knacks.
“We advise sellers to clear everything that they’re not using, They’re going to be moving anyway, and you’re better off to start that packing and declutter process upfront.”
3. Poor Layout
Sometimes a home’s layout simply isn’t ideal for many buyers—and you might not even realize it because you’ve gotten used to it. Maybe there’s no obvious primary suite, or one of the bedrooms is located off the dining room or living room. Maybe there’s no bathroom on the first floor.
Whatever the trouble, this is generally a difficult problem to fix without major renovations, so you’ll have to decide whether you want to spend big money or just wait for the right seller to come along. A drop in price can help overcome this issue since a buyer can do their own renovations. “You’re not going to be able to overcome that for the wrong buyer for your house,” says a Realtor interviewed.
4. Not Updated
If your home has older lighting or appliances that are not considered retro or vintage, it could be turning buyers off, especially if the homes in your area are all up-to-date. Updated appliances, updated fixtures, and updated furnishings all go a long way toward making a house sell.
If you’re not willing to spend money on this issue, you’ll need to drop the price to reflect the work a buyer might want to do on the home. But you can do a few things yourself that might help. “You can update a few key lighting pieces for very little money—your dining room, your foyer, your kitchen pendants,” a Realtor said. “When it comes to your faucets or your door hardware, those things get a little more cumbersome. I’d get some professional advice on where to spend your money, and do those things that have a high impact for a low cost.”
5. Bad Staging
How your home is presented to buyers makes a big difference. That means cleaning, patching, painting, freshening things up, and getting all excess clutter and furniture out. “Staging makes a huge difference, and we include this with every listing because of the difference it makes,” Coley said. “We create a detailed list of every piece of furniture that needs to come out of the house.”
Staging is about making your home feel clean, fresh, and welcoming. Turn on all the lights, bake some cookies, set the dining table, etc. “When buyers open the door, they’ve got to feel at home”.
6. Bad Listing Photos
If the publicity photos for your home don’t make it look clean, bright, and uncluttered, you may want to have them retaken. Dark photos are a deal-breaker, as are pictures that include house clutter or the less picturesque features of the home (like closets). Make sure your photos are taken on a bright, sunny day, and that you’ve appropriately cleaned and decluttered beforehand.
Trinity Premier Properties Agents always hire professional photographers unless there are extenuating circumstances or serious clutter or trash that prevents pictures from looking good.
7. No Curb Appeal
You might have the greatest house on the block—on the inside—but if your yard is unkempt or featureless, your paint is peeling, and your front walk needs work, a buyer might pass right by.
“If you can’t get people inside, they’re never going to buy it,”. “Clean the windows, put in flowers and shrubs, update the mailbox, paint if necessary. If you’re not able to paint everything, paint the trim and the shutters. It has to be consistent with the neighborhood.”
8. Challenging Location
If your home is on a busy street, or it’s got a stream or creek on the property, or the property rises from front to back—“so the backyard becomes a cliff,”—it becomes a hard property to sell. Things like that are really hard to overcome.
To sell that kind of home, you’ll either have to drop the price or wait for the right buyer to come along—or both.
9. Market Timing
When you list your property can make a difference. For instance, in many markets, spring is a popular time to shop for homes, because families want to close on the home and move before the next school year starts. Talk to us about the optimal time to list your home. “If a home is sitting, I have a deep conversation with my clients about their goals and adjust the plan accordingly. “Sometimes taking the house off the market and repositioning it 30 to 45 days later is just what it needs.”
10. Difficulty Scheduling
It may be time for some introspection: Could you be the problem? Are you turning down showings because the timing isn’t convenient for you? Some sellers are having issues with showings because of COVID-19. "People are in their houses all the time, and they don’t have a lot of places to go that they feel safe. If you’re not prepared to show your home, take your home off the market. You’re better off to put it on the market when you have a few weeks where you know you’ve got the flexibility to be able to show it.”
Another tip: If you get a showing request and it’s a time that doesn’t work for you, don’t just decline it. Suggest another time. Let the buyer know you’re trying to work it out.
*Sources are Ownerly, Zillow, and Homelight.
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