Archive for the ‘Home Sellers’ Category

The 5 Reasons Homes Don’t Sell

Friday, November 18th, 2016

Most people believe there are lots of reasons why a home doesn’t sell. However, there are actually only five. If you address these five common mistakes, then you will never have a problem getting your home sold.

Over Pricing and Speculating

We all wish we could ask whatever we wanted for our homes, but unfortunately price is set by comparable properties and market conditions. If you are priced above either of these, then your home will sit for a long time.

Looking at the price of homes currently listed for sale in your neighborhood only tells part of the story. You must research how much homes are actually selling for, and price your home accordingly. Your home will only sell for what buyers are willing to pay for it.

Exposure

Even a well priced property can’t sell, if no one knows about it. If you are not marketing your home where the buyers are looking, then you will not sell it. The greater the percentage of your target market that sees your home, the better chance you have of selling.

More and more, people are using the Internet as their primary source of research. Be sure your home is easy to find in the most common places that people look.

Poor Marketing

You have to make buyers WANT to look at your home. If your marketing makes your property look like every other listing, then you are simply “rolling the dice” and hoping for the best. Is your marketing truly compelling?

A great question to ask is… Why should someone buy my home, versus any other home in the neighborhood or city? If you don’t believe that you have a compelling reason, then the buyer won’t either.

Presentation

So now you’ve got someone to look at your home, but it’s a mess, smells bad, or simply shows poorly. If a buyer doesn’t feel comfortable in your home, you can forget about the sale.

If you can, don’t be around during showings, keep the house clean, and do some research on staging your home for selling. A small investment can make, or save you thousands.

Lack of Buyer Confidence

Purchases fall through every day, because sellers cannot confidently answer the buyer’s questions, provide accurate paperwork, or verify important details. If you are not organized before you sell, then you may watch all of your hard work go to waste, as a potential buyer walks away due to a lack of confidence.

Do Your Homework

You need to be very realistic with your goals when you are selling and you must do your homework. As the marketplace changes, so must your strategy. Too many people spend thousands of dollars, hours of their time (not to mention stress) and miss the best opportunities to sell because they don’t have the proper information to make a sale possible.

“Get the advice of experts when you can.”

Gather all of the information that you need and get the advice of experts when you can. At the end of the day, hiring a professional to ensure your sale is handled properly may be one of the best investments you can make.

For a free home consultation contact us. 

 

10 Ways to Get Your House in Tip Top Shape Prior to Selling It! And Maximize the Most Income!

Monday, November 14th, 2016

Many people want to know what the secret is to getting the most out of their real estate and to appeal most consumers looking for real estate today.  This report will guide you through doing many of those things to help get the most dollars when selling your property.

  1.     Paint the interior!  Most buyers appreciate a good fresh coat of paint and this will help enhance your properties value.  It will also help brighten your rooms giving a new clean                       appearance.  Stay away from bold and bright colors and focus more on lighter and softer earth tone shades.  This will also help make the rooms feel larger and appeal to a bigger group of         potential buyers.
  2.     Paint the outside!   Curb appeal is important and there is nothing worse for area estate professional to try and market a home that has peeling paint or is in desperate need of painting.         Of course depending on the time of year and the weather conditions if you can paint but if at all possible paint the exterior.  As noted with the interior suggestion of using soft lighter                 neutral colors do the same for painting the outside of your home.  Stay away from bright colors that others may not like.
  3.     Pick Up Any Outside Debris, Trash or Clutter!  First impressions make a huge impact on potential buyers.  Should your property have unwanted clutter at the initial greeting to               consumers when your property is shown, it will not help in the marketing and selling of your home.  A few hard hours of raking cleaning and picking up odds and ends could add                         “thousands” to the sales price of your home.
  4.     Reduce Extras and Odds and Ends From Your Home!  Rooms with too much furniture or decorations can often detract from the showing of your home.  Usually too much décor           can make the rooms look smaller and hurt your chances of selling your home.  Store unneeded furniture or items that you can do without during the marketing stage of your property               listing.  Your goal is to make your property look spacious and comfortable.  Buyers also want to see rooms that appear and look spacious to them.
  5.     Be sure and Open Blinds and Draperies!  This is a great idea to help aid the salesperson sell your home.  When your property is in tip top share and ready to show having as much            light as possible helps brighten your home and give it a good feel.
  6.     Avoid Playing Music!  Although you may like the music playing in the background it can be a deterrent to the agent and buyers while looking at your home.  Keep music off while your         home is being shown.
  7.     Price Your Property Right from the Beginning!  Many buyers take the approach and attitude that they can always come down on price.  This can be a bad thing to do.  Many buyers       feel if a home has been listed for a long time that there is something wrong with it.  Most agents will tell you that the best activity occurs during the first two to three weeks of the listing             begin date.  After a few weeks the activity will begin to taper off and showings will cease.  If your home is priced incorrectly from the beginning it will not get a lot of showings and the                 longer your home is on the market the more buyers will feel that it’s tainted or something’s wrong.  Price your home right at the beginning to help get the most activity and a quicker sale.
  8.     Have Your Carpets Cleaned!  It’s a good idea to have your carpets cleaned or your hardwood floors polished or waxed.  This is normally not too expensive and can usually add a lot of         appeal to potential buyers.
  9.     Hire a Staging Company!  If possible hire a staging company to help show you ways to maximize room appeal and value to your residence.  Many real estate firms have a staging                   company or people on staff who can aid in this service.  Feel free to ask me about how I can help with staging too.

      10.  Purchase New Linens and Towels for Bathrooms!  This can help aid in giving a new appearance to your bathrooms.

Surprising Ways Buyers Find Homes

Tuesday, July 12th, 2016

Do you ever wonder how most people find the homes they eventually buy? You might imagine them driving by a “For Sale” sign or seeing a home for sale in the newspaper and then calling to enquire. Of course, many buyers find out about listed properties that way. But, according to research by the National Association of Realtors, there are many other — sometimes surprising — ways buyers find their next dream home.

For example:

• 88% of buyers find a home with the help of a real estate agent.

• 90% of buyers search online as part of the home buying process. (Such as viewing a property’s profile on the agent’s website.)

• 69% of buyers searching for a home using Google, use a specific local term, such as “Calgary – Northwest- homes for sale”.

• 29-46% of buyers attend an Open House as part of their home hunting activities.

Overall, the research shows that buyers are using a multitude of ways — combining online and offline methods — to find homes. What does all this mean to you? If means that if you’re preparing your home for sale, you need to ensure your marketing plan takes into account all the ways buyers are finding properties — so you can be sure that they will find yours.

Looking for a REALTOR® who knows how to market your home for maximum exposure? Contact us today.