advice for sellers in a slow real estate market

Filed Under Finance |

by Hal James

The first part of this decade was glorious for home sellers. Just stick up a sign on your home and get an offer. Well, things have changed and so must your approach. Here are some advice that will help.

1. Make your home available. It would probably help to just accept that your home is in the public domain from 9 A.M until 9 P.M. daily until it’s sold.

2. It is important to remember that a home can only support the value of homes around it. When making home upgrades, make sure you do not spend more than you will recover when you sell it.

3. An attractive brochure can help you sell your home. A brochure that looks like a home featured in a magazine does the usual “memory jog” for people who have toured the house, but it also “adds value”.

4. Whether buying or selling real estate, it helps to be flexible when it comes to negotiation. One mistake for sale by owners make is to pick a fixed position. If there is a roadblock in negotiations, try to think outside of the box to solve it.

5. When analyzing homes for sale in an area, it is important to focus on the correct numbers. Typically, you want to throw out any home that has a distinctly higher or lower price than the other homes unless there is something unique about it.

6. Many people try to sell real estate with an “as is” qualifier. The idea is this protects them from any claims the failed to disclose problems with the property. This assumption is incorrect. If you sell a home with problems, you must disclose them.

7. When showing your home, you need to have a friend watch your pet. You also need to go through the home and remove all pet odors, hair and so on. Once you sell the property, you can buy another one with a bigger yard for your little one.

8. Most states require real estate contracts to be in writing to be enforceable. The buyer invests time and thought in the process of committing his offer to paper. When you receive his written offer, you know ALL the items the buyer is trying to “nibble” from you.

9. Whether buying or selling, you will want to take a close look at comparable homes in the neighborhood. Do not pay much attention to the listed prices. Homes do not sell for the listed price. Focus on the actual sales prices of recently sold homes.

10. Many people ask escrow officers for advice or help. Don’t expect any! Escrow companies are supposed to be neutral third parties. They handle the paperwork, not negotiations or problems.

At the end of the day, the real estate market slows down and speeds up. It never comes to a stop. Put another way, you can always sell a home. You just need to pay attention to the details and now you can.

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