In the current market where houses seem to be selling almost as fast as they are being listed it can be incredibly frustrating having a house for sale that isn’t budging. You’ve listed what you think is a good home in a great seller’s market but it’s not selling, so what’s going on? Perhaps you might be making one of these common mistakes:
Price is set too high
We are living in an exciting time where it feels like each weekend brings in a new price record for house sales across the country. But this doesn’t mean that people will just accept any number placed onto a price tag. The constant increase in sales prices can make it very tempting for vendors to make their price too high. In fact, it is the single most common mistake people make when trying to sell their home. It can be quite tricky coming up with the right price for a home, especially when you have the emotional attachment to the house that most homeowners have. The best thing you can do is enlist the help of an experienced real estate agent, who will use their knowledge of the current market combined with knowledge of your local area sales to come up with the right price.
The staging is off
We’ve written before about how staged homes sell faster, and for more. A home that is styled like a flawless display house is so appealing to a potential buyer. It doesn’t matter how obvious it is that the house has been staged because you are selling the inspiration of what it could potentially look like to live in this house. If hiring a professional home stylist isn’t within your budget that is not a problem, you just need to make sure that what you are presenting to people on your open house days isn’t a turn off instead of a turn on.
First, make sure all your furniture fits the space. If you have an extra-large couch in your living room that partially covers entry ways or doors it can give off the impression that the room is much smaller than what it actually is. Also, a spare bedroom that you’ve always used for storage and excess clutter can make it seem like your house doesn’t have enough storage space. Speaking of storage space, go through all of your wardrobes and remove about fifty percent of the clothes so that the remaining clothes aren’t cramped and crumpled. This allows the buyer to see the full scope of the wardrobes while also making it look spacious.
Bad first impressions
We can’t stress enough how important first impressions are when selling your home. Buyers make a lot of snap judgements during home inspections, even when they aren’t aware they are doing it. When they turn up to your home for the first time you don’t want them taking one look at the outside and thinking it looks like a ‘fix up project’. Instead, it needs to be warm and welcoming, the kind of façade they can imagine coming home to every day if they buy it. To make sure this is the case have the front yard cleaned up and looking well-manicured. Clean off the porch and front door, and make sure all clutter and debris has been cleared away. You might not be able to fix things like cracks on the pathway, but you can pull all the weeds out of the cracks and sweep the path. You can also get away with some quick superficial fixes such as adding pots of brightly coloured flowers at the outside entrance to the home. A bad first impression means the potential buyer is unlikely to come back for a second inspection, so getting it right the first time is vital.
No marketing
You can have the most amazing house listed but if no one knows it’s up for sale, how can they buy it? Although houses are selling fast in this current climate, vendors shouldn’t underestimate the importance of a good marketing campaign. Marketing includes good quality photos of your home, taken by a professional photographer. While it is true that a lot of phone cameras are great these days, you just can’t risk having dark or blurry photos uploaded onto marketing sites like Domain. Your real estate agent should take you through the full marketing plans. This includes where they intend to advertise your house, and what other things they will do to push the sale such as contacting their database.
Working with the right people
Choosing the right team is as important as anything else. If you decide to use a staging company, make sure you look at their portfolio first to see if you like the style they use. And of course, choosing the right real estate agent is one of the most important decisions you’ll make. Picking a top agent who is good at what they do is a key part of the puzzle, but it also works better if you get along with them and trust them. They will be the ones who choose the photographer, copywriter and come up with the marketing plan so if you have the right agent, it can take a lot of the big decisions off your plate.