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FOUR REAL ESTATE TIPS TO REMEMBER WHEN SELLING YOUR HOME
Selling your home is a huge life move and will require your effort and attention for months at a time.
Though it is an undoubtedly tiring and strenuous process, there are ways that you can ensure you have a smooth sail when launching off on your new real estate journey.
1. Don’t get your hopes too high.
Like a kid at Christmas that has convinced themselves that Santa will bring them every item on their three-page long wish list, you need to be realistic with your sale price goals and expectations.
Undertake some deep research into market trends and expectations, and research recent
sales in your area with similar home and property features.
While selling your home, friends and family will undoubtedly provide their opinion, wanted or not. Though you should acknowledge and thank your family and friends for their input, it’s important to base your price expectation on statistics and expert commentary, rather than what Gary-over-the-back-fence or great aunt Wilma says.
Ultimately, it’s likely that your estimate won’t be far out of the ballpark, but it’s better to be pleasantly surprised than crushingly disappointed.
2. Ensure you select the right property consultant for you.
This will be one of the biggest choices you make when selling your home. Ensure they are experienced with your type of home, as well as picking someone with great local knowledge and insight. It’s also extremely important to select a property consultant that you can engage or ‘click’ with, as this will make the entire process a lot less grueling.
For more information on selecting the right consultant, see ‘Choosing a property consultant to sell your home.’
3. Don’t underestimate the amount of work involved.
If you’re expecting your home to be valued, inspected and sold within a week or two, you may need to reconsider. Unless you get incredibly lucky with a very eager buyer, you should expect to have to roll up your sleeves and get to work.
It may not seem like it, but repairing any minor imperfections and making small cosmetic upgrades can significantly impact your sale.
First impressions count - if a potential buyer walks in to see a handful of annoying, inconvenient jobs needing to be done, they’re less likely to put your home at the top of their list. However, unless it’s a real fixer-upper, many buyers will be enticed by the fact that your home is ready to move into and looking pristine.
It’s also important to note current styles and seasonal trends in terms of interior design. It may be worth investing a little money to professionally stage your home, just to make sure buyers get that wow-factor, and you get a higher sale price.
4. Be flexible and keep your patience (to an extent).
Flexibility and compromise is important in real estate sales. Be open to change and movement in various aspects of the process - these may include flexibility on price, suggestions from your agent to make interior design changes for inspections, or a willingness to allow extra showings at your home.
It’s also vital to remain calm and patient to a point. Selling your home isn’t a process that will happen overnight - it’s often a long and arduous process that requires hours upon hours of planning and preparation before any action happens.
However, while staying patient is important, you must remain wary that you’re not too complacent. If particular legs of the selling process are taking significantly longer than initially estimated, it may be necessary to speak up. If work to prepare your home is needed, but you let the tradespeople know that there’s ‘no rush’ or to ‘take their time,’ you may be setting yourself up for an even longer and more stressful journey.
Patience and flexibility are valuable concepts in selling your home, but just make sure you aren’t being taken advantage of.
