Would you like to sell your home fast for top dollar? Who wouldn’t?!!
You hear the stories, the neighbor who put his home on the market and within 3 days received multiple offers over asking. It happens quite a bit. You can sell your home fast to. There really are no huge secrets. A fast home sale for top dollar is a carefully crafted plan that just doesn’t happen.
But remember, even in a good real estate market as much as 30% of the market expires unsold. Yes, unsold the contract expires.
Sell your Home Fast and for Top Dollar with a Carefully Crafted Plan
The plan is actually quite simple to sell your home fast. There are thee major components to selling your home fast for the most amount of money. I Actually call the plan the three P’s. What are the 3 P’s?
- Preparation
- Pricing
- Presentation
Preparing Your Home to Sell Your Home Fast
Take the time to prepare your house properly for the current real estate market. Most sellers have the thought of selling months before they put their house on the market. When you have the thought to sell your house call your local REALTOR immediately.
Your better REALTORS will walk through your house and make suggestions on areas of your home that may need attention. Homes at the very least need to be de-cluttered, sparkling clean and feel fresh. Even homes that may need some TLC where the repairs will be passed on to the buyer can benefit from de-cluttering and a deep cleaning.
If you are really trying to maximize your sale there may be areas that need small repairs or some fresh paint. Don’t forget the outside of your home as well. The curb appeal of your home can set the entire tone for the whole showing. Turn the buyer off before they enter the home and it will be hard to turn around that bad impression to a good one.
In my years of experience selling homes, nothing beats a home that shows well. I am not talking about spending a ton of money preparing your home. But it does require a little work on your part. Buyers are drawn to homes where they feel they are not walking through the door and taking on a massive project. Here is in example of a home that I recently sold when the market was flat. I worked with the sellers for a couple of months. It was a nice condo but it required some de-cluttering and fresh paint. We put it under agreement right away for a number the seller was very happy with.
When preparing your home for sale little things can have a dramatic impact on how buyers view your home. If the buyers are impressed it will bring you higher offers and may create competition among buyers.
Pricing Your Home to Sell Fast
Pricing your home properly is the single most important factor to be able to sell your home fast. There is no amount of marketing or preparation that can sell an overpriced home. Period.
There are no valid reasons for knowingly overpricing your home. “Cant we just try?”, “They can always just make an offer?” or “I want room to negotiate” are all comments I here on a regular basis. To be honest with you, if you do not sell your house in the first 30-45 days you are doing damage to the sale of your home. Read this article I just wrote called, House is not Selling? Avoid Market Rot. Over price your home 3 to 5% over fair market value and your house could sit around too long requiring price changes below fair market value to renew interest in your home. Over price 5%to 10% or even more and your house will most likely “rot” on the market.
What is market rot? Market Rot is a term I use when a house has sat on the market too long. Literally buyers perceive your house as rotting on the market. Your home has become undesirable. No one else wants it why should they!
Take the pricing of your home seriously. Proper pricing is not usually a stab in the dark. Fair market value of your home is determined by a REALTOR providing you with historical history of similar sales in what is called a Comparative Market Analysis or CMA. Take the time to understand the comparable homes that your real estate agent is providing. Ask questions, get involved. Too many times a home seller will go with the agent that suggests the highest list price because it it is human nature. But, I caution you beware of an agent that is “buying your listing“. It is a fairly common practice for unscrupulous agents to promise a huge price for your property just to get you to sign the contract. Then with in one week they are beating you down for a price reduction.
Heres a tip:
It is almost impossible to under price a home. If it is under priced and is presented properly to the market place, it will bid up to fair market value. And, in some case it will sell for a few percent over the fair market value because you have created competition among buyers. When you have competing offers it puts you in the drivers seat allowing you to dictate the best terms and conditions for you. Wouldn’t it be great to have 2, 3 or even more buyers scrambling to compete for your home and get your attention?
Whats the alternative? You wait 90 days you get a low ball offer and then your scared to lose them because you haven’t had a showing in 30 days.
Pricing your home properly is 70-80 percent of your carefully crafted plan to sell your home fast. I am not talking about giving your home away. I am talking about pricing your home fairly. Remember buyers are not stupid they know when they see a house that is priced well for the market. Most buyers are working with buyers agents as well, who are counseling the buyers on the price of your home.
Presenting Your Home Properly to Sell Your Home Fast
There are two key pieces to presenting your home properly to potential buyers to be able to sell your home fast and for top dollar. Your homes image and your homes presence. Remember, today’s buyers are making decisions about your home online before ever seeing your home. I tell home sellers your first showings are online. If you don’t compel the buyers online they will not come for a personal showing of your home.
A recent study that tracked ocular movement of buyers viewing an online listing revealed that you have seconds to capture a buyers attention with quality photographs. It also revealed that the photographs were the single most important piece of a listing the buyers are concerned with.
So the first piece of presenting your home is high quality real estate photography. Hire an agent that will either hire a professional to take photographs of your home or an agent that has the capabilities of doing so themselves. Photographs quickly taken with a cell phone or a point and shoot camera is not acceptable any more. The study goes on further to explain that that exterior photograph of your home is generally the most important. Its make or break time.
Below is a sample of the same house. The left was taken by me the right by another agent. The right photo is poorly exposed the verticals are not vertical and it is taken on a dull grey day. My photo evokes a response it is taken on a sunny day properly exposed and it evokes a feeling. This looks like a cheery house set on a nice setting. Its just the matter of a little know how and coming by at the right time of day to take the photo.
The front line of presenting your home is having superb images of your home that will compel a buyer to want to visit your home.
The second key ingredient is your homes presence online as well as offline. An agents marketing plan will expose your property to the largest pool of buyers that would possibly consider buying your home. Today a real estate agents role, when selling a home is that of a marketer.
91% of all home buyers are heavily using the internet to find their new home. This tells us we need to leverage the internet with the Multiple Listing Service, Social Media, Syndication and more….. and the best way to market your home is provide high quality images and comprehensive information on your home.
Other ways to expose your home to potential buyers is by marketing to other agents through networking and blast emails, signage and brochures.
This is a quick overview of how to expose your home to the market to sell your home fast and for top dollar. There are obviously other things can be done but I wanted to take the time to point out the two key ingredients to market your home.
There Really is No Secret to Selling Your Home Fast and for Top Dollar
Selling your home fast is not a huge secret but it does require a carefully crafted plan. The three pieces to selling your home fast for top dollar are Preparation, Pricing and Presentation. A savvy REALTOR will walk you through each piece to maximize the sale of your home. Most of my home sales happen very quickly and the homes sell very close to asking or over asking. There are also many benefits to selling your home fast. Here the top 3:
- You will mostly likely get more money for your home by creating competition among home buyers.
- Less hassle. lets face it showing your house for months and months on end is work and tiring…. packing up the kids, straightening up the house, leaving at inconvenient times. Wouldn’t it be better to sell it in a week?
- Negotiations and home inspections become easier. If you have buyers competing and your home goes under agreement quickly you will find negotiating goes easier and also buyers are less likely to nickel and dime you on the home inspection.
I am able to do this time and time again. Here is a recent home for sale in Dracut I was able to sell fast and for maximum dollar. 96 hours and under agreement!! Funny thing this home was listed for 4 months prior. What did I do differently? Staged the home, provided quality real estate photography and exceptional online marketing as well as take some time to help the home seller prepare their home! Want more… here is another Melrose MA home, where these principals were embraced by the home seller. The home sold the first day it was listed with over 50 groups of people through the open house. Multiple offers and under agreement by the next day for over asking…
Happy House Selling!!
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This post, Sell Your Home Fast for Top Dollar, is provided by Kevin Vitali of EXIT Group One Real Estate. If you would like to sell your home quickly call me at 978-360-0422. I would love discuss your upcoming home sale. And of course your first consultation is free with absolutely no obligation.
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