Santa Fe Residential Real Estate Services for Home Buyers and Sellers

Mistakes Most Home Sellers Make 

• Incorrect pricing of home
• Why are you selling?
• Keeping up with market changes
• Home not ready for showings
• Property information difficult for Buyer(s) to obtain
• Selling too hard - let Buyer(s) lead the showing
• Failing to arrange financing for next home

Times have changed. Buyers are more discriminating, they look at more homes and a large percentage of the homes listed for sale never sell. You need to avoid costly selling mistakes in order to sell your home fast and for the most amount of money.

Get Your Home Sold Fast and For Top Dollar

Selling your home is part art and part system. The steps below will help you systemize the home selling process.

Why are you selling? Keep the answer to yourself.

The decision to sell affects everything from setting a price to deciding how much time and money to invest in getting your home ready for sale.  Decide what's more important to you: the money you walk away with or the length of time your property is on the market? Different objectives will determine different strategies. Do you want to cash out of your house to purchase another or would you prefer to have an income stream from the sale of your current home? Discuss these goals with your own real estate broker.

Setting The Price After Doing Your Market Research.

Setting a listing price should be done carefully. Your price tells buyers the maximum they have to pay and pricing too high is as dangerous as pricing too low. The average buyer is looking at dozens of homes at the time they are considering yours. If your home doesn´t compare favorably with others in the price range you've set, you'll get passed up by the buyers and their brokers. The result, your home sits on the market and prospects may wonder if there is something wrong with your home.

Do more research.

(I'll help you). Keep up with homes in your own and similar neighborhoods that have sold in the past 3-6 months.   What are current homes listed for. Buyers will assess the worth of your home using the same process. This is an ongoing process after you have put your home on the market. Are similar homes reducing their prices? You want to stay ahead of the market and not play catch up. 

You need a good real estate agent.

Most homeowners claim that they wouldn't use the same realtor who sold their last home. Poor communication and not enough feedback strain relations. A FREE report entitled, "10 Questions to Ask Before You Hire an Agent" gives you the questions to ask when you interviewing agents who want to list your home. A FREE copy of this report is available from this website.  10 Questions To Ask Your Agent

Presentation is marketing.

Businesses spend billions on product and packaging design. Its foolish to ignore the appearance of your home when selling.

You probably can't change your home´s floor plan or location but you can do a lot to improve its appearance. The appearance and feel creates an emotional response more than any other factor. Clean, clean and clean again. Straighten up, remove clutter, dust, clean and fix everything. Your home should have a "wow" response from buyers. Selling a home is different than living in one.  Buyers need to imagine or see themselves living in your home. The decision to buy a home is 90% emotion and 10% logic. Prospective buyers want to try on your home, how does it feel. If your decor is so different it may become difficult for a buyer to visualize in his or her mind your home as theirs.

Your homes information should be easy to get.

The last thing customers want to be subjected to is either a game of telephone tag or an unwanted sales pitch. Make sure the real estate company you work with is open 7 days a week and staffed to handle property information requests.  Customers want quick access to information. 

Know your buyer.

The negotiation process is about controlling the pace and duration. Know the buyer´s motivation, the timing of their move, do they have enough money to pay the asking price and financial ability. Knowing this information puts you in control of the negotiation because you know how far to negotiate and get what you want. A good real estate agent has the necessary skills and experience to provide a good outcome.

A complete contract.

For your part as a seller, disclose everything materially related to the property (well info, repairs, septic info etc.).  Make sure all terms, costs and responsibilities are spelled out in the contract of sale.

Sell before you move.

It's difficult to sell a home that is vacant.  Your home will look forgotten, simply not appealing. It may cost you thousands. You're telling buyers that you have a new home and motivated to sell fast. They could have the advantage at the negotiating table.