Common Mistakes Home Seller Make

Submitted by Lorrie Pierce

Selling a home is an experience many people look forward to with about as much enthusiasm as a root canal or an IRS audit. Perhaps it is because they know that with such an important investment, one misstep or wrong turn could be more than a “learning experience.” Making a mistake in selling a home can be a costly blunder that not only jeopardizes the sale, but also can mean hundreds or thousands of dollars in lost profit.

What many people do not know is there is an easy way to avoid making the mistakes most commonly involved in selling a home. In fact, many homeowners make some of the same errors when selling their home, no matter how many homes they’ve sold in the past. In some cases, the mistakes just make the selling process more tedious. In others, they are fatal to the sale. By understanding these mistakes, home Sellers can arm themselves with information and gain a better chance of achieving a profitable sale.

1. Using a “Convenient” Realtor instead of an “Experienced” Realtor:
When working with a real estate Agent, it's critical that you have full confidence in that Agent's experience and education. A skilled, knowledgeable Agent should be able to explain to you exactly why your home needs to be priced at a certain level - compared to active listings and recent sales of homes similar to yours. Experienced Agents also know exactly what the current pool of Buyers are looking for in relation to particular styles and price ranges of properties. A skilled Agent can recommend changes that will enhance the salability of your home, thus increasing the price - and/or decreasing the length of time before a sale.

2. Asking Too Much by Basing Asking Price on needs or emotion rather than market value:The single biggest mistake folks make is setting their asking price too high. In today’s down market, homeowners need to price conservatively or they risk turning off potential Buyers. Gone are the days when you can expect to sell your home for as much as your neighbor did just six months ago. Many Sellers base their pricing on how much they paid for their home. If your home is not priced competitively, home Buyers will prefer larger or better homes in the same price range, increasing your time-to-sell. When your price is later lowered, Buyers may be wary because they suspect other reasons the house has remained unsold so long.

3. Forgetting about health and safety issues:
Be upfront and disclose to your Realtor any problems with the property. The problems are going to be discovered anyway. A decade ago, health and safety issues were rarely a part of the typical real estate transaction. Today, however, it's common for inspections relating to health, safety, and even environmental concerns to be a part of most sales contracts. Moreover, in many states, the Seller must disclose to the Buyer any knowledge of existing property problems. In many cases, these issues have been or can be factored into the home's listing price.

4. Failing to Prepare Your Home for the Buyer's Eye:
Buyers look for homes, not houses. Buying a home is an emotional decision and they end up buying the home that makes them most comfortable. Often times, Buyers walk in through the front door and gasped "Ah-ha," and immediately fall in love with the house. Owners who fail to make necessary repairs, who don't spruce up the house inside and out, who don't do all the little things that make a house show like a million bucks will suffer from lower offers and longer market time.

5. Paying for a Home Stager:
In a depressed market, it's more important than ever that your property stands out from the competition. But unless you're trying to sell a multimillion-dollar mansion, you don't need to pay a professional to stage your home. There are a number of free or inexpensive things you can do on your own to get your house into show-room condition. Most importantly, paint the walls. Next, get rid of all the clutter, excess furniture and family knickknacks. Finally, make all the necessary repairs before your first open house. If a Buyer sees a small problem, say, a leaky faucet, he's likely to wonder about larger issues like the furnace or roof.
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6. Complacent marketing when selling a home:
When selling your home there are no guarantees that the ultimate buyer of your home will have simply walked through the front door. In many cases you may have to bring your home to the Buyer. Effective marketing will help ensure that your property receives maximum exposure to attract a ready, willing and able buyer in the shortest period of time. Ask your Realtor to list for you all of the ways he/she intends to market your home and on what time-line. Also, be sure to ask about the home being advertised on the Internet.

7. "Hard Selling" During Showings:
People buy homes on emotion, not logic. Buying a home is always an emotional decision. People like to get a feel for a house to see if it is comfortable for them. It's difficult for them to get comfortable in a home if you follow them around, telling them all of the things that you've done to the house and pointing out every improvement that you've made. It may even have the opposite effect that you want to accomplish by making the prospective buyer feel that they are intruding into your private space. Another good idea is to have a photo album on the kitchen counter with photos of the home during other seasons.

8. Questioning the First Offer:
Too many sellers reject their first offer, even if it's close to or at full asking price. Holding out for more money is a strategy that rarely works, especially at a time when credit is tight, lending requirements for mortgages are in flux and potential buyers have less purchasing power. The reality is that in any market a home's first offer is often its best.

9. Failing to Respond to All Offers
What if you get an offer that's simply too low? Don't reject it outright. See if you can negotiate. First of all, you can't blame someone for testing the market — after all, in today's market, many buyers are confident that they have the upper hand. Secondly, by entering into negotiations with one party, you'll gain leverage with other potential buyers.

10. Picking the Wrong Buyer
Now more than ever, Sellers need to select their Buyers carefully. As we mentioned earlier, thanks to all the defaulted loans in the sub-prime market, Lenders are tightening their lending practices, making it more difficult for consumers to qualify for mortgages. So it's critical to find a Buyer with a recent prequalification letter (issued no later than four to six weeks ago) for a loan.

11. Not knowing your rights and obligations:
The contract you sign to sell your property is a complex and legally-binding document. An improperly written contract can allow the purchaser to void the sale, or cost you thousands of unnecessary dollars. Have your Realtor fully explain the contract or have your Lawyer review it before acceptance.

12. Not Using a Written Purchase Agreement:
Many Sellers think their home is sold, only to find out weeks or even months later that the Buyer was not able to obtain a home loan. Other Sellers find out too late that dozens of items such as surveys, title insurance contingencies, assessments, tax pro-rations, pest inspections, structural inspections, and a host of other details can come back to haunt them if not properly addressed right at the very beginning.

13. Not planning your move early enough:
Many sellers simply don't plan their move early enough and then feel totally overwhelmed at the time of moving out of the house. If you are able to move at any time of the year, don't wait until summer, the peak-moving season. Consider also that the first and last few days of the month are extra busy. If you plan to sell your house, get it on the market as soon as possible.