Selling Your Home, Where to Begin

First Impressions

Remember what first attracted you to your house when you bought it? What excited you about its most appealing features? Now that you’re selling your home, you’ll need to look at it as if you were buying it all over again.

A spruced up house makes a great first impression on potential buyers. An attractive property grabs their attention and makes them excited about finding a house that looks and feels well-cared for. Because buyers know they’ll encounter fewer problems if they buy it, your house becomes more appealing and stands out from the competition. So if you prepare your home correctly, you’ll save time selling it when it’s on the market.

A good first impression makes an impact on a number of levels. It’s not just the way your house looks to potential buyers, but how it feels and smells to them, how their friends and family will react, how they imagine it would be to live there.

With simple improvements throughout your house, you can grab the attention of potential buyers and help them see why your house is right for them.

The Sweet Smell of a Successful Sale

Scents and aromas can have a dramatic impact on people’s emotions, otherwise, there wouldn’t be a multi-billion-dollar fragrance industry!

Don’t ignore the power of fragrance when showing your home. Smoke, pet odors, and cooking smells can each dramatically impact how potential buyers feel about your house.

If your potential buyers never form an emotional connection to your home, chances are that they will remain just that – potential buyers.

Don’t allow smoking in your house for weeks leading up to showing it, find a pet-sitter for a few days, and clean, clean, clean!

Once you’ve removed any aromas that might be off-putting and freshened the air in your home, you can actually use scent to your advantage.

Consider doing some baking prior to showings. The scent of fresh apple pie is hard to beat when it comes to creating the atmosphere of a welcoming home!

TIP:

In a pinch, a mixture of water, vanilla extract, and brown sugar in an oven on low heat can be used to create the pleasing aroma of fresh baking.

To a certain extent, buyers make purchase decisions based on their emotional response, so it’s important to make it easy for them to fall in love with your home. Pleasant smells are one more way to do so.

Want to Help Sell Your House? Get Lost!

What is the best thing you can do during showings of your house?

Make yourself scarce.

Ever shopped in a store where the employees clearly work on commission and almost seem to lurk in the background, watching your every move, while you shop?

This scenario doesn’t really put you in the buying mood, does it?

It can be uncomfortable exploring a home when you also feel like you’re being watched. Making buyers feel comfortable when looking for a home is absolutely essential. Buyers tend to have little interest in asking you questions about your property because the answers you provide will certainly be biased in some way. This is why you have hired a real estate agent to represent you and your home. Who better than a qualified professional to be the spokesperson for your home.

You carefully selected and hired a Realtor® to sell your house – now is the time to step back and let me do just that! 

Common Selling Mistakes

Mistake #1 — Placing the Wrong Price on Your Property

Every seller obviously wants to get the most money for his or her product. Ironically, the best way to do this is NOT to list your product at an excessively high price! A high listing price will cause some prospective buyers to lose interest before even seeing your property. Also, it may lead other buyers to expect more than what you have to offer. As a result, overpriced properties tend to take an unusually long time to sell, and they end up being sold at a lower price.

Mistake #2 — Mistaking Re-finance Appraisals for the Market Value

Unfortunately, a re-finance appraisal may have been stated at an untruthfully high price. Often, lenders estimate the value of your property to be higher than it actually is in order to encourage re-financing. The market value of your home could actually be lower. Your best bet is to ask your realtor for the most recent information regarding property sales in your community. This will give you an up-to-date and factually accurate estimate of your property value.

There are some common errors that can be avoided when you are selling your home. I want to make sure you are well informed, so contact me either by phone or email for help getting your home ready to sell.

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Still have Questions?

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