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Mistakes to Avoid When Selling Your House

Estimated reading time 5 minutes

When it comes to selling your house, there are the right things to do, as well as the wrong things. We’ve seen many people making the same errors over and over when selling a home. So, we’ve put together a list of mistakes to avoid when it’s time to sell your own home.

1). Hiring the Wrong Estate Agent

Do you know what to look for in a good estate agent? If not, it could cost you. They may not have the knowledge and experience to properly sell your home and more. Here are some things to look for in an estate agent before you hire them:

  • Check their reviews and performance
  • Verify their knowledge, transparency, and professionalism
  • Do they contact you when they say they will?
  • Are they on time and prepared for meetings and appointments?
  • Ask about fees. Is your sale fee a percentage of the value of the property, a set amount or is it completely free (like us!).

Be sure to look for an estate agent who meets your needs. And remember to watch out for hidden fees. If their fee is low to start with, then you can expect there will be fees for each service they offer. Make sure you understand their fees, what the fees cover (or not) before hiring an estate agent.

2). Not Preparing Before Putting Your Home on the Market

This is a big one, which is why it’s near the top of our list of mistakes. What does preparing your home mean? It means that your home should look appealing and attractive to potential buyers. Preparation includes choosing the right agent, listing & marketing the home, having photos done, cleaning, repairs, and more.

Many estate agents say it’s necessary to prep your home by removing personal belongings. The goal here is to make your home look like an attractive photo in a magazine. The more generic your home looks, the more the buyer will see themselves in your home. To get this done, it will be necessary to remove clutter, family photos, and more.

Preparing your home also means ensuring things are repaired and in good working order. Most people don’t want to buy a new home and then have to make repairs right away. So, getting repairs done before putting your home on the market is essential to getting it sold.

When your home has been prepared, there’s a higher probability it will sell faster. This makes all the prep work worth your time.

3). Shoddy Repairs & Curious Upgrades

Nothing puts off a potential home buyer like finding shoddy repairs. Not only do the repairs look bad, but the potential home buyer may also believe there are more problems hiding in wait!

Curious upgrades are another common problem. Upgrades are fine; however, if the upgrade is too showy, buyers can become suspicious that you’re trying to hide issues with the home.

To avoid these problems, always use a professional to make repairs and do an upgrade. Before you have an upgrade done, it’s a good idea to check with the estate agent to see if this will add value to the property or not. If not, then you can save money by not going ahead with that project.

However, when it comes to repairs, then get these done before your house is on the market. If the repairs are extensive, then ask your estate agent if it makes sense to fix them or not.

4). Pricing Incorrectly

Pricing your home correctly isn’t as straightforward as some believe. And if you choose the wrong price, your home won’t sell. It’s that simple. Many homeowners make the mistake of using their emotions to determine the price of their home. This may be way out of proportion to the going rates in their market area.

Pricing your home too high will not get you many offers. However, setting a realistic price set to compete with other homes in the area will get you more buyers and offers.

You can count on buyers researching home prices in your area before they buy. They’ll also have determined how much they’d like to spend on a home.

So, make sure your property has been valued by an expert who knows the average selling price of similar homes in your area. They will also have knowledge of the current market conditions. With this information, they’ll be able to offer prices that are realistic for your home.

5). Not Marketing Your Home

Your home must be “seen” in order to attract prospective buyers. Just as other goods require marketing, so does your home. This is the job of the estate agent. They must use as many types of marketing as possible. These days that means both print and digital.

Most estate agents will print flyers and have them available at their office. That’s fine. But these days, many buyers turn to the Internet to find potential homes. This means the estate agent needs to take attractive photos of your home, and it may even be possible to take a video of your home. The video can be used to conduct a digital tour of the home.

Both digital and print efforts are needed to gain an edge on the housing market these days.

Summing It Up

These are some of the most common mistakes that people make when selling a home. If you want your home to sell fast, then avoid making these mistakes. Make sure your home is prepared, then search for the right estate agent, and use every marketing method available to get your home sold fast!