Listing Your Home: A Primer for Sellers

So you have decided to put your property on the market. Maybe you need something bigger, or smaller. Maybe you’ve been transferred for work. Maybe it belonged to your late parents. Regardless, the steps and process remain the same.

• Clean it up – Buyers respond to open, bright, and uncluttered. You may love your décor but unless it is up to date, well lit and bright, and tchotchke-free buyers probably won’t.

• Price it right – Every seller in the world believes his or her property is worth more than the competition, simply because it belongs to them. It’s normal and inevitable. But it’s not true! Listen to your broker on this one.  The best time to sell your property is during the first three weeks it is on the market. Why? Because during that period, you get the benefit of pent up demand. The current market offers few choices in most price brackets due to low inventory. So  these days, when something new comes to market, it receives a lot of attention from the buyers who are poised to buy when the right thing comes along.

• Don’t second guess yourself – The attention your property gets when it hits the MLS does NOT mean you underpriced it. So if you’re lucky enough to get three offers during the first week, don’t remove the property from the market and increase the price! If your home is that popular, competitive bidding will find its best price, often above your asking price.

• Don’t make a deal during the first 48 hours – A bid on the first day usually means others are coming. Often your first bid is the best one, but not always. If you expect multiple bids, work out a plan with your broker and stick to it. I usually advise going to “best and final” offers after ten days or two weeks. That usually provides adequate time for everyone who is interested to see the property.

• Listen to the feedback – If the property does NOT receive any offers during the first three weeks, it is almost certainly overpriced. The sooner you and your agent correct that pricing problem, the more likely you are to sell the property promptly and well. Sellers often say they don’t want to reduce their price, urging their broker instead to encourage prospects to make offers. But buyers don’t work that way. Unless they perceive your property as appropriately priced, they don’t want to make an offer. That is just the way it is.

• Be patient – If it doesn’t sell during the first few weeks, your property may be on the market for a while. But it WILL sell! You may have to make a price adjustment. You may have to re-stage it. Buyer interest often follows a particular trajectory: during the first few weeks, pent up demand provides a steady stream of lookers. That tends to dissipate by the end of week three. If the property has not sold, there is then usually a slow period – it can last for weeks or months. This tends to be followed by a catalytic event: usually a price reduction. And THIS, in turn, generates additional interest. So it is not uncommon for a property which has been on the market for four or five months to have a second spike of activity, frequently resulting in two or three offers the same week after a long period with no offers at all. By this time the market will have given you a clear sense of the right price. Now it’s time to make the deal.

Because there is so much buzz and coverage of real estate in the media, it becomes easy for lay people to feel like experts. But the sale of such an important asset really benefits from a strategic, professional approach. The best real estate agents provide nuanced advice about how to maximize your return and minimize your stress at every step in the process. That’s why we are here.

What else is there about this process that you would like to know? Please send me your questions!