: Real-Estate

Advice for Sellers in a Slow Real Estate Market

After years of the sellers being in control, the real estate market has swung like a pendulum in favor of buyers. Don’t worry. You can still sell a house if you follow these tips.

1. Make your home available. It would probably help to just accept that your home is in the public domain from 9 A.M until 9 P.M. daily until it's sold.

2. Buyers are always going to offer less than the asking price, so make sure to list a sales price that is higher than what you want. This gives you wiggle room to negotiate and avoids a situation where you are trapped by your initial asking price.

3. An attractive brochure can help you sell your home. A brochure that looks like a home featured in a magazine does the usual "memory jog" for people who have toured the house, but it also "adds value".

4. With the fluctuating home prices we are currently seeing, buyers can have problems getting financing regardless of their credit. Don't drop the buyer! Instead, offer him or her a second mortgage.

5. Some offers for your home are better than others. A contingent sale is a bad one. The potential buyer makes their offer contingent on selling their own home first. Avoid these like the plague.

6. Many people try to sell real estate with an “as is” qualifier. The idea is this protects them from any claims the failed to disclose problems with the property. This assumption is incorrect. If you sell a home with problems, you must disclose them.

7. You want to put your home on the market and want to be sure it will "show well." What do you do? Clean, clean clean! No home ever failed to sell because it was too clean. Pare down and organize what's in closets, garage, kitchen, and laundry.

8. If someone gives you their word they will do something, but doesn’t put it in writing, you cannot force them to do it. Make sure you get everything in writing!

9. Whether buying or selling, you will want to take a close look at comparable homes in the neighborhood. Do not pay much attention to the listed prices. Homes do not sell for the listed price. Focus on the actual sales prices of recently sold homes.

10. Many people work so hard to get an offer on their home that they do not know what to do once they get one. Your choices are to accept it, reject it or make a counter offer.

If you are a seller, the real estate news probably sounds pretty grim. It really isn’t. There is always a market for sellers and buyers. You just need to put your nose to the grindstone a bit. Since most people don’t, you’ll have an advantage and get that sale.
Author: Hal James