Offer a bigger commission.
I touched upon this subject in Home Selling Tip #21 but I’ll expand upon it here.
Depending on how desperate you are to sell your home, you may want to offer any Buyer’s Agents a bigger commission than you had first planned. To make it clear, there is no set commission but you’ll generally see the commission for a Buyer’s Agent listed as 2.8% of the selling price. However, in these tougher home selling times, some sellers are starting to offer more to entice agents to bring buyers to see your home. When you consider that the commission for selling a HUD home is around 5% it’s probably not a bad idea to sweeten the pot on your home at least a little.
Don’t apologize.
Don’t apologize to potential buyers for your home’s shortcomings. For starters, it will just make the flaws obvious. For “enders,” fix it instead of apologizing.
For the sake of argument however, let’s pretend that you’ve fixed everything there is to fix but you’re aware that the home backs to a busy street, or your neighbors have an old couch sitting in their front yard, or your backyard is painfully small or whatever. Do not point things like this out to buyers. For all you know, the buyer’s neighbors are far worse, or they don’t even want a large back yard, and so on.
Rule of thumb is to keep your mouth shut unless buyers ask specific questions and then answer them honestly but not as if you’re embarrassed.
Redo the baseboards.
Your baseboards tie your flooring together and you should make them complete by either refinishing them, if they just look a worn, or replace them entirely if they’re practically falling apart.
Baseboards are another one of those things in your house that if they’re looking good no one will notice, but if they look crappy they’ll stick out like a sore thumb and everyone will take notice.
photo credit: gemteck1
Host a “Broker Open.”
Often times, when a real estate agent lists a house for sale they host what is called a “Broker Open” which is an Open House for real estate agents (brokers).
If you’re selling your home on your own (FSBO) you could host one of these yourself. Or even if you’re using an agent tell them you’d like them to host a Broker Open at your home.
Agents do this typically right after the home is listed to try and entice brokers to make a special trip over to the house because they may just have a buyer who is looking for a house just like yours!
If you are selling your home on your own, understand though that hosting a Broker Open comes with certain strings. To successfully entice agents to come to your home you’ll need to offer a commission to the Buyer’s Agent who brings the actual buyer to your home. It’s a really good idea to start at 2.8% of the total sale but it’s an even better idea in this market to offer 3% or even more.
You’ll also need to feed the agents, otherwise they won’t come.
Finally, be prepared to get pummeled by all the Realtors for the privilege of listing your home themselves. I can pretty much guarantee they’ll ALL hit you up. If this doesn’t bother you and you’re good about saying “no” you should have to problems. I’ll admit, some agents will get testy with you, because some of us take FSBO’s personally, as if it’s taking food right out of our mouths or something. I personally don’t care if you want to sell your home on your own. If you’re willing to take on the work then more power to you.
Finally, in order to advertise your Broker Open take invitations (flyers) to the real estate offices in your area inviting the brokers and stating up front that you are offering “x%” commission and food.
photo credit: comicpie
Take a step back.
What I mean by taking a step back is that when selling your home it is extremely helpful if you can disengage yourself from the emotions attached to your home.
This is very difficult because you have a lot of personal stories attached to your home and how can you just put those aside and make your home a mere product, right?
It’s so important to keep in mind though that buyers don’t have any of those memories and while to you it’s home sweet home, to buyers it’s simply a house they may or may not want to purchase.
I find that when sellers insist on clinging to the emotional aspect of selling their home they also tend to want to overlook the little flaws. After all, it doesn’t bother them that the porch light has never worked properly, why should it bother anyone else? OR I hear the all too common lazy home selling method of “if the buyer wants a working porch light they can fix it themselves.” Either way the answer is NO! You the seller need to take care of it before the buyers ever set foot in your home.
When you’re able to step back you start to notice the things that need to be corrected because you’re able to see your home as just a house - like a buyer would - and take the appropriate action.
I had one seller who handmade all the stepping stones in the backyard and he was so proud of that. And yet, the remainder of the backyard was nothing more than a dirt patch and aside from that, the roof was badly in need of repair. But he kept going back to those handmade stepping stones, sure that the efforts to which he was so emotionally tied, would be enough to sell the house. Not surprisingly it wasn’t.
It’s not that I (as a Realtor) don’t care about the efforts you’ve made to improve your home, it’s just that it’s my job to make sure you actually sell your home as quick as possible and for the best price possible, so if your home has obvious problems that are going to inhibit its sale I’m going to tell you about it. You should demand that of any real estate agent! Otherwise why bother spending that kind of money to get help selling your home?
photo credit: katia79
Move the cars!
If you have a garage full of junk (see Home Selling Tip #18) or your vehicle is simply too big to fit in your garage for whatever reason, don’t leave them sitting in the driveway hogging the front of the house.
Nothing is more awkward than buyers wondering whether or not they should cut across your lawn to get to your porch, because the vehicles are taking up your driveway.
It also cuts down on your curb appeal and makes the front of the house appear cluttered and blocked from view.
Also, if you’re a multiple vehicle family, move those from the front of your house. You want to give buyers the feeling of spaciousness and roominess and organization. Vehicles “sprawled” all over the front of your property don’t facilitate this one bit.
photo credit: avramishin33
Replace your sinks.
A new sink* is relatively inexpensive which is good, and it can make a great impact on your kitchen or bathroom. On the flip side, if you fail to replace a stained, chipped, or scratched sink it’s yet another one of those things that stick out like a sore thumb.
Failure to replace your crappy looking sink just shouts “deferred maintenance” and laziness. It also adds a burden on buyers because they’re thinking, “Well I’ll obviously have to replace this sink…” And in this softer market buyers won’t want to bother.
* Cat not necessary.
photo credit: lindsayhickman
CLEAN OUT YOUR GARAGE!!
I know, I’m shouting. I think it’s important though. Even though the garage is just a place that you normally use to either store your vehicles, or as in my neighborhood your junk, it needs to be clean when you have your home on the market. Everyone will open the door to the garage and peek in there.
Even better than cleaning your garage is offering additional storage. Whether it’s simple shelves or more elaborate cupboards, buyers LOVE to see that additional storage capability.
If you decided to completely redo your kitchen before you put your home on the market, hang your old kitchen cupboards in the garage. Or just build simple (but sturdy) shelves. Or put up large hooks to hang things like bikes, garden hoses, or tools. It doesn’t have to be elaborate. You don’t have to spend a ton of money on expensive storage systems just to sell your house, just make sure it’s clean and organized.
I’ve seen garages with stuff literally piled to the ceiling. I assure you that buyers do NOT look in there and say, “Hey look, great, here’s a place to pile all my crap!” Buyers look in there and say, “Ewww. Nice mess.” And then they walk away with a feeling of clutter and disorganization.
Windex your mirrors and faucets.
This is especially nice on the days you know you have a showing or right before an Open House. The Windex cleans the mirrors obviously but it makes your faucets shiny and new looking.
Buyers will marvel over what a meticulous housekeeper you are.
photo credit: trekkyandy
Don’t forget to set the table kids!
If you have a particularly attractive or spacious dining room (and dining room set) set the table as if you were hosting a formal dinner party. Decorative placemats, napkins, a centerpiece, and pretty china can all be used to make your dining room area pop. You can of course get a lot of these supplies (even the china!) at the thrift store. (I love thrift stores!)
If your dining room set is looking a little worse for wear, cover it with a pretty table cloth along with covers for the chairs. Your buyers will marvel at how nice it all looks and picture themselves hosting dinner parties right there. (Even if they’ve never hosted a dinner party in their entire lives.)
Sellers will frequently gripe about how inconvenient it is to do things like this. I’m sure it is! Selling your home in general is pretty inconvenient. But remember, the faster you sell it, the less time you have to spend being inconvenienced, so I strongly encourage folks to suck it up, and do all they can to get that house sold as fast as possible, and for the best price possible.
photo credit: star5112
BlogoSquare