Before You Plant That "For Sale" Sign …

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Before you start marketing your home FOR SALE, make sure you have prepared your property and yourself for the adventure. Think about the points we have outlined below, before you do anything else.  Good planning and preparation will help you maximize your profits, maintain control, and reduce the stress that comes with the home-selling process.

1. Look closely at why you want to sell. Your motivations play an important role in the process. They affect everything from setting a price, to deciding how much time and money you’ll invest, to getting your home ready for selling.
    

2. Your reasons will affect how you negotiate the sale of your home, but they shouldn’t be given as ammunition to the person who wants to buy it.
     

3. Settling on an offering price shouldn’t be done lightly. Once you’ve set your price, you’ve told buyers the absolute maximum they have to pay for your home.
    

4. The best way to get to know your competition, identify features that are popular and learn what turns buyers off is to check out open house events. Plan on spending a few weekends touring other homes on the market to learn what other sellers are asking. Be sure to make note of the floor plan, condition, appearance, size of lot, location and other features.  
    

5. Sometimes you can use a good appraisal to your benefit in marketing your home. And if you get a VA or FHA appraisal, you can use it to let prospective buyers know that your home can be financed using these options. However, an appraisal costs money. It also has a limited life. And you may not like the figure you hear.
    

6. Some people look to tax assessments to assign a value. The problem here is that assessments are based on a number of criteria unrelated to property values, so they often don’t necessarily reflect the true value of your home.
    

7. A good Realtor knows the market and your neighborhood in particular. They will supply you with information on past sales, current listings, a marketing plan, something on their own background, and references from past clients. Take the time to carefully evaluate candidates on the basis of their experience, qualifications, enthusiasm, and personality. Most importantly, make sure you choose someone who is going to put in a lot of hard work on your behalf.  
    

8. Make sure you leave yourself enough room in which to bargain. If what you ask for is unacceptable to the buyer, and their first offer is unacceptable to you, then you better make sure you have someplace to go that is acceptable to you.  
    

9. In setting your asking price, review your priorities.
    

10. Appearance is critical—and it would be foolish to ignore this when selling your home. The look and “feel” of your home generates a greater emotional response than any other factor. Prospective buyers react to what they see, hear, feel and smell. In evaluating what improvements you can make, make sure you’re getting an honest answer. Your Realtor® won’t be shy in discussing what should be done to make a home more marketable.
     

11. Pick up, straighten, unclutter, scrub, scour, dust...well, you get the idea. If your living room feels crowded, take out every piece of furniture you can get away with. Remember, you’re not just competing with other people’s homes— you’re going up against brand-new homes as well.  
     

12. The step that squeaks, the light switch that doesn’t work, the hairline crack in the bathroom mirror— they might be minor annoyances to you, but they can also be deal-killers. The problem is that you never know what will turn a buyer off. And even something minor that’s gone unattended can suggest that perhaps there are bigger, less visible problems present as well.
     

13. The last thing you want others to feel in visiting your home is a sense of discomfort. Make your home as neutral as possible. Anything that interferes with a prospective buyers’ ability to see themselves living in your home must be eliminated.
     

14. While personal items can detract, other small touches can help make your house a home to buyers.    A well-placed vase of flowers, accent pieces of sculpture, potpourri in the bathroom—all can enhance the attractiveness of your home in a subtle, soft-spoken way. 
     

15. Odd smells kill deals quickly. All traces of food, pet and smoking odors must be eliminated.
     

16. Smart sellers proactively go above and beyond the laws to disclose all known defects to their buyers— in writing. If the buyer knows about a problem, he can’t come back with a lawsuit later on.
      

17. The extent of most people’s experience in the art of negotiation begins and ends at their local auto dealership. Let go of the emotion you’ve invested in your home and approach negotiations in a detached, businesslike manner; you’ll definitely have an advantage over prospective buyers who get caught up in the emotion of the situation.
     

18. In the negotiation process, your objective is to control the pace and set the duration. And the better you know your buyer, the more easily you can maintain control.
     

19. As soon as possible, try to find out the mortgage amount the buyer is qualified for and the size of his down payment. If he makes a low offer, question his Realtor® about his client’s ability to really pay what your home is worth.
      

20. When a buyer would “like” to close is often when they need to close. Knowing this gives you his deadline for completing negotiations—again, an advantage in negotiations.
     

21. Don’t sign a deal on your next home until you close the deal on this one.
      

22. Studies have shown that it is more difficult to sell a home that is vacant—it looks forlorn, forgotten, simply not appealing. It could even cost you thousands. If you move, you’re also telling buyers that you have a new home and are probably motivated to sell.
     

23. Forcing yourself to sell by a certain date adds unnecessary pressure and puts you at a serious disad­vantage in negotiations.
     

24. The first offer is invariably well below what you both know the buyer will end up paying for your property. Don’t get angry or feel insulted; evaluate the offer objectively. Make sure it spells out the offering price, adequate earnest money, amount of down payment, mortgage amount, a closing date and any special requests. Now you have a point from which you can negotiate.
      

25. An unacceptably low offer should not be taken personally or seriously. Rather, it should be countered, even with the slightest of reductions in your asking price. This lets a buyer know that their first offer isn’t seen as a very serious one.  
     

26. The best way to avoid problems is to make sure that all terms, costs and responsibilities are spelled out in the contract of sale.
      

27. Resist the temptation to diverge from the contract. If the buyer requests a move-in prior to closing, just say no. Now is not the time to take any chances of the deal falling through.
     

If this all sounds like a lot of work it is. But it’s to be expected when you’re selling anything of such great value. And you’ll thank yourself for all the expense and hard work when the outcome works to your satisfaction.

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