Creating a real estate listing is crucial to selling your home quickly and often trumps installing a ‘For Sale’ sign on your front yard. According to a recent National Association of Realtors (NAR) study, 52% of home buyers today use the internet to find properties, so it is crucial to learn how to list your home for sale. If you make any errors when listing your home for sale, you could extend the time it takes to find an ideal buyer, not to mention getting offers lower than the worth of your property. Read on for a complete guide to selling your house to avoid mistakes.
1. Hire an experienced real estate agent
It can be tempting to opt to list or sell your home on your own to save the cost of hiring a real estate agent. However, unless you have excellent negotiation skills, you could fail to get a maximum return on your investment if you sell on your own. Listing or selling a home without a realtor is also time-consuming and subject to many mistakes because you are not familiar with the ins and outs of the real estate market, so you should hire a reliable real estate agent.
Be sure to pick a realtor familiar with your target market, has a reputation for closing deals quickly, and is licensed. You could seek referrals or read online reviews from previous clients to zero in on an experienced real estate agent. Remember to negotiate favorable listing rates, especially when you intend to take on a For Sale by Owner (FSBO) project.
2. Prepare your house for sale
Before listing your house, dedicate time to improving it to appeal to as many potential homebuyers as possible. This involves deep cleaning, decluttering the home, and adding a new coat of paint. You could also invest in a pre-listing inspection to help identify areas requiring repairs and renovations. Some standard maintenance you could handle include fixing leaks, flooring or roofing replacement, caulking the windows and doors, and doorknobs and broken appliance repairs.
You should also depersonalize the space by removing personal things such as religious items, memorabilia, and family photos. Staging the house can also help critical rooms such as the living room, kitchen, bathroom, and bedrooms attract a broader client base instead of reflecting your style. If you don’t want to spend thousands of dollars on home improvements before listing it for sale, consider selling your home to Cyber Homes. Cyber Homes buy homes as-is, so you do not have to worry about staging or fixing the property.
3. Set a reasonable listing price
One of the most significant mistakes you could make when listing your property is setting the wrong price. If you overprice your home, potential buyers will skip it as it is above their ideal price range. Pricing too low will help you get an offer quickly, but you will not maximize profits. Perform market research of similar properties for sale within your locality to gain practical insights on how you should price your home to appeal to a qualified potential customer base. Alternatively, ask for a comparative market analysis (CMA) from your realtor to establish a realistic listing price for your market and region.
4. Write an outstanding property description
The listing description is one of the crucial parts of your listing as it gives prospective homebuyers a preview of what your home has to offer. Without an impressive listing description, buyers will leave and search for other properties.
To write a listing description that sells, provide accurate information about your home’s square footage, lot size, number of baths and bedrooms, the year the house was built, and the type and condition of your appliances, including the heating and cooling system. Next, describe your neighborhood while highlighting essential amenities such as schools, hospitals, churches, roads, parks, and malls.
Be sure also to use appropriate adjectives in your description. The adjectives should not exaggerate anything, so avoid words like gorgeous and dazzling. You should also avoid words like ‘fixer,’ ‘cosmetic’, or ‘TLC’ that raise red flags or paint a negative picture of your home in the potential home buyer’s mind. Finally, use appropriate punctuation to make your listing description easy to read and coherent.
5. Include high-quality photos
Your listing is not complete without photos of your home. Ensure the images show off each space in your home, including the living room, kitchen, bathroom, closets, exterior, and other unique features. Consider hiring a professional photographer to take high-quality pictures as they make the first impression of your home online.
6. Research your local real estate market
Look into the national and local real estate sites to get as much information as possible about the market to gain insights into the timeline. When you understand your local market positioning, whether it is the seller’s or buyer’s market, you can establish the right time to list your home to increase the chances of getting the most out of your sale
Endnote
Listing your home gives your property more exposure, allowing you to sell it quickly and get maximum value. Implement the above strategies when listing your home to make your sale less stressful.
Before Listing Your Home, Consider Making These Three Upgrades
Ep 013 – How to Get Your Home Ready to Sell or List with Jill Elliott
