That’s what real estate agents and tax assessors do anyway. Don’t forget, your goal is to sell your home, not to price it out of a desire to keep it.
January is not typically a busy time for the property market, but if you are thinking of putting your home up for sale in the spring it is worth starting to get everything in order. With the vast majority of sellers still entrusting the sale of their property to a traditional estate agent, choosing the wrong one means you could be stuck with them for weeks. Here are some tips on how to make the process as stress-free as possible – based on my years of working as an estate agent. The potential financial benefit of selling without an agent directly correlates with the selling price.
In sellers’ markets, your agent may shop the home around to buyers’ agents and potentially attract offers before it officially hits the market. You can market your property via your local estate agent who will advertise your property to potential buyers.
Real estate agents do essentially four things to earn a commission. Agents don’t get paid until they close a deal, so it is in their best interest to close a deal. Use the internet to get an idea of sales prices for comparable homes in your neighborhood and price yours accordingly.
Estate agents usually charge a percentage of the final purchase price. Some estate agents have been found toovervalue properties in order to win business. It can be tempting to choose the firm claiming they can get you thousands more for your home, but setting an unrealistic asking price can waste time and put buyers off even viewing a property. Ask the estate agent for evidence to support their valuation; for example, similar properties they have recently sold. A high valuation does not necessarily mean you will secure this price.
When we were selling our home, we made sure to say yes to every single showing request, even the one where we were in the middle of lunch and had to be out of the house – with two pets – in 15 minutes. Unless it’s truly impossible, rearrange your schedule around what’s ideal for the buyer, not what’s ideal for you. If you suggest a new time than what’s requested, the buyer or their agent may not be able to make it work and so may just pass on visiting the property entirely. Let buyers smell this desperation and they’re more likely to submit low offers, and with commission rates so high, you may find agents encourage you to accept a lower price. If you don’t receive any offers… go back to the drawing board. It’s always a possibility that your home will sit on the market without any offers. This could be because you priced the home too high, you didn’t market it well enough, or simply because it’s not a good market for selling.
Most real estate agents will tell you that spring is the best time to list your home but that’s not necessarily true for every real estate market. A more precise analysis of the home sales data shows that the best time to sell depends on where you live. The local housing market in your area is a huge factor in how quickly your house will sell and how much it will sell for. Knowing the best time to sell your house in your neck of the woods and timing your listing just right will pay dividends. A top real estate agent will weigh the different market factors to determine the best time to list your house, but there are some ways to check it out on your own. As soon as you decide to sell your house, jump right into researching real estate agents you might work with, to find someone with the right experience for your situation.
