Selling Your Home? Avoid these Seven Seller Sins to become a Real Estate Winner, not a Sinner!
Pride: Not putting the property in the best possible condition for sale. Clean it, paint it, replace it – shine her up or get beat up in negotiations. Remembering you are merchandising and marketing a huge investment. Sure you like that brass faucet you spent a small fortune on in 1993, but no one else does! Hit the market with your best shot if you want top dollar quickly.
Lust: Pricing higher than the competition – Beat out the other players by having the best property, pictures and price that is in line with recently sold homes and active listings. It’s lonely at the top of the market and you’ll be there for a while. Pray all you want to, but all a Buyer can see is an unreasonable Seller that they do not want to do business with!
Sloth: Making showing the property difficult – If an agent provides ample notice and cannot show the property, neither the agent nor that Buyer are coming back. We often hear Buyers say “don’t they want to sell?” This is an easy way to send the wrong message to the market and to busy agents who will give the property a stigma as they have no time to waste.
Greed: Refusing reasonable offers early on – your first offer is typically your best offer and there is only a slim chance another buyer will come along and give you more for your property. Not working out a deal early on because of a number you have in mind will result in a stale listing. FOMO will put you AND your agent in purgatory!
Envy: Failing to recognize that property is a commodity, and that a Buyer has no emotional attachment – A Buyer will analyze, look at comps, and hopefully present a reasonable offer. Properties for sale are typically apples to apples to a Buyer, so if the terms don’t make sense to them, they will just move on the property down the street with a Seller who is willing to make a deal happen. You will be super jelly of Flanders when you run into him at the bank cashing his giant check while your home is collecting cobwebs!
Gluttony: Not reducing the price in a timely manner, causing market aging – If your home has been on the market for some time and you haven’t reduced the price, you are sending a message to the market that you are not willing to negotiate and not motivated. Reducing the price is the best way for a Seller to get aggressive.
Wrath: Blaming the agent for the market rather than taking their candid advice – listen to your trusted advisor! They know the market and practice Real Estate day in and day out. Avoid confessing too late that they were right all along and take their advice from the outset.
