In a big transaction like selling a home, there are many opportunities for mistakes to be made. It is one reason that most people hire a real estate agent—they want to avoid many of the potential pitfalls. While issues can happen on both sides of the transaction, today let’s focus on the seller’s side. Don’t make these mistakes!
Common Mistakes When Selling Your Home
Not Considering Costs
When you sell your home, there are closing costs you must take into consideration. Typical costs include agent commissions. Sellers no longer are required to cover both the seller’s and buyer’s agent commissions, which are generally 6% of the selling price. As a seller, you must cover your personal agent’s commission, and you can decide whether or not to cover the buyer’s agent. Doing this sweetens the deal for the potential buyer. In addition to the commission, other typical closing costs include taxes, title transfer fees, attorney fees, and title company fees.
Listen to your real estate agent. Does your home need to be staged? Do you need to repaint the walls? Does your landscaping need to be refreshed? Are there other ways that you can make your home more appealing? All of these examples cost money. They are not all expensive, but understanding all the costs to sell your house is wise.
Pricing Your Home Too High
On both sides of the home-buying experience, people’s emotions can run high. Some sellers make the mistake of pricing their homes too high. Often it boils down to emotional reasons. For example, they put value on sentimentality instead of looking at market data. One of the advantages of hiring a great real estate agent is that they know the market in your area. They can show your comparables with which to set your price competitively.
Using Bad Photos to Market Your Home
Most people will decide to see your home in person by the listing photographs. Therefore, you don’t want to reduce the amount of potential buyers by using sub-par pictures. Again, choosing a real estate agent with a marketing plan, including professional photographs is important. Don’t hire one that uses their cell phone to take quick pics of your house. Check out their prior listings to see the quality of the photographs they used whether they hire a professional or they take them with their own camera. Using poor photographs is a big mistake.
Taking Offers Personally
People do not have to make offers to buy your house at or above asking price. Typically you will get a range of offers. Some might be low. A real estate agent has to present all offers to you. A mistake is to take offers personally. Again, this is where emotions can interfere with wise decisions. Take time to look at each offer. Listen to your agent as they explain contingencies, closing times, funding, and more. The best offer is not always the highest-priced offer and a low offer is not a personal insult.
Don’t make these mistakes when selling your home. A key to avoiding many of them is to hire an experienced real estate agent. The right agent can make the process enjoyable and less stressful. Contact Mike Goins if you are interested in selling your home in the Lake Conroe area. He and his team would love to serve you and help you avoid all of these mistakes. If you want to learn more about mistakes sellers make, check out Ramsey Solutions’ recent article.