Of course, this article is a cautionary tale. No Markham home seller sets out to lose money on their home sale. The trick is to sell your home for as much money as possible, but many home sellers make these fatal mistakes when selling their home and lose more money than they should.
1. You priced it wrong
Pricing is a very delicate thing when it comes to selling your home. Sure, your neighbour gave you advice about what their home sold for and you ignored your real estate professional and their suggestion and now you are paying the literal price. The problem really isn’t with underpricing, but instead overpricing. By doing this, you are losing out on possible buyers who feel the home is out of their price range or not with the price. Losing those early days on the market could cost you in the end. Don’t overprice and instead work with your agent to find a fair listing price.
2. You didn’t bother to get it ready
As a buyer, you know to look past the staging and see the bones of the home, but that doesn’t mean that as a seller you should hope that buyers will do that with your home. Clean it, declutter it and stage it. Wow your buyers so not only will the bones impress them, but also every other part of it. Studies show that staged homes sell faster and homes that sell faster also sell for more money – up to 17% more than homes that are not staged. On an $800,000 home sale that means staging will bring you in another $136,000! You can’t afford not to stage.
3. You don’t know how to negotiate
Unless you’ve got a job where negotiations are part of your everyday life (and I don’t mean trying to coax your child to bed on time), then you probably aren’t the most skilled negotiator. Unlike your real estate agent, you don’t have years of making deals for major purchases under your belt. While you’ll always have the final say about what you’ll accept on your home, let your agent take the reins and get you the best price for your home. This also means letting them tell you when to sit on something and when to walk away.
4. You let your emotions take over
Your home is your castle and all that junk… but in a home sale situation, your home is the investment you are trying to part with. Don’t let emotions take over and force you to make bad decisions, whether that’s selling the home too quickly or forcing buyers to up their offers. Use your head and ensure that your mind is on the money and your money is on your mind.
Let me know if I can be the guy to keep it there.
Leave a Reply