What Mistakes to Avoid When Selling Your Home

Selling your home is definitely not the easiest thing to do. In most cases, it will definitely take up some time and energy, it can also be a pretty overwhelming and emotionally challenging process. Especially if you have never done it before, you are most likely to feel stressed and tired after the whole process instead of excited and happy about what is awaiting you. Selling your home is mostly associated with getting visited by strangers all the time and yes, this is a big part of the process and yes, it definitely feels like an invasion of your private space.

Most probably, these strangers will criticize the place you are used to calling your home, the place you have put so much of your money, love and care into, however, there is not much you can say to them as these strangers are potential buyers of the property. Finally, these strangers are going to offer far less money than what you think the worth of your home is and this will be painful, however, you will still need to make some compromises in order to finally make a sale.

Yes, selling your home is certainly not the best experience. You can be way too emotional and make some major mistakes you are likely to regret later on. However, you do not need to be worrisome as just a little bit of know-how will help you avoid the majority of these mistakes and make a deal you are mostly happy with, while you experience as less stress and hassle as possible. In this article, we are sharing with you the best ways to avoid some of the common mistakes you can eventually make when you are selling your home.

Common Mistake – Being Too Emotional

Nothing good has come from emotions when it comes to business. However, when you are selling your home, especially for the first time, it is really easy to get emotional and leave the emotions to cloud up your mind. There are so many memories created in this place and you clearly remember how excited you were when spending all the time, energy and money on the first down payment for the place.

However, when it is time to sell the place, you want to make the best of the situation and the deal. Therefore, there is no place for emotions, it is the time to think realistically and rationally and sell as quick as possible for the highest possible price. You can achieve that if you start thinking that you are now a businessperson, not the owner of the house. Look at the deal and transaction from a purely financial side and perspective and distance yourself from the emotional aspects.

Not Hiring an Agent

One of the worst things of working with a real estate agent on selling your property is the pretty hefty commission these professionals are commanding. Despite the fact that a big chunk of the money from the deal will go in the real estate agent’s pocket, there is no doubt that getting some professional help from a really experienced and knowledgeable specialist with the required knowledge and experience to do the job can be really, really useful and save you so much time and nerves. Selling your home on your own, especially if you have never done this before, is definitely not the easiest and most pleasant thing in the world, for sure.

It can be tempting for you to save the extra money and get the whole payment for yourself, however, it is not necessarily the best idea. A good real estate agent generally has your best interests at heart and will do their best to actually help you make the best deal. An experienced agent will help you determine and decide on a fair, competitive and probably the best price for the property, they will also do their best to increase your odds of closing the deal and making a sale quicker and less painful.

Indeed, a real estate agent has a lot more experience at negotiating home sales and the professional will be there to handle and find the best solution to all potential problems that you may experience along the way. A good real estate agent will generally make sure the whole process is going smoothly and there are no downfalls for you to fall into.

Setting an Unrealistic Price

Setting an unrealistic price for your property could be the biggest obstacle preventing you from making a sale. No matter if you are working with an agent, or you are selling your home on your own, it is really essential to set the right asking price. In order to determine what the right asking price for your property is, you need to consider a lot of factors, including location, the current prices for similar properties on the market right now, etc.

A competitive market analysis is a good way to determine the asking price for your property. Remember, buyers will do that for your property too. At the end of the day, overpriced homes never sell. Still, a recent survey shows that the majority of real estate agents mention overpricing as the biggest mistake and the biggest obstacle to selling a home.

Expecting the Asking Price

If you want to be a smart seller and ensure you will be able to sell your property for a great price, be ready to negotiate and do not fixate too much on the asking price. In fact, all buyers will negotiate too and if you are not ready to do it, you are most probably not going to make a quick sale. It does not matter if you are overpricing your home when listing it, or you are underpricing it in order to attract more clients to the offer, you should be ready to negotiate and understand that the asking price is a very flexible term that will change a lot of times until you make the final deal.

Selling During the Winter Months

There really is a right time to sell a home during the year and this is definitely not wintertime. Wintertime, especially the time around the holidays, is really not the best time for selling a property and it is the slow season on the real estate market. Think about it, in winter time and the holiday period, people are usually way too busy with social engagements, organization of events, all the holiday hassle, etc. and they simply don’t have all the time to look for a house.

The cold weather is not helping either. Since fewer buyers are going to look for a property during this period of the year, it is considered that, generally, the chances of making a sale are lower and the process will pretty much slow down. However, you can still consider listing your property on the market during winter time and you may be able to actually make a good deal, because despite the fact there may not be many active buyers during this period, there will not be as many competing sellers too.