According to CNBC, about 40% of Americans cry during the process of selling their home. This sounds like a mental health crisis and a potential divorce waiting to happen. To help you avoid this, here are my top five tips for selling a home in 2021.
Top Home Selling Tips
1. Find your agent.
Should You Use iBuyer or Should You Use an Agent? I pay more attention to OpenDoor stock than my husband, and that’s because I believe that one day iBuyers will take over the real estate sector and make me irrelevant. But that day has not come yet.
Do your research: iBuyers still aren’t a good deal for sellers. They charge huge commissions (they call them something else, like experience fees or credits) compared to the local market and they are incentivized to pay you much less than market rates. For now, a traditional real estate agent still makes more sense.
2. Prepare for the sale.
Seller must pay for their own inspection and fix any major problems. This is an important step, as 95% of contracts are broken due to conflicts during inspections. By addressing major issues like roofing, sewer, or HVAC ahead of time, you can limit the unnecessary stress and lost time that often accompanies selling.
Professional photos are inexpensive and very important. In Colorado, you can get about 10 for about $100. It’s a numbers game and you’ll get the most volume with the best pictures. Don’t skimp on it.
Connected: 3 Ways to Sell Your Home Cheaper Using an Agent
3. Make sure your compass is correct.
There are a few criteria I consider when drawing a compass.
- closeness. Within a mile is preferred because the one thing you can’t throw money at post-close is location.
- square footage. Larger homes tend to have a cheaper price per square foot than smaller homes, so it’s important to pull from homes with a similar footprint.
- bathroom. I care about the bathroom more than I care about the bedroom. It is more difficult and expensive to add a bathroom to a home, which requires plumbing and expertise, than to add a room that only requires drywall. Also, the difference between one and two bathrooms is huge, so it matters more.
- Parking Garage. Many of my clients are in Denver, where parking is limited. But even in Colorado Springs, where parking is more abundant, people still want garages because of hail and snow. A garage isn’t always cheap or easy to add on.
- Zoning. This is becoming increasingly important with the popularity of Airbnb, house hacking and co-living arrangements. Depending on who your buyer is, some zoning categories are worth more than others.
- school District. go figure. People are worried about the education of their children.
- year of manufacture. Homes in the same development were built around the same time, but if you live in a market with a tight inventory (such as Denver or Colorado Springs), you’ll be able to get a handful of properties from a wider range. can draw. If you do, you may be locked out of the development, so make sure the other homes being pulled were built within 20 years of the home you’re selling.
4. Set the right price.
“Bidding wars” are a hot topic locally because inventory is so low that sellers often receive multiple offers on their listings. I understand the inclination of buyers to dismiss this, but here’s the thing to remember: price is not price. This is some arbitrary number that the listing agent recommended (or the seller demanded). Ultimately the market decides.
If the property is overvalued, it sits, gets a blur, and the seller is likely to be unhappy with the listing agent. If it’s priced low, it moves fast, and the seller is likely very happy with their agent. Market demand still dictates the price, but depending on expectations, the customer walks away with a very positive or negative experience.
Connected: How To Sell A ‘Salable’ Home
5. Qualify your buyer.
Actually it has two phases.
The first step is the standard lender letter and phone call. The lender letter should disclose who they are eligible for and under what conditions. The phone call should give the seller peace of mind that the lender is local and available to talk to should problems arise.
The second part of qualifying your buyer is proof of funds. Get a screenshot of a bank balance that shows they have the necessary funds for the down payment, and if the appraisal gap coverage is part of the contract, they have the funds for that as well.
Buying or selling a home is a big deal. This is likely to be one of the biggest financial decisions you will ever make. It’s fair to be stressful, but you can limit a lot of that stress by knowing what to expect.
What do you do to make sure your properties are ready for sale?
Share your pre-sales process in the comments.
Note by BiggerPockets: These are the views expressed by the author and do not necessarily represent the views of BigPockets.
