Lately I’ve been meeting with a lot of Seller’s who had their homes listed with other Realtors and they didn’t get it sold. I’ve also been meeting with potential Seller’s who have a lot of reasonable questions in today’s market.
About a week ago I met with Victor at his property in Herriman. One of his top concerns was how long it was going to take to sell his house.
Victor already had listed with another agent who is part-time and admitted that Victor needed a full-time Realtor who can give their full attention to his property.
Today’s housing market has a lot of advantages for Buyer’s because there is choices. For Seller’s, you’re in a fierce competition to stand out in today’s market.
So, what could I do different that would help the house sell faster?
There were definitely suggestions that I had to help Victor sell his house faster than the average day’s on market. The house is vacant, and while it was mostly clean, it definitely needed to have a deep clean along the baseboards and cabinets. There was carpet in the bedrooms that had bunched up and needed to be stretched. The listing photo’s needed a professional photographer – not someone shooting photos on their iPhone.
There was one final item that could help Victor sell his house faster. I already knew that it was not what he was going to want to hear from me. However, it is the difference between his house staying on the market for 6 more months, or actually having it sold within a matter of weeks.
That one item came down to two words: List Price
When Victor initially listed his home with the part-time agent, he listed the property for $1,250,000 which was wildly over-priced for the neighborhood. It wasn’t surprising to see that his house sat on the market before there were several price drops. And still, the house never sold.
I let Victor know that one of his neighbors around the corner had recently sold their house for $940,000 and that it is the same exact house as his. Pricing the house correctly is going to be the best way to sell your house the fastest. In today’s market, I’d even suggest going slightly under the correct list price for the property.
Remember, there’s fierce competition out there for Seller’s and Buyer’s have tons of options.
How do you know if you have the right price point though? Working with a trusted Realtor is going to give you the best opportunity to find the best price to list in today’s market. A Realtor should show you which houses near you recently sold and how they compare to your home. From there, you can make a decision on the value of your property.
Priced correctly and it’ll be sold in no time!
But, what about those online sites that say they’ll buy the house in any condition? That seems like it might be the fastest way to sell our house.
Sure, until you realize the first offer you received wasn’t a real offer. It happens all the time when these online companies come in and say they’ll buy your house, sight unseen, and make it sound easy. You know the saying, if it’s too good to be true then it probably is? That’s exactly the case with these companies.
After you receive a real offer then you’ll receive a counter during their due diligence period. Oftentimes these companies will ask for tens of thousands of dollars off the price of the home for repairs needed. Then, they won’t even provide a standard response time from you. Many times only giving a few hours to respond with a yes or no. These are high-pressure sale tactics used to confuse you and keep you from thinking in a rational manner.
You’ll be left spinning and upset that you got taken for a ride, but you’ll say to yourself “at least I got the house sold”. Perhaps, but at leaving tens of thousands of dollars on the table?
Nobody wants to be ripped off, and if it sounds too good to be true then it probably is!
Housing is local! The one way to make sure your house sells faster is to price it accordingly. Unfortunately, there are no quick fixes or tricks to sell faster than another house. Priced right, your house will sell fast!
