Realtor.com has pulled together a 7-step process to selling your home.
However, the most important steps in selling your home are marketing, staging and asking price.
Let’s talk about marketing. If your agent does not market your property correctly, buyers won’t know what unique benefits your home has to offer. Social media is a MUST these days- make sure they are up-to-date on social media strategies and marketing. Oh, and one more thing, MAKE SURE YOUR AGENT TAKES PROFESSIONAL PHOTOGRAPHY! It drives me nuts when agents make a huge commission off a property and they can’t spend $300 bucks for professional photography. Their listings sit for days because they don’t drive buyers into your door. 9 out of every 10 buyers view photos of homes online FIRST, before stepping foot into a home. What does this mean? It means your home MUST look amazing through photography so you get the foot traffic you need to sell! Make sure you give a good first impression as you only have ONE chance to go on market! Make it count.
Another crucial step in the selling process is staging. Staging also goes beyond placing furniture in a certain way- its about painting, lighting and overall impression. If you are lucky enough to have an agent who is also a stager, put them to work. They want to sell your home as much as you do and they should give you pointers on what will sell.
Last but not least is asking price. Make sure your agent does their due diligence and pulls comps. An asking price that is too high can be detrimental to you selling your home. The biggest problem with an asking price that is too high is that your property will sit on market and buyers will think something ‘is wrong’ with the home. On the flip side, if your asking price is too low – well, you’ve sold out and you’ve missed out on some money. The price has to be just right. Make sure it is. This is where you must have confidence in your agent.
In a nutshell, you must have a perfect trifecta of marketing, staging and asking price if you want to sell your home and sell it quickly. If you don’t have all 3 you are dead in the water. If your price is too high, forget it. Your house will stay on the market with no action. If your marketing isn’t effective, no one will know about you. And, if your home doesn’t look as good as it could, buyers will most likely offer less money.
Check out this guide to selling your home:
Charrissa Vitas 