How To Get Your Home to Sell More Quickly


Psst!  Want to learn a few secrets to selling your home quickly?

Listen, everyone has advice...a way to get your home sold quickly, a suggestion or two or five, and fifty ways to spend YOUR money to make it happen.  I know.  I've heard them all.  But then, I've been selling homes for 37 years!  As a professional, I give advice to my clients too. The difference is, I don't want you to waste your money on things that don't work.  I don't like to think of myself as a 'sales person' as much as a 'Lifestyle Adviser'.  I am a consultant who has experience, knowledge, and the desire to help.  When it comes to selling a home, I am happy to collaborate with the Sellers to work on the best marketing approach, the best price and the best way to feature the home in the best light.  It doesn't hurt to have a  great location, but that is not always what you have (not to mention that the location that's good for one may not be for all). 

So here are a few of the things I do suggest that will not cost you any more money than any other conventional listing out there but will net you excellent results:

1. Find a broker who listens:  Too many people want to tell you stuff instead of listening to what you have to say.  YOU are in the driver's seat.  YOU get to make the decisions.

2. Don't go for the discount broker who will list your home and walk away.  (These are the brokers who look for volume and will even brag about how many homes they have sold.  However, they do not provide the degree of service that you deserve.  How can they?  They are too busy listing more homes!)

3. Ask about websites, advertising, what services they cover, and what they will do to market the home.  Everyone knows that much of the shopping for homes these days is online, so once your home is listed on MLS you might think that it is good to go, but let's consider how many homes are out there on MLS.  One might stand out more than another and usually it is because of the pretty photos, additional marketing pieces, virtual tours, brochures, descriptions, and website presence.  Take a look at what your agent offers and how it might be a head above what others are doing.

4. Show your home to its best advantage: Home staging can net a Seller a higher profit for fewer days on market.  Even the most modest home can use a set of professional eyes to tell the Sellers to move the shampoo and scummy soap out of the shower, to take Aunt Hilda's crocheted doilies off of the end tables, to remove the collection of Collector Boone's Farm Wine bottles from the breakfront, and maybe paint the Pepto Bismol Pink bedroom a quiet dove gray. If the flowers outside have faded and given up for the season, go ahead and replace them with a splash of color, and if the lawn is higher than your kneecaps, perhaps consider mowing it before a showing.  My personal favorite is the windows.  People actually like to look out of windows so cleaning them might be a reasonable thing to do. 

5. Price your home correctly or even slightly lower:  Have you ever gone to a yard sale and bought something because you just couldn't resist the low price?  Doesn't everyone have a vase that was $.50 at a yard sale?  (Ehem.  Well maybe not, but you get the idea.)  So my point is this.  Listing a home at a great price gets people's attention.  If I hear of a great deal I call everyone I know.  ("Hi Irma? Weren't you and John looking for a home in Chapel Hill?  Okay.  I just saw one that is priced below the market!")  Word of mouth goes a long way in a quicker sale. But for the person who can't or won't list their home for a bargain price (and I don't blame you) there are other things that can make the price more attractive.  They are called Buyer incentives.

Making it happen:
There are lots of other suggestions too.  I have a pretty good track record when it comes to selling homes quickly or (relatively quickly considering the variety of markets and locations.)
I like to be creative and together with my clients we work out a plan that will get the results.  The best part is the tools I have at my fingertips to make that happen.  I am pretty confident that the tools I use at no extra cost to the Seller are some of the best out there.  (You might note that this was a blatant advertisement for choosing me as your real estate agent.) 

Picture this: Your home in an ad like the one above. 

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