Sunday, March 26, 2006

How To Sell Your Home Quickly

     When you put your home on the market your agent assumes that you want to sell your home as quickly as possible for the highest amount of profit. If this not what you have in mind, you need to tell your agent up front what you want.

     A home that sits on the market for a long time doesn’t do you or your agent any good. The best way to sell your home quickly is to price it accurately from the start! A lot of people think that you should price your home high and then come down over time. This is not a good strategy to get your home sold for top dollar. There are two reasons why it is not a good idea to employ this strategy: First is today’s buyers are far more educated and know what a good price is and will just skip your home and move to one that is priced right. The second reason this doesn’t work is that as a home sits on the market for a long time you are paying for the mortgage every month that it is on the market and a buyer will end up offering you a lot lower amount for the home than you originally wanted, knowing that you may be getting impatient and may just accept any offer that comes in. Homes that are overpriced from the start end up selling for 2% lower than the homes that were priced properly from the time they went on the market. (Information obtained from the National Association of Realtors.)

     The second problem that can keep a home from selling is curb appeal. Curb appeal can be as simple as putting a few flowers in the front yard to spruce up how a home looks. But it can be much bigger of a problem, like a neighbor with a yard that you are embarrassed by every time your friends come over. The messy neighbor may be a smaller problem to solve than you may think. If you hire a landscaper for you and your neighbor’s yard, at your expense, it will only cost you a couple hundred, but net you thousands and also a quicker sale. Just explain to your neighbor that you want to sell your home and that you are offering the neighbors on both sides of your home free landscaping to bring about a quicker sale and they probably will not say no.      

     Remember, a home that a buyer falls in love with before they even enter through the front door is one they are more likely to purchase and forget what is inside. Remember when you found your home? You remembered what the outside looked like, but you couldn’t tell your best friend if it even had a closet in the master bedroom. The curb appeal is what sells a home; it is rarely what is on the inside. So buy a new door handle and mailbox, and cheers to a quick and profitable sale.

For more information on how to sell your home more quickly and for the highest possible price, please contact me anytime.

Todd Clark – broker
Kastings & Associates
(503)524-9494
IFoundYourNewHome.com
YourLifetimeAgent@Yahoo.com