It’s easier than ever for you to put your home up for sale without professional or expert help, but doing so could cost you more than you might realize. You’ll need more than a few online articles to help you successfully navigate the real estate market. Learn the most common mistakes made when it comes to For Sale By Owner (FSBO) homes on the market so you can avoid becoming an FSBO cautionary tale.
A Lack of Quality Images and an Online Presence
Many homeowners who put their residential properties on the Philly market don’t take high-quality images that present their homes in the best light. Smartphone camera technology has come a long way, but real estate agents know how to photograph rooms in a way that makes them truly shine. What’s more, hiring an agent can better ensure your home has the online presence it needs to reach as many eyes as possible, which can attract potential buyers faster than it would if you’d handled everything yourself.
Picking the Right Price
When you are doing your research to try to find the perfect listing price, it isn’t always cut and dry. Although there are tons of options out there and millions of algorithm-based home price tools, the best way to get an idea of your homes’ true value might not be that easy. Each website claims to have a special sauce to give you an accurate home value. The truth is you can see $10,000, $20,0000, or even greater discrepancies in home values from site to site. Picking the lowest or highest price on those websites can be detrimental to having your home sell. Overpricing the home can lead you to have minimal buyer traffic and underpricing your home can lead you to believe that you accepted a great offer but in reality, the buyer had the upper hand since you were listed well under true market value. Within Philadelphia, you see enormous swings in prices not only from neighborhood to neighborhood but sometimes from block to block. Making sure you find the perfect price can be a truly difficult undertaking. That is why hiring a real estate professional with their pulse on the market could be the key to making sure you maximize your home’s value, exposure, and potential buyer traffic.
Failing to Stage the Home
Presentation is everything when it comes to selling, no matter what kind of market you’re dealing with. Depending on how well you’ve kept up with your home, it might need some repairs and upgrades before you can put it on the market. Neglecting to make small upgrades, such as giving your walls a fresh coat of neutral paint or installing new carpeting, or taking care of minor repairs, could turn interested parties away. Make sure you focus just as much on your home’s exterior as you do its interior. You don’t want to have an absolutely stunning living room, kitchen, and bathroom that no one ever sees because they pass right by your home due to your lawn is overgrown, a roof that’s in poor shape, or peeling paint on the siding. Having a fresh set of eyes on your home to give you some key tips to make it look as good as possible can really go a long way in helping your home sell faster and for more money. Properly staged homes can help keep buyers focused on the beauty of the home and not the overgrown lawn or cluttered living room.
Not Qualifying Buyers
Not everyone who looks at your home has the financial means to actually buy your home. When a buyer pre-qualifies for home financing, that means that a lender has looked over her or his finances to help determine how much home that person can afford. By not pre-qualifying, there’s no way of knowing whether the buyer can afford your home, or if she or he is just wasting your time, time that could be spent showing your home to potential buyers who do have the means to meet an asking offer.
Rather than risk frustration and being taken advantage of, allow an experienced real estate agent to handle selling your home. Contact Mr. Philly Real Estate to see why some jobs are better left to the professionals.