Tips for Selling Your House in Today's Market: Step 1 - Hiring a Real Estate Agent
By
Nyla Young, REALTOR, QSC, ABR, LHP, CDPE, CSSA
In today's buyer's market, it's more important than ever to be sure your house is ready to sell and shows better than the competition. Here are some helpful tips if you're considering selling your house.
Step 1: Interviewing real estate agents: It's more important now than it was even a few years ago to acquire professional guidance to get your house sold for a reasonable amount in a resonably short period of time. Finding that top agents is critical. Here are a few questions you should ask before listing with any agent:
- Are you a REALTOR (member of the National Association of Realtors)?
- How long have you been selling real estate in Colorado Springs?
- What designations, experience, education do you have that gives you an edge over other Realtors?
- Can you give me references / contact information for people you've sold homes for in Coloraro Springs?
- What was the average selling price of those homes in relation to the list price?
- What is the process for selling my home?
- What do I need to do to my house to prepare for potential buyers?
- What can I do to make my house sell quickly?
- How many houses like mine are currently for sale and how much are they listed for?
- What is your marketing plan to sell my house?
- How will you determine the list price of my house?
Notice the list price question came last. Too often sellers interview agents and list their house with the agent who comes up with the highest price. In a buyers' market, the highest price may cause your house to sit on the market longer, usually resulting in a much lower sale price months down the road than if it had been priced right from the beginning. Find the agent who will partner with you to get your house sold in a reasonable amount of time for a reasonable amount of money, and give you honest, helpful feedback along the way.
Rising mortgage rates are lowering the affordability of homes and increasing numbers of sellers looking to cash in on the rapid price appreciation over the past few years has led to a dramatic reduction in buyers and a rapid increase in the number of homes for sale. These factors have led to too few buyers looking at too many houses, putting buyers back into the driver's seat. Here are some tips to help you gain the edge over the competition and sell your home more quickly:
1. Price your home aggressively. When mortgage rates are low and buyers are chasing too few houses for sale, sellers can ask high prices and get them. Even when houses are overpriced for the market, sellers are likely to receive some offers, as buyers are often desperate to find a home that meets their needs. In today's market, pricing is absolutely critical. Instead of pricing your home aggressively high, you should consider pricing your home no higher than the middle of the range for homes comparable to yours. And if you need to sell your home quickly, you should consider pricing your home among in the bottom 25 percent of comparable homes because with few buyers chasing many homes, you need to quickly get the attention of those who are serious about buying. If your home is priced too high, you many never get buyers to even consider looking at your home. A
2. Quickly cut the price if you don't get action. Everyone wants to sell their home for as much money as possible. Nobody wants to "give" their home away. But homes that languish in a slow market often are forced to make one price reduction after another, as buyers and real estate agents may begin to question why the home has been on the market for so long. In a buyers' market you may want to cut the price to more quickly make the sale.
3. Find the right agent — it's critical. Any agent can list your house. But when buyers are few you need a first-class real estate professional on your side. The right agent will help with everything from pricing to advising you on where to spend your "fix" dollars to get the most bang for your buck, and how to stage your home, improve the curb appeal, and depersonalizing, and should even take you out to SEE your competition.
4. Curb appeal. After pricing, nothing will bring more potential buyers into your home than a house with outstanding curb appeal. Take a walk down your street with a critical eye. How does your home stack up from the outside? If it doesn't stand out from the rest then it's time to get to work. Fresh paint on the house and fence, clean walk-ways and windows are those "can't put my finger on it but it makes a difference" touches that help sell. Recently mowed and edged yards are a must. Bright flowers (when in season) and neatly trimmed bushes/trees are a nice finish. A new, perfectly sized Welcome mat adds just the right touch.
5. Consider home staging. A home staging professional will come in and advise you on what to take away / rearrange to make your home show better; most will also offer rental services for furniture or accessories to help the home show as appealing as possible to the widest range of buyers. When home sales were going gangbusters this was a technique used mostly by those selling high-end homes. In today's market, more sellers find home staging professionals to help them prepare their home to make it home more appealing to ALL prospective buyers.
6. Fix it! The loose railing or broken pane of glass, the closet door off of its track, leaky faucet, or botched paint job all need to be fixed BEFORE the house goes on the market for sale. If you don't have the time or skill, find a handyman to go through your home and make repairs. Also, consider replacing the old furnace or water heater that will likely be an issue at time of buyer's home inspection, and consider having your own home inspector come in before listing the home so that you don't have any unpleasant surpises. With so many homes on the market, buyers can afford to only bid on those that are in move-in condition. Fix what needs repair before listing your house for sale.
7. Offer flexible terms. Flexibility is the key now. You'd like to close in six week, but the buyers might be in a hurry and need to close sooner; find a way to make it happen. You were planning to take the appliances to your new home but the buyers make a bid near asking price - but with the appliances; leave the washer and dryer behind (and then go find a store that offers no payments on appliance purchases for a year). And for those items that have great sentimental value, make sure they are removed prior to any showings; it inevitably happens that the buyers also love it and feel "jilted" when you refuse to leave it. Competition between home sellers is high - you don't want to lose the only buyer who has looked at your home in a month.
For further assistance or questions, please feel free to contact me. I'm here to help!
Nyla Young
RE/MAX Properties, Inc.
719-660-2811
nyla@nylayoung.com
More helpful tips for preparing your home for sale:
Home Staging Tips
TOP 10 TIPS TO SUCCESSFUL HOME STAGING!
Preparing your house for selling can be a daunting and overwhelming task whether you have lived in your home a few years or many. The longer you have lived in your home the more things you will have acquired. The intent of this Top 10 Tips for Successful Home Staging is to help you save TIME, MONEY and ENERGY.
In preparing your house for selling you need to take a step back and have the mind set that this is no longer your home but your investment for your future. You want your home to have broad buyer appeal to your target market. Following these 10 Tips for Successful Home Staging will help you sell your house sooner and possibly for more money than if you did not prepare it for selling! Remember most people want to move into their new home without having to make updates to it.
1. Curb Appeal
Stand back and view your home as if you were seeing it for the first time. This is the ‘first impression’ stage. Depending on the season you may want to have pots of colourful and attractive flowers to greet buyers; a clean and inviting door mat; new and shiny door handles and/or knockers; a freshly painted door.
2. Declutter
Start your pre-pack as soon as possible. You need to decide what you are going to keep, give away, sell or 
throw away/recycle. Many clients will rent storage lockers or have pods delivered so they can start to clear out what is not going to make the house look good.
3. Clean
You would think this one is common sense but let me assure you, I wish it was so! A clean home translates into ‘They must have really cared for their home.” Use environmentally friendly cleaners where you can, for hard cleaning areas tsp is a good product. Bathrooms and kitchens must be sparkling clean at the very least.
4. Depersonalize
We know you love your family photos and your personal treasures and for living they are perfect. For selling 
pack them up carefully so you can showcase them in your new home. For selling you want buyers to focus on the best features of your home and not your personal things or collections.
5. A neutral colour scheme is the way to go for selling.
Choose only 3 colours or less to paint your house for selling. If you have an open floor plan then paint the main floor all the same colour. Bedrooms look good in light sage greens or warm blues like the new aqua.
6. Highlight your home’s best architectural features
Place your furniture in each room so that you have very obvious focal points that show off the home’s best selling features. For example, if you have a beautiful fireplace then place the furniture in a parallel grouping so that the eye is drawn to the fireplace.
7. Decide on the function in each room
If you were using your guest bedroom as your den for living, for selling turn it back into a bedroom with bedroom furniture in it. If you do not have the right furniture for each room consider renting it. There are more and more rental furnishing companies opening up every day. If you don’t want to rent then borrow.
8. Lighting your home to its best advantage
Spend money on new light fixtures in brushed nickel or stainless steel. Brass is out so don’t fight it. There are many low-cost lighting stores to select from so no excuses for having dated light fixtures.
9. Window treatments that sell your home
The most popular on the market are the 2” faux woods in a white tone to go with your trim. Decorative side panels will do the trick if you need to add warmth and colour.
10. Flooring needs special attention and is a good investment for updating the look of your home
Tile or linoleum is great for entranceways, bathrooms, kitchens, laundry rooms; a good quality laminate or hardwood is perfect for living rooms and family rooms; bedrooms are attractive in a neutral carpet.
By planning and budgeting you can get yourself to the “OPEN HOUSE READY” stage.
Remember that over 79% of prospective buyers have already checked you out through the MLS listings. Will they like what they see?
Happy Selling!
