Plain Talk About Selling Your Home

LOCATION, LOCATION, LOCATION!

The three most important things in selling real estate are location, location, and location.
But are they, or is it ?
If you stop and think about everyone that has said “location, location” over the years – they were probably either trying to sell you something or they were defending their purchase.
Real Estate Professionals will tell the prospective buyer about the desirability of the location of a house, it’s magnificent views and pay little attention to the price. Price doesn’t really figure in the equation unless the property is extremely cheap. If a friend of yours buys an expensive home, they talk about the neighbourhood, the location and all the positives. They don’t dwell on the price and don’t talk about the actual real cost of the home, after paying off the mortgage and interest, Most people don’t take into account that they are going to pay for this house for thirty years, plus pay insurance rates and maintenance. If they did, they might not go ahead with their purchase!

USE “LOCATION” CONDITION TO YOUR ADVANTAGE
Because everybody else has been conditioned to believe the location story, use this to your own advantage. When a buyer comes to look at your house, make absolutely sure that your Agent (or you, if you are selling yourself) talks about location, features, benefits and community resource and amenities. Have you Agent (or you) tell prospective buyers about how lucky they are to get your house and give the whole sales pitch.

THINK LIKE A BUSINESS PERSON: THINK PRICE, NOT LOCATION
Okay, having said all of that regarding location, it is now time for you to stop thinking like a consumer (focused on location) and start thinking like a businessperson who is actively engaged in a major sales project and price is your key factor. Your price will determine when and if your property sells.

PREDETERMINED MINDSETS
It is hard for the average person to realise, but when selling real estate, the sale price of your home is already determined by what your neighbours have agreed to accept for their homes. If you live in a subdivision and three homes just like yours have sold for $700,000 each, guess what, your house is probably going to sell for $700,000. There could be a 5% swing either way, where you might get $735,000 or $665,000. However, there are no absolutes in real estate because you are dealing with human beings. Sometimes people fall in love with a house and pay too much. Sometimes people refinance and owe more on their house than it is worth, so they have to ask too high a selling price.

PRICE IS KING
If you understand that price is king when you are selling real estate, you will have an advantage. However, you certainly don’t have to give your property away.
If the sellers in your neighbourhood priced their homes 10% above market value and you priced your home 5% above, then your home would appear to be a bargain. If you were shopping for a home and there were two similar homes for sale priced at $710,000 and $730,000 which one would you want to buy? As the seller you will still come out ahead.

SELLER’S MOTIVATIONS AND THEIR EMOTIONAL ATTACHMENT
The price you set for your property is partly determined by your reasons for selling.

I want to talk to you about a seller I knew, who was very attached to the price that he had determined in his own mind that his property was worth. No matter that the market wouldn’t bear the price; that buyers were reporting back to me and me to him that house wasn’t worth that amount; this was a seller determined to stick to his principles and sell the property for the amount that he had established as being what he wanted.
What were his reasons, I hear you ask? (Please forgive me; I’m using “him”, when it might just well be “her”. Because it happens with women as well as men.)
Well, this was someone who had done a lot of work on the house, himself. Or it could be someone who has completed a lot of work on the garage, or the garden, or the fence, or the BBQ or the deck, or…. And so on. And because he was rightly proud of his workmanship, or materials, or prize plants or whatever… Then he was very strongly attached to the price he’d determined that his property was worth, based on the work he’d put in, and his attachment to the property and the hours spent on it. 

I hope you’ll read and understand how this attitude could be damaging to you, if you hold it . Because, never mind that other homes are more upmarket, or better renovated, or better situated or whatever, if the buyer cannot see the value in what you have done, there is no pointy in getting upset and exclaiming that the buyer doesn’t know what he is talking about! Let me assure you, buyers do their homework and won’t stay around to negotiate on price if they feel it is not priced correctly.

Here’s the thing: you can ask for all the dollars you want or you can blame the market , the economic climate or whatever, but if your price won’t meet the market as dictated by the buyers comments, then it is pointless ( and just frustrating) to hold obstinately to a price that wont work In fact , I’d go as far as to say, that you would be cutting off your nose to spite your face and you will lose in the process, But, I think you’re much smarter than that!

If you really need the money, then sell up and move on because you can always buy another home when things improve, If you get an offer that get you out from under the weight of debts, take it and run.
Think of the loss of your credit history, if you are slipping behind payments. It may be costing you more than you realise in trying to hang onto your property. It may be better to sell your property at a discount to clear your debts and then you can work at getting yourself back on your feet, If you do really  the money or you are behind with the bank, don’t get stuck on the price.

If you get a promotion or your family grows bigger and you decide to sell your home and purchase another, price is the ultimate factor because your new home depend on what you can afford.

If you get transferred and you have to move in thirty days, you may sell for less because you don’t want to lose a good job. However, if you get promoted and it doesn’t require a move, you may hold out for top dollar and shop for your dream home. Holding out for more money doesn’t usually work.

Most vendors get the best offer made to them in the first week that the property is marketed. The longer a property stays on the market the more the buyer perceives that there is something wrong the property! And you don’t want that to happen to you.