When selling your home there are several factors that go into how much it will sell for and how fast – the economy, location, demographics, inventory levels, and on and on. For the most part, these things are outside of your control.
However, there are 3 things in your control that can help you sell you home: marketing, price and condition.
Let’s look at these a little bit more in depth:
1. Marketing
Your goal in marketing your home is to find the most qualified buyers that will pay top dollar and close the fastest with a minimal amount of repair.
We also know that 96% of buyers used online tools in the search process (2022 National Association of Realtors Research Group). So how do you advertise effectively to find the most amount of people possible?
Here’s what we’ve found works the best:
Blackstone & Co. spends an average of $500 on each listing from our own budget to reach as many people as possible online. We pay for high quality photos and videos to make the best online first impression and targeted Facebook advertisements to reach the right people.
We also are able to list each property on over 750+ websites including Zillow.
2. Price
It’s tempting to think of pricing your home as the first step in a negotiation, where you price it much higher than what you’re expecting to actually sell it for. While this works for selling items on Facebook marketplace, it doesn’t work to attract enough buyers to even consider scheduling a viewing of your home.
It’s important to remember that buyers make a rational decision when looking online for homes, and then an emotional decision after walking through a home. So you need to price your property competitively – not too high, not too low – in order to bring in the most amount of people as possible so that you have multiple offers to choose the best that works for you.
In summary, pricing your property competitively will generate the most activity from agents and buyers.
How do you do this? Well, it’s both an art and a science. We pride ourselves in using data and experience to do this exceptionally. We run an in-depth comparative analysis of 3-5 similar properties that have sold, been with-drawn, marked as pending, or expired as close to the current date as possible.
To define similar properties, we look at places that are within 20% above and below of your listing’s metrics including:
- Number of bedrooms/bathrooms
- Square footage
- Tax amount
- Age of the property
- Location
We then plug in all the numbers to what we call the “seller net sheet” which shows the range that we can list for in comparison to other recently sold listings.
Want to try it out yourself? Check out the template here: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1vydI_5WsmC7gsv2Hy7IXUVK5nGE3EUYPbwhRybVV7IM/edit#gid=1829363299
3. Condition
Typically, buyers are looking to live in your place for 3 to 5 years. In order for them to want to buy your home, they must be able to picture themselves living there. The “HGTV look” oftentimes is the best way to help accomplish this. While few people actually live in a “HGTV” type home, it’s possible to temporarily stage a home to look like this.
In fact, 81% of buyers agents said that staging a home made it easier for the buyer to visualize that property as a future home (2023 National Association of Realtors Profile of Home Staging).
This is why we pay for a professional stager to display your home in the best possible condition.
Here’s some simple steps you can do that will go a long way in helping to sell your home to attract the best buyer to meet your goals:
- De-personalize – remove all personal photos and items. This allows buyers to view themselves in your home
- Maximize – remove extra clutter from the home in order to best show off the space that you have
- Sanitize – wipe down baseboards, shower doors, and countertops. Focus especially on the bathrooms and kitchen
- Modernize – homes that appear outdated may receive lower offers. Small updates can go a long way
- Neutralize – use neutral colors to appeal to buyers. You can maximize natural lighting by adding mirrors
- Strategize – make sure to stage the home prior to professional photos and listing your home.
Conclusion
Selling your home can be overwhelming as you think of all the things you can’t control. But remember, you can always control: