Debunking 5 Home-Selling Myths

There are five myths that home sellers need to disabuse
themselves of before they enter the market. Learn more
here.

Selling your home? Get a home value report here


Looking to buy a home? Search all local homes for sale
here






I recently read an article from Inman, a fantastic resource
for all things real estate, that discussed some of the
myths that home sellers in the market tend to believe but
shouldn’t. I've picked five of the most common myths to
share with you all today, so that I can explain why they're
so harmful to the sellers who fall for them.

1. “I don’t need to have a listing agent visit my home
until it’s ready.” I can’t tell you how wrong that is;
preparation is key when selling a home. Here, we work with
our clients not just months, but years in advance. We
always help our clients plan their sale around the events
in their life and early in the process, we think about the
kinds of things we can do for the home to help it sell when
the time comes.

2. “I don’t need to upgrade the property for sale.”
Increasing numbers of buyers are looking for move-in ready
homes, so the more a seller does to get the home to that
level, the higher the returns. Today’s buyers are
fundamentally different from how they were even a couple
decades ago. They either don’t have the expendable cash to
do the upgrades, don’t have the patience to do them, or
they don’t want to be caught on the weekends doing them.
They want to enjoy their new home or be able to take trips;
they’re not inclined to spend day after day upgrading their
home.





When buyers do come to your home, it should be a
validation of what they’ve seen online.



3. “I need open houses to be able to sell my
home.” Open houses are still a wonderful way to sell
a property, but buyers already know about your home
before they come to the open house. When they do come to
your home, it should be a validation of what they’ve seen
online. If your online listing and your actual home don’t
align, you’ve probably lost your buyer.

4. “I need many open house signs at key intersections
to draw people in.” An open house may very well grant
your listing more exposure, but again, it only matters as
much as your home validates your listing to those buyers
who are still early on in their respective homebuying
processes. Most people who attend open houses aren’t
quite ready yet to take a plunge; they’re still doing
their research and checking out their options. However,
if your home is properly prepared, it could well take
someone who wasn’t ready before and help them realize
that maybe they are. In the end, though, you don’t need
quite as many signs directing people to your open houses…
we have GPS in today’s internet age.

5. “If buyers really want my house, they will pay more
than the market value.” In our market, your success
really does come down to your home’s pricing and
marketing. If the value isn’t there in a buyer’s eyes
(and remember that they have access to more information
than ever before), then they won’t make an offer. Try to
be within striking distance of the market; people don’t
often blatantly make lowball offers.

If you have any questions about today’s topic, don’t
hesitate to reach out to me. We look forward to working
with you soon.