RE: Give me your house selling tips!

[cyclone]

 MommaMia
My sister is in the process of selling her house; one thing her realtor advised her to do in the decluttering process (especially during open houses) was to have only three " things"   on any flat surface, such as the fireplace mantle.  Not only did this help eliminate clutter but he could spot it in a heartbeat if something was missing from the group of three.  She finally has a contract on her house after almost 9 months, so hang in there.  The right buyer will come along.

[B-flat]

 MommaMia
If after a few weeks of trying to sell it, you should then interview 3 local Realtors for their pricing opinions and what they will do to get it sold (marketing strategy.)  About 85% of the homes sold nationally are sold by Realtors.  By trying to do it yourself, you are not getting to the entire buying market.  You will attract curiosity seekers, those looking for a bargain who will want you to drop your price even further, and or those who will automatically want to deduct the typical Realtor commission anyway since you are selling it yourself.  If you are not available 7 days a week for the showings and  for qualifying the potential buyers, then you do need a Realtor because he/she will know exactly what needs to be done to make your home sell and to find the qualified buyers.  Do you have the proper contract forms and disclosure forms required by law in your state?  If not, most likely you will have to pay an attorney to prepare the sales contract.  Why let a bunch of strangers into your house without knowing for certain they can purchase?  Many times potential buyers will not tell you as a Seller what their reasons for not purchasing.  A Realtor can usually help to overcome any objections the Buyer may have and help you realize a sale much sooner.
 
 Yes, it is important to have everything clean, organized, repaired, lights on, etc., so that the house shows well to potential buyers.

[MommaMia]

 MommaMia
Just to clarify---
 
 We do have a realtor.  Open house will be held by the realtor. We won t be there.
 
 Oh, and when pricing the house, our realtor did have 2 other agents come in and evaluate for price.
 
 Personally, I am not happy with our realtor and will be switching next month when our 6 month contract runs out.  The house has been on the market 5 months and do you know how many times our realtor (I mean as opposed to outside agents) has shown it?  NONE!  If she was really motivated to sell this house for us, I would think she should be bringing clients here herself, not relying on the other agencies to do it for her!

[Acts 2:38 girl]

 MommaMia
Your right Cindy - especially for the commision she ll be getting!  Have you ever thought about selling the house yourselves?  It would be more work, but you d save thousands!  For me, there is something about a house for sale by owner that make me want to stop, maybe I m thinking they won t ask as much because the is no agent to take a cut.  My Mom has sold two of her own homes (hers and new huisbands) when she got married.  Just a thought! []

[birol]

 MommaMia
We had a very similar situation with our old house, 6 months and we had 1 showing. When the 6 months was over, I told the realtor that I was not very pleased with the results(She already knew), she wanted to try more, I yanked the agreement from her, started to talk with other realtors. Within two weeks, we had three showings, one offer, house gone ..... She did not deserve it, but oh well, I got what I was ready to accept.
 
 Birol

[B-flat]

 birol
Cindy, I can appreciate your thoughts about your agent but you could be wrong about the agent.  In some markets, more than 70% of all listings are sold by another agent participating in the local Multiple Listing Service (MLS.)  It is your agent s job to cause the house to be shown and to cooperate with other agents who may have potential buyers.  In turn this leads to your house being sold.   This concept is frequently misunderstood by many sellers because they are not familiar with how agents work.  If you are having concerns about the agent, give him/her a friendly call to talk.   Find out what the market is doing by asking your agent for a copy of the MLS statistics showing sales for Jan 1 - present.  That should give you a good idea of what is happening.  Good communication is absolutely essential to your questions and concerns being answered and to getting your home sold.  Find out what type of feedback the other agents have been giving to your agent, if any.  Do other agents think the house is priced right, shows well, what are buyers saying, has the market changed any since you listed?...Maybe it s time to just drop the price a little bit so your Realtor can call the other agents that showed it to see if any of their buyers are still interested and to give it another fresh approach at a new price.  Sometimes that is what it takes to let the buying public know you are a motivated seller.  Yes, I understand your frustration....after 24 years in this business, I get lots of listings because other agents failed to communicate properly to their Sellers and to keep them thoroughly informed during the entire listing.  What gets me is when I have done everything possible and suggested even a small price reduction, Sellers will often balk at it.  When the listing expires  and the home still hasn t sold because my expertise and advice was not taken.....you guessed it, they list with another agent at a much reduced price and still blame me for it not getting sold.  Oh well, let s get back to camping so I can quit this talking shop. LOL!