Marketing and Selling tips

**Waterfront Specialist** · 09-01-2010, 04:26 AM

Hi...
• Think about placing your house on the market as far in advance as possible before purchasing another house so you do not wind up with two mortgages and the additional expense of a bridge loan.
• Find out for what price the houses in the neighborhood are selling. Be careful not to price your house too high. Study the most recent comparative sales figures.
• Don't antagonize the buyer. Often they have to sell their home first before they can buy yours.
• Let your agent do the negotiating with buyers and keep your cool. Keep your eye on the goal which is to sell your home netting the highest possible price. Know that buyers will want to pay less, want price breaks and have you pay for real and imagined fix-ups. If necessary, be willing to compromise.
• Be willing to pay full commission. Any commission below 5% is a disincentive to the agent and marketing efforts will will suffer. If a house is hard to sell, consider offering a commission incentive to the buyers agent.
• Consider seller financing. You get tax breaks. Your risk is the same risk as any lender faces, namely, is the borrower a good credit risk?
• Is there a financing contingency in your offer for sale, that is, is the sale dependent on the buyers' ability to obtain a loan commitment from a lender? Know that the buyer can forfeit his/her deposit by backing out of the deal for reasons not detailed in the contract.
• Is there an inspection contingency in the offer, which lets the buyer hire a professional to look over your property?
• The best time to sell your house is in the Spring beginning in February and lasting through May and June. Housing sales struggle in summer but pick up again in the fall, lasting till November.
• When it comes to a neighborhood, agents do not have to volunteer anything although they are prohibited from concealing information.
• If it is a sellers market where there is more demand than supply, you will not have to consider too many contingencies. If, on the other hand, it is a buyers market, where there are few buyers, be flexible and work with the buyer. The contingencies that are written into the contract can be negotiated further at the negotiation phase.
• Don't show the basement last. The last impression, many times, leaves the same mark as the first impression. So leave 'em smiling!

**ebrowns** · 09-02-2010, 06:05 AM

thank you for the tip.. I will keep it in mind to impress em with the basement amenities.. thank you..

**Paradise Hunter** · 09-02-2010, 06:25 AM

not showing the basement last is a great tip.

I've also found that knowing your properties key strength, or strengths is critically important. For example ,if you have a great kitchen, highlight the heck out of it. If you are in a lake community, have photos on the wall of you family smiling and having a great time at the lake. I know often agents shy away from photos, but in this scenario I think they pay huge dividends. You need to help you prospective buyers dream about how much better their life can be in this home.

#1 - make sure the house is super clean and free of clutter. The person walking in will think, "Look at this place, my life would be great here... I could relax all the time." I can't stress the importance of this enough. It's easily worth 5% more in terms of the price. A cluttered house will make shoppers apprehensive and uneasy, and they wont even know why.

When you're selling a property, you're not marketing the house, your marketing the dream of a better life.

**EricRE** · 09-02-2010, 06:57 PM

Some great tips. Think this list could probably be 1,000 items long if we wanted it to be! lol, I am a fan of the last tip of not showing the basement last as well. It will likely be the first thing the buyer will remember.

**ssjohn** · 09-03-2010, 01:54 AM

The first step to selling your property quickly and painlessly is to consider your target market. Pack up those personal photographs and family heirlooms. Buyers can't see past personal artifacts, and you don't want them to be distracted.Almost every home shows better with less furniture.

**bhi** · 09-03-2010, 05:33 PM

Don't show the basement last. The last impression, many times, leaves the same mark as the first impression. So leave 'em smiling!

I think this is a very good tip that every seller should keep in mind. They wouldn't want their buyers to remember the basement and how it looks when they leave the house. I say the last destination of their viewing should be the best part of the house.

All the other tips are great too.