What are the top mistakes you see home sellers make?
The professional real estate agents and brokers at Shine Realty were asked this question. With their decades of experience in the real estate industry, this is what they said:
1. Overpricing the Home
Overpricing the home is the first seller mistake that came out of our experienced real estate agents’ mouths.
We get it. You want to get as much money as you can for your home. We want that for you too!
But if you go so high that it’s unreasonable given the current real estate market, your home will likely sit there. And when homes sit on the market, potential buyers and their agents start to wonder, “What’s wrong with that home?“
This plants seeds of doubt people’s minds and can lead them think something is wrong with your property before they even step inside.
So please trust your local trusted realtor’s advice when it comes to the appropriate price for listing your home for sale.
- Curious about the value of your home? –Contact one of our agents for a more accurate price, but this can be a starting point!
- South-Central Wisconsin’s Real Estate Market Reports — Recent South-Central Wisconsin market updates
2. Limiting the Showing Availability
Another common mistake of home sellers is having very little availability for people to view the home.
Chances are, the more you can make the home available for potential buyers to see it, the fewer days it will be on the market!
So get out of town if you can for an open house weekend. If you work from home, pack up your laptop and work from a coffee shop, library, or friend’s house when possible.
It’s going to be really hard to sell your house if people looking to buy a home aren’t able to get in and see it when they’re available!
- Tips for Hosting a Successful Open House — Ideas for homeowners and realtors!
3. Not Staging or Decluttering
You may not think staging matters, or you may not want to deal with your stuff yet, but trust the experts when they say not staging or decluttering is a major home seller mistake!
We offer many resources to help people stage their home (even how to stage a home while still living in it) and decluttering is a big part of making your home shine when you’re trying to sell! Our clients also receive a helpful Staging Guide that walks you step-by-step through each room with do’s and don’ts.
Our full-serve listing service includes staging by our professional realtors as well.
If you want to dive into this topic more, here are some helpful guides we’ve created:
- Home Staging Before & Afters — Look at the difference!
- 11 Home Organizing & Decluttering Tips — From our realtors!
- Downsizing Tips — An encouraging step-by-step process!
4. Not Hiring a Listing Agent
Trying to sell a home without a professional listing agent is another common mistake.
We understand you may want to “keep” as much of the proceeds of your home sale as possible, so you may try to skip paying a realtor for their service.
But we’ve seen it time and time again. Homes listed on the MLS with a professional real estate agent sell for more than For Sale By Owner (FSBO) homes.
How much more? This study shows the median sale price was just under 17% higher for homes marketed on the MLS vs off-MLS homes.
So even when you account for paying the realtors’ fees, sellers still typically leave the closing table with more proceeds because of the valuable insights, negotiation, and marketing a professional real estate agent or broker provides.
- How to Hire a Real Estate Agent to Sell Your Home — How to go about the process!
5. Picking the Wrong Agent
Now there are thousands of real estate agents just in Wisconsin. Chances are you might know one or even a few. But not all real estate agents provide the same value.
We work with hundreds of agents every year, and some are fantastic! While others are doing real estate as a side gig, uninformed, have poor communication, and quite frankly, don’t seem to have their clients’ best interests in mind.
At Shine Realty, we’re proud to have a group of real estate agents who sharpen one another at least weekly. We’re highly trained, have a detail-oriented manager overseeing all things, and have mentors with decades of experience helping those who are newer to the field. We only use professional realtors for our listings, so your property will always shine no matter where people find it.
We consistently put our clients’ needs and interests above our own. We’re responsive, negotiate hard on behalf of our clients, and always operate with integrity. Our agents have a servant’s heart, a love for their local community members, and are eager to help all their clients achieve their real estate goals.
- What’s the current real estate market? — Things your REALTOR should know!
6. Not Hiring a Professional Photographer
Ever cringe when you see pictures of a house for sale?
Yep, us too.
Dark photos. Photos of different sizes. Pictures someone just snapped on their phone. These are things you should never see when you hire a real estate agent to help you sell your home.
You might only have one chance to convince a potential buyer to check out your property. We hire the best of the best for every property to give your home the best chance of getting many visitors and potential buyers.
We hope your realtor does the same.
Here is an example of professional pictures from one of the homes we sold. The home was beautiful and the photos enhanced that natural beauty, leading to a quick sale.
7. Fearing the Buyer’s Agent Fee
Some sellers are unwilling to pay the buyer’s agent fee, and this is another mistake we’re seeing from home sellers.
Real estate agents put in a lot of time and effort helping a buyer or seller get from their goal through all the contingencies and negotiations to the closing table. There are many unseen hurdles that occur behind the scenes, every transaction is different, and there are often high emotions and tight deadlines to maneuver.
So if you want to sell your property, why not be willing to pay the buyer’s realtor for their service?
8. Leaving Pets at the Home
We understand you love your pets! But not everyone loves cats, dogs, gerbils, snakes, etc.
In fact, some people are severely allergic to certain animals and will rule out a home if they see that animal or proof of that animal around. Even if you’re an avid cleaner and are willing to shampoo carpets, deep clean the home, and so on before selling, just seeing the animal can cause you to lose a potential buyer.
Most experienced agents have funny/horror stories from random pets wandering around, surprising them in closets, or sneaking out the doors.
So, please, if you have pets, make every effort to take your pets with you.
9. Not Cleaning Up After Pets
While we’re talking about pets,if you’re trying to sell your home and make a great impression, please clean up after your pets!
Litter boxes and dog bombs around the yard are a great way to turn off potential buyers. The smell. The look. Nothing about it is pleasing.
If you can’t do it before every showing and open house, hire a neighborhood kid to do it!
10. Using Flat Fee Agents
Similar to what’s mentioned before, you might think you’re saving money by using a flat fee agent. However, consider what you are sacrificing in service and marketing.
- Is it professional pictures that make your property shine in the eyes of others?
- Is it marketing reach? (For example, at Shine Realty we market across all many platforms: this website, YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Pinterest, and email. This means in addition to the MLS exposure, our listings reach 100,000+ people each month! Can your realtor match that kind of exposure to increase your odds of bringing in a serious buyer?)
- Is it their availability to show you homes?
- Is it their willingness to host open house(s)?
- Is it their knowledge of the current market and real estate laws?
- Is it professional staging advice and service?
Unfortunately, we’ve seen this in the real estate world too much, and it can reflect poorly on all REALTORS. To put it bluntly, you’re sacrificing something when you use a flat fee agent versus a full-service agent, and this is one reason homes can sit on the market much longer than sellers want.
Top Tip to Avoid Home Seller Mistakes
See image below.
…kind of kidding…kind of not.
But hopefully, it at least made you smile and consider how you can avoid making these common mistakes when it’s time to sell your home.
More Advice for Home Sellers
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