Beating out Your Neighbors When Selling Your Home

Pick a neighborhood and count the For Sale signs. In today’s economy it is a seller’s market. These home sale clusters are becoming more and more common. Neighbors are battling for buyers and cashing in on their property. So how can you beat out your neighbor and sell your home first? Try these tips from the pros:

1.The Price Must Be Right

Real estate expert, Barbara Corcoran, tells us that pricing means everything when you want your house off the market quickly. Even the most beautiful home will stay unsold if the price is too high. Try to find out what your neighbors are selling their homes for or find the selling prices of homes recently sold in your neighborhood. Choose 3 of the prices you discovered, then invite three different brokers to estimate your home’s value. Once you have the estimates, average the estimates with the prices found in your neighborhood and reduce the total by 15%. This is the formula for a competitive price and easy sale.

2.Spying is Not Cheating

Sometimes the best way to find your home’s flaws is by finding the flaws in other homes. Go undercover and attend your neighbor’s open houses. Take note of the home’s qualities that catch your interest and the flaws that deter you from purchasing. Once you have your cheat sheet, go back home and conduct a walkthrough to find anything in your home that would deter a potential buyer and correct it immediately.

3.Clean to Sell

Although wiping down your counters and washing the windows are a must, you need to conduct a full cleaning of your home. Every nook and cranny should be scrubbed down, bleached, sanitized and shining, Be sure to polish all metal fixtures, apply new paint to areas that may be fading, and rid the home of any water stains. Buyers often shop with all their senses, so make the home glimmer in sanitary opulence, add new window treatments, get rid of the mildewed shower curtain and add the scent of baked goods to bring their senses to life. Candles that smell like apple pie, cookies, or vanilla are popular choices for open houses.

4.Take Great Photos

If a picture is worth a thousand words, then you need to make sure your home screams them. There are many ads for homes that are littered with blurry pictures, pictures of only the outside of the home, or pictures of cluttered living rooms. These are the type of photos you want to avoid. Make sure after you have cleaned your home from top to bottom the pictures you take show the true beauty of the home and offer your prospective buyers enough of a visual for them to imagine living there.

Selling your home doesn’t have to be a competition against your neighbors. Rather than keeping up with the Jones’ you can easily pass them easily if you take the time and effort to prepare your home the best way possible. Don’t overlook the small details, correct the major flaws, and market your home the best way you can to get more responses from potential buyers and guarantee you get your full listed price.

Writer Sheila Madison is an avid blogger. Trying to sell your house? Check out more tips at agentharvest.com.