People decide to sell their home for all types of reasons - a growing family, a hot property market, and changes in lifestyle or financial status being the most common. It’s important to always keep your motivation in mind (and well as in your agent’s mind) as you move through the process, as it can significantly impact things like pricing and negotiations. Now that that’s covered, here are 4 tips that will help you get the best, and fastest offer(s) on your home.
Get the facts - An informed seller is a successful seller, but that doesn’t mean you have to spend hundreds of dollars on a formal market appraisal or hours doing research and gathering data - that’s what a seller’s agent is for. Select 2-3 reputable agents who specialize in your neighborhood and ask them to put together a comparative market analysis, which will take into consideration your homes attributes and recent sales data for similar homes. They should also factor your neighborhood, school systems and growth into the equation, and they should present it to you with a plan for how they would use that information to market your home.
Select an agent - Selecting several agents to perform a comparative market analysis is a great way to evaluate and pick the agent that’s right for you. Even if there’s very little difference between how the three analyses look on paper (and there shouldn’t be), you’ll notice differences between each agent - responsiveness, level of detail, how they communicate, how aggressive their marketing strategies are, etc. The attributes one seller might find attractive in an agent can be very different from what another seller is looking for, so it’s critical to select the one that you can best communication with, and who understands you and your motivations very clearly. However, it’s important to be honest with each agent and let them know that you’re giving them an opportunity to win your listing, but that you’re evaluating other agents as well.
Have your house inspected - Again, an informed seller is a successful seller, and a pre-sale evaluation of your home will save you money and disappointment down the line. If you have a list of repairs prior to putting your home on the market, you can address the ones you are able to more cost effectively and mitigate any surprises that might force you to make some concessions in your negotiations. Your inspector might also give you some important information that could have an impact on how you price your home and / or information that will enable you to be upfront with buyers about what you will and will not consider open for negotiation.
Price your home competitively - It’s no secret that Boston is a seller’s market right now, and that most homes are selling quickly, for at or over asking price. The best way to drive up your sale price is to secure multiple offers, and the best way to do that is to price your home competitively. Nothing says “dud” to a buyer like a home that’s been on the market for more than 45 days, especially with homes moving as quickly as they are in Boston right now, so while sentimentality and sweat equity might make you think your home is worth more than other similar homes, buyers won’t see it that way. Bonus tip: set your price just under a whole number, $679,000 vs $680,000 for example. It works in retail and it works in real estate!
There are all kinds of other tips that will help you sell your home quickly - staging, decluttering, hiring a skilled photographer to get great listing photos - but the most important is partnering with an agent that has the right skill set and experience to get you good offers quickly. For more tips on how to take advantage of Boston's hot market and get top dollar for your home, visit our website or reach out to one of our experts. Happy selling!
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