You have decided to sell your home, and now the work begins. This article will discuss what not to do when selling your home. We will look at the mistakes made when setting the price and what should and shouldn’t be done regarding home improvement projects before you sell.
Selling your home is daunting; it’s emotional and often physically draining. Below are some general tips that can remove some of the stress during your home-selling process.
Knowing what not to do when selling your home cuts the ordeal.
Mistakes When Setting The Price
One of the first things you will need to do is decide on a correct selling price. This seems easy, but when you add in closing costs, emotional ties, repairs, and improvements, the final selling cost needs to be more than a heartfelt guess. Let’s consider how you can avoid making mistakes when setting the price.
- Overpricing your home: Overpricing your home will not lead to negotiations; it would probably lead to a potential buyer not even looking at your house. The best thing to do is to list the house at market value leading to a quicker sale.
- No Competitive price analysis: Savvy buyers and fluctuating markets make it essential to have a comparative analysis before setting your home’s selling price. Let your realtor work and find the best price to sell your home at market price.
- Finances based on emotion: A big mistake is to price your home based on financial needs or emotional ties. Neither one of those reasons are effective ways to determine the best price for your home. The financial reason may be a contributing factor for selling, but it has little to do with the actual value of your home. Get an appraisal and set a fair market value. Emotional ties to your home can lead to overvaluing your property. Again it’s the best option to have a market analysis done and set the selling price within the market range.
- Underestimating the cost of selling: Hidden costs can be a profit killer. You need to know what costs, how much you owe, or what improvements cost. The total of all of these needs to be considered and upfront from the get-go.
- Only considering the highest bid: The higher the bid, the more possible contingencies may apply. This will affect the time to sell, inspections, appraisals, and loans, leading to the highest bid potentially not being your best offer. Lower offers require fewer contingencies, as a rule. Price and cost overlaps make looking at the offers and weighing the cost of contingencies a must.
Mistakes To Do With Home Improvement Projects
When selling your home, home improvement projects are all about ROI— Return on Investment. The calculation of the value of investment versus its cost. Here are some mistakes that can be made with home improvements before a sale to avoid costly mistakes and investments with no return. Here’s what no to do when selling your home in regards to home improvement projects.
- Cosmetic Flaws: Cosmetic flaws are one place where you might feel you need to put in a lot of effort. But the truth is that the paint, landscape, or other surface issues will not always break a deal.
- Old Appliances: Old appliances that are outdated, mismatched, or broken down should be replaced but not with top-of-the-line appliances. It’s better to replace them with good used appliances and not spend the money on top of the line.
- Minor Electrical/HVAC/Plumbing Issues: Don’t worry about bringing everything up to code or installing new electrical boxes, plumbing fixtures, or AC units. If there are hazards, then you should list those, but for the most part, if these items are functioning correctly, don’t worry about replacing them for sale.
- Removable Items: Removable items such as blinds, valences, curtains, torn screens, and window seals, just to name a few, can be removed or cleaned. Removing them can often lead to better visibility and lighting, giving the prospective buyer room to imagine their style if they purchase.
- Carpet and Flooring: Carpet and flooring shouldn’t be removed or replaced unless there are severe issues like giant tears or pet odors in the carpet. It’s more than likely the new owner would change the carpet or linoleum anyway.
Other Common Mistakes
There are many mistakes homeowners make with setting the price and home improvement. However, a few more general mistakes still make the list of what not to do when selling your home.
- Relying on bad appraisal data(online resources): Don’t rely solely on online resources when appraising your home and property when deciding the selling price. Instead, it’s better to work with your realtor or have your home professionally appraised.
- Working alone: Going at it alone might seem like a great way to save money, but that might not be in your best interest. Hidden costs can knock the wind out of your savings in a hurry.
- Waiting for the home selling season: Early fall and spring are hailed as the best time to sell, but you shouldn’t wait to put your house on the market if you’re ready to sell and it’s not “selling season.” Just never know if a motivated buyer wants to buy now.
- Hiding problems: Hiding problems is not a good idea. The likelihood of the problem being discovered during the inspection is high. It’s better to list and be upfront for several reasons. One is that it could save you from a lawsuit later on.
- Cutting costs on photography: They say first impressions are the ones that stick in the minds of the buyer. Oftentimes that first impression is through photos on online listings. Don’t skimp on photography costs. Get some professional photos taken and make that first impression stick.
