Better Techniques to Selling Your Home

Certainly, everyone wants to receive as much as possible from the sale of their house. How do you make sure your house is going to yield the highest return? Buyers are inundated with hundreds of houses, most of which do not meet their needs and desires. There are fears and uncertainties involved at every turn. It is a HUGE investment for them. Under these conditions, naturally they’re going to give you lowball offers, they’re going to nickel and dime you every chance they get, they’re going to have second thoughts and wonder if they’re making the right decision.

You need to counteract these doubts and fears UP FRONT. Replace them with positive reassurances that THIS is the right decision for them.

First, you want to make sure that you have put your house in a Category of One. It needs to stand out from all the other commodity homes out there.

Secondly, you want to make sure you are finding the most opportune buyers. Not everyone is interested in what you have. If they are looking for what you have, however, don’t let them miss it. Make sure it finds them! Take a look at how Target Marketing can do this.

Every real estate transaction has numerous areas that can cause problems and there are lots of pitfalls. You want to Minimize the Risks of Selling a Home. Reduce the chance of sale fails, unhappy buyers and lawsuits.

With the proper plans, procedures, systems and marketing in place, it will reduce the anxiety for both the buyer and the seller. You will be able to Sell your Home with Less Hassle.

Yes, this is how you can get top dollar for your house. Make it easy for the RIGHT buyer to feel good about their decision to give you an EXCELLENT offer and then succeed in a SMOOTH closing. And remember, the easier it is for them, the easier it is for you. And the easier it is, the more money you will receive AND the more money you will keep to put into your pocket.

Have you ever noticed how many times you can look at a home for sale and it looks just like every other home out there? There is an exterior picture that shows the front of the house. Now I have to say, in recent years, photography has come a long way. Today the best Realtors will provide drone pictures, Matterport doll houses and video walkthroughs some very visual means to help a buyer get “sold” on your house before they even see it.

Artistic Disaster
Though technology has improved immensely, sometimes it is misleading! Have you ever seen a picture of a laundry room that looks as long as a bowling alley? Or have you seen that huge great room that looks like an amphitheater? When buyers become interested in a house, they immediately start placing their furniture in the rooms mentally. They picture their family performing their day-to-day activities. When they actually set an appointment to look at the house and discover that the great room is actually a 12 by 16 room, what happens? Not only are they disillusioned, but they are often angry; they start out with an attitude. If they do end up submitting an offer, it is a lowball offer. They are wondering what else you are embellishing or just downright lying about. They have a problem with YOU, the homeowner before you even receive their offer! Whether you have a luxury home or a first-time homebuyer’s starter home, you want it to look the very best it can but still present a realistic picture of what you have.

Staging
Proper photography can be a HUGE aide here but there are other considerations too. Staging can show your property off in its best light. With the help of a professional stager, your house can be transformed from one that you live in, to a house that the buyer can visualize their lifestyle in.

Virtual Staging
Sometimes virtual staging can be extremely helpful, especially if an area could use a little sprucing up or can be used for numerous different things. If you’re using a room as a baby’s room but it would make a great office, you can actually allow a buyer to “see” that office.

Drawings
Blueprints with dimensions can help people realize if and how they can place their belongings in your house. One of the most frequent objections Realtors get is “I don’t think my hutch will fit in that dining room.” Let a buyer know that your house will fit their family even if they’re not sure of all these others. Answer their concerns before they even come up.

Descriptions
Professionally written descriptions can bring your house alive. Sure, people can find lots of 3 bedrooms and 2 bath houses, but can they find one that they can see their future in?

When a buyer finds the house that can enhance their lifestyle, make their future more secure, be fun, or as flexible as they need, it will stand out to them. They won’t even need to consider any of the dozens of others out there. They don’t need to; they’ve found their new home.

For years, Realtors™ have listed homes and put them on the multiple listing service (MLS). With the technological advances that have come about in recent years, homes have been made available to anyone and everyone. Sounds great, doesn't it?

Third Party Real Estate Websites
Let’s say you are looking for a home on Realtor.com© and then you go to Trulia© or to Zillow© or any one of the hundreds of sites out there. You see all the same houses, all the same pictures, all the same information. Most of them are not even remotely interesting to you. Yes, it may have the right number of bedrooms and bathrooms and may be in the right price range but it’s not what you need for your family.

Now if something does catch your attention and you want more information, what do you do? You certainly do not want to hit the Learn More button. It will immediately send your information to 8 to 12 Realtors™, several lenders, and a few others. Your phone starts ringing off the hook, texts and emails are coming in one after another. Ughh! You are not going to want to talk to anyone!

Opportune Buyers
Is there a better way to find a buyer for YOUR home? You can target the most opportune buyers – the buyers who are interested in what you have to offer. You have a large family room or a park close by? That is exactly what they want for their children. Okay, they’re interested. Oh, you have a home office. That is exactly what they need for their new business. This may work.

This short video shows you how to get Select Audience Lists of people who would be more likely to buy your house. See how Target Marketing can bring in the very best buyers, with the least number of showings.

Anytime you sell a property, you are at risk. Courtrooms are full of cases involving real estate transactions, many of them are unnecessary. Most real estate-related cases stem from a lack of knowledge and/or a lack of follow-through. The more information you can document and provide to a potential buyer, the less risk you have of them becoming unhappy and suing you later.

Owner’s Property Disclosure
The State of Montana has a document called an Owner’s Property Disclosure. This can be a valuable document in risk reduction. You do not want them to be considered as an expert in any field, but you do want others to be aware of anything you know of. Help in filling out this form can save you anxiety, money, and lawsuits later.

Home Inspection
More real estate transactions fall apart right after the home inspection than at any other time. People have made their offer, they are happy with their purchase, and now they get a whole book of things that could or should be changed or improved. They can do one of several things.

1. They can walk away from the transaction, which means you are back to square one or
2. They can accept the condition and take care of it later, but this often leaves them with sour grapes in their mouth. Now they are looking for other “problems” in the house.

3. The third option is to ask you to replace or repair the condition. Now you feel as though you are being nickel-and-dimed. The buyer is always in a better negotiating position than the seller at this point.

If you, as the seller, have an independent third-party home inspector go through your house before it goes on the market, they are almost sure to come up with items that you were not aware of. You may be a very conscientious homeowner but that does not mean that something is occurring in your crawlspace or your attic or right under your nose that you have no knowledge of. Now I am not saying that just because an inspector points out something in their report, you should take care of it. No house is perfect, and an informed buyer will not expect perfection in your home. However, if something of consequence is found, a safety hazard for instance, it’s better to find it now than later.

If a prospective buyer has knowledge of something that could or even should be remedied, chances are they will not become alarmed; they will consider it along with all the other pros and cons of the house. If they decide to go ahead and make an offer, they will feel more confident in presenting the best offer they are capable of making rather than reserving something for those unknowns. Additionally, do want to trust the people they’re dealing with and feel confident that the owner is honest and upfront about things – good, bad, and indifferent.
The bottom line is that the best surprise is no surprise at all. If people are aware of certain conditions ahead of time, it often does not phase them in the least. If they find out later, then it becomes a big deal.

If the buyer elects to have their own inspection done, that is good for you. If the inspector finds something else, you have two professional inspectors with different ideas. It’s between the buyer and them to confirm or refute their opinions. You are not the one that is caught in the middle. And. Of course, if the new inspection does not reveal anything substantially different, the buyer has even less excuse to claim there was something they should have been aware of at the time of closing.

Home Warranty
A Home Warranty is always a good idea. The mere fact that a home warranty exists reassures the buyer that appliances and systems are in working order. Additionally, if something under warranty causes a problem before the sale of the house, the warranty will generally cover fixing it. This can be transferred to the Buyer upon the sale. You can talk to West Montana Homes about how you can get a free home warranty when you list your house.

Besides the house, the second area that can cause risk is the actual transaction process itself. There are numerous dates that must be adhered to, documents that must be obtained and procedures that need to be followed. Make sure the companies you are working with have plans and systems in place to make sure good follow-through is automatic. It reduces stress and anxiety for both parties and helps to insure that additional expenses are not incurred or reasons exist for potential lawsuits.

Are you dreading the thought of putting your house on the market? All those showings and strangers walking through your house? And, you know, you need to live in your house -- not have it in tip-top shape all the time. It takes a lot of work to get your house ready to show.

Preparing your House
By preparing your house in such a way that it is put into a Category of One and utilizing massive target marketing techniques, you will have less looky-loos to deal with. People who do look at your house already know everything they need to know so you are more prone to receiving good offers. This reduces the amount of negotiation which is very stressful.

Plans and Systems
Make sure you have an experienced team behind proven plans and systems to walk you through the closing process. It will provide a smoother, more timely closing. It’s time to get on to the next phase in your life.

Alternative Ways to Sell your House
Sometimes there are other ways to sell your house than to list it on the Multiple Listing Service. They’re not advisable in every instance but you can get a cash offer on your home within 48 hours and never have to show it at all. West Montana Homes may have a few other ideas to minimize the hassle of selling your home also.