Top 5 Myths That Cost Home Sellers Money

Hi, this is Alan Donald with Keller Williams Realty. And today I'm going to talk about the top five myths or issues that are costing sellers money in the current market.

The first one is PRICING THE HOUSE TOO HIGH, to leave “room for negotiation”.

If you price your house above the range of “perceived good value” buyers will know that. Buyers are very savvy and educated. The information is all out there and they'll either not make offers or they will make a lowball offer. It might be the case that if you price your house too high, your house will stay on the market longer than average. Let's say your house has been on the market for a month and all the houses in your neighborhood are selling in 10 days. The buyers might think well, there must be something wrong with that house or they might think that you might be desperate. For those two reasons, they will low-ball you and you'll end up receiving a lower percentage of the LAST list price, than if you had priced your house in the appropriate price range. So do not over-price your house.

The second mistake that people make is NOT STAGING it.

It is well proven that staged homes sell for higher prices, because staged homes appeal to a wider variety of public. There are two kinds of buyers: The buyers that have imagination and the buyers that don't have imagination. The buyers that don't have imagination get to a house that is cluttered or very personalized and immediately will write it off, because they wouldn’t visualize how that could be THEIR home. Staging is very important to appeal to a wide variety of buyers: Those with imagination and those without imagination. If you have more buyers more demand equals a higher selling price.

The third mistake is NOT TAKING CARE OF DEFERRED MAINTENANCE BEFORE putting the house on the market.

If you have doubts about your maintenance, please get a pre-listing inspection and fix ALL the items on that list BEFORE you put it on the market. If you wait until you have it under contract and the buyers give you a long laundry list of repairs to be made, you will have to hire LICENSED contractors to do those items and it will COST YOU A LOT MORE and you will be under pressure and you might have to pick the the only contractor that's available. If you take care of the deferred items BEFORE you list it, you can use ANYONE you want, as long as they're professional, and you can do it at your leisure and pick the best quote.

The fourth item that is costing sellers money is just waiting for COVID to pass to put their house on the market.

You see, we're going to have COVID with us for a while. But what drives prices up or down is DEMAND and SUPPLY. In May, June and July in Charleston we've had RECORD DEMAND - a record number of houses going under contract, and yet our SUPPLY is at an ALL-TIME LOW! Low supply and high demand equals TOP MARKET PRICES So don't wait to put your house on the market until COVID passes. We don't know what will happen six months down the line. We have implemented SAFE PROTOCOLS to put your house on the market and still be SAFE for Buyers, Sellers and agents.

The fifth mistake that is costing sellers money is OFFERING ALLOWANCES instead of fixing items.

For example, say let's say the carpet is shot in one of the bedrooms and you don't want to change it, because it's a hassle, you have to take the furniture out, etcetera and you decide to offer an allowance instead. Well, let me tell you that buyers will ask for DOUBLE the cost, because they have to do the work. So if replacing the carpet is going to cost you $1,500, the buyers will ask for $3,000, because they have to do the work. So instead of offering allowances, fix whatever's wrong with your house fix those things before you put it on the market. That's how you MAXIMIZE THE SALE PRICE of your home.

I hope this is useful for you, If you have any questions about HOW to get the maximum price for your house in this market, please GIVE US A CALL or contact us below and remember: All these things might cost you money.

We are in a very HOT MARKET but buyers are very savvy and if they're going to pay top price for your house, they want a perfect house.

More information on our website at www.BuyHomesInCharleston.com. For immediate response contact us at (843) 900-0155!