Planning on Selling your Home in Charlotte?

Time to Upgrade to a New Home?

So you’ve been living in your first house for a couple of years now. Maybe you’re wanting to expand your family or just have a little more room to play, but the only thing stopping you is the process of selling your home. Selling your home and getting money in your pocket can take a long or short amount of time when it is on the market. But there are some extra things you could do to help your home sell at the speed and price you want.

How to Sell Your Home

A house is probably our most expensive and profitable asset, so selling it can be easily one of the most important things we do financially in our lives.

1. Know Your Motivation to Sell & Keep it to Yourself

   Some homeowners need to sell a home because they need to get out quick for financial reasons, the neighbors are loud, or they hate little things about the house. Whatever the reason, you should keep it to yourself. Maintain your motivation to sell without mentioning personal complaints about the home. Adding your problems onto prospective buyers (who may not even be bothered by them) will cause disadvantages in the negotiation processes and could mean you get less for your home. Stay motivated by focusing on your asking price, the timeliness the home needs to be sold, and the money you’re spending in order to sell.

   As a seller you should always disclose everything that is wrong with the house in writing to a buyer. Doing so will reduce risk of liability and law suits.

2. Research, Research, Research

   Some of us thought when we finished school, the homework side of things would finally be done. Wrong! If you’re planning on selling your house, there will be homework, homework, homework… Research your neighborhood and surrounding areas for how much they are worth and set your price accordingly. When you set a price it should be the absolute maximum worth of your asset. As the seller, you want your property to sell for the highest it is worth.  But be warned if you set your price too high, you risk losing potential buyers who will not take a second glance at your listing.

3. For Sale by Owner vs. Real Estate Company

   There is always the important choice of whether or not to hire a real estate agent to help with your sell. Take it from people who went down the for sale by owner road; after a nation wide survey, it was found that 2 out of 3 people who sold their own house, would never do again. Reasons for the high amount of people who did not like selling their own home was the time spent, lack of marketing tools, liability concerns, and the price negotiation. If you decide to go with a real estate agent, make sure that they have the qualifications and enthusiasm to sell your home. Agents are there to help with all the confusing situations, such as paperwork and contracts, to help keep things legal and accurate.

4. Polish it Up!

   Many home sellers make the mistake of staying too comfortable in their home. This could mean neglecting simple things like putting down the toilet seat or leaving cigarette butts in a bowl on the coffee table. When a potential buyer walks into a home it should be so clean that they can visualize themselves living there. The look and feel of your home generates emotional responses, including sight, what is heard, what they feel, and especially what they smell.

5. Hook and Reel the Buyers

   One of the best goals as a seller is to have as many buyers as they can. This can help with your negotiation on the prices. Usually when only one buyer is interested in the property they will try to talk the price way down. To get the maximum amount of buyers, maximize your homes marketability, whether it is fixing the small things such as a broken light switch or hiring a staging company to design a top notch dream interior.

   After you’ve snagged the interest of a few buyers, make sure you know if they are able to pay for it. Often deals fall through because an overly excited buyer will begin the house hunt and sign contracts, later to find out they are not eligible to get a home loan, costing them thousands of dollars and wasting time you could have spent with other buyers.

6. Closing on your Home

   Don’t make the mistake of signing a deal on a new home until you’ve 100% sold your current home. Closing on a new home while you’re still making mortgage payments on your first home will only add extra financial stress. Your focus should be on selling your home. Also never let a buyer move-in prior to closing, until the deal is completely confirmed.

Selling your Home

Now that you know that basics you need to sell a home efficiently, take it to test. If you are in Charlotte, North Carolina and you are looking for real estate advice or assistance, contact us and we will work with you on selling your home and getting into your new one.