Factors That Can Affect The Sale Of Your Home
When you decide to put your home on the market, it is only normal to want to get the best price for your home. We are listing several factors that can affect the sale of your home:
1. Overpricing. The biggest mistake you can make is to set your sales price too high. If your house price is set to high, you will find that your house may sit on the market for quite a while. Your realtor should supply you with comps in your area so you can compare apples to apples. See what other houses have sold for in the last 30 days that are similar in location, lot size, bedrooms and upkeep. Houses that are overpriced tend to stay on the market longer, which makes buyers suspicious that there is something wrong with your home.
2. Bad pictures. Nearly all prospective home buyers start their searches online, and they decide which homes they want to see based on the photos posted with the listing. You do not want to post blurry photos shot taken from your cell phone, for they will not draw much interest. Your realtor may want to have professional photos taken with good lighting and good styling. Most people will just pass it by and look for photos that are clear, staged well and represent your best foot forward. Most people are not interested in what it “can” look like, but what it currently looks like.
3. Difficulty showing the house. You want to make sure that you make accessibility to showing your home a priority. People who are in the market to buy, want to see the home as soon as possible. The more difficult it is to schedule appointments, the less interested the prospective buyer becomes and will most likely move to another home where they can see it quickly. Make it easy for you or your realtor to show your home. If you are normally out of the house during showing times, your realtor will most likely have a lock box on the door, for easy access, so other realtors and their clients can see it when it is convenient for them. If you are showing by appointment only, you may also want to make sure your home is clean and clutter free, no dirty dishes in the sink and the bathrooms are clean. Your home should always be well groomed and if you have pets, arrangements should be made with your realtor to have them in the back yard, on the patio or in the garage for the showing time.
4. Unkept neighbor homes. Unfortunately, if you have neighbors whose landscaping is unkept, overgrown grass and weeds, junk cars or vehicles in the drive way, it can certainly bring down the property value. This is the time to ask your neighbor nicely, if you could help them to clean up their yard. Maybe pull some weeds on the weekend and mow their yard. Curb appeal is very important. Yours and your neighbor’s home should look tidy. If you have a gardner, maybe pay your gardener a few dollars more to give your neighbor’s yard so love too which will, in the long run, be a prudent decision for curb appeal. This could be a very delicate request to your neighbor, especially if you are not on the best of terms with each other; but with kindness and cooperation on your part, this could be a win/win and certainly worth the try.
5. Bad location or school district. If your house is on a busy street, next to an apartment building where apartment dwellers can look into your back yard, this too can make your property undesirable. It will sell for less than a comparable home in a quieter area. In family areas, being in a bad school district also hurts home values significantly. In cities that rely heavily on mass transit, being too far from transit stops may be a detriment. If your home is near a noisy road, you may also have trouble getting full value for it.
6. Dark homes. If your home has dark walls and bad lighting, it will make your rooms look smaller and less desirable. Most prospective buyers are looking for bright, airy and open rooms. Think about painting the rooms a light neutral color and keep them clutter free. Clutter makes the rooms look smaller and you can do wonders with a good neutral color paint.
7. Structural defects. If you try to cover structural defects with granite countertops or large paintings on the wall to cover significant cracks, or
8. Dirt and grime. If your house is messy, your yard and landscaping are unkept, paint or wallpaper is old and peeling, your windows are dirty, this is definitely not putting your best foot forward when selling your home. Put yourself in the buyers position and ask yourself what kind of impression would you get if you visited a house that looked that unkept. These easy to fix items, if not fixed, cleaned or improved before listing the house could actually cost you in the sale.
Article courtesy of 50 PLUS REPORT Editorial Team
Source: dailyfinance.com
50 PLUS REPORT NEWS TEAM — Germany Kent, Reporter/Host/Producer
Germany Kent is a TV journalist with numerous credits as an accomplished Host, Reporter, Film/TV and Commercial Actress and Author. She has appeared in TV shows such as Jessie, Criminal Minds, Graceland and featured several times in Star Trek: Into Darkness. Germany has achieved impressive commercial success appearing in TV commercials for Nike, Coors Light, Verizon, Dove, and multiple spots for Disney. On the red-carpet, she has interviewed Oscar, Golden-Globe, Emmy, and Grammy-Award Winning Actors and Performers as well as Sports Moguls, famed Producers & Directors, political figures and business leaders. Germany is a sought-after correspondent, ranking as one of the country’s top social media leaders, having authored ten non-fiction social media books on (mind, body, & spirit) titled, The Hope Handbook Series and You Are What you Tweet, which have all received great reviews. Germany has a Masters degree and is an Honor graduate of The University of Alabama Tuscaloosa where she majored in Public Relations, and attended on a Full Scholarship.
