The process of selling real estate causes certain difficulties for many people. What mistakes are there when selling a private home, and when is the best time to proceed with the sale? What should and what should not be written in an ad for sale? To avoid common mistakes real estate owners make when selling their homes, you should entrust the sale to a professional, such as Christian House Buyers.
Mistake In Property Valuation
To sell a house quickly, you need to properly estimate its value. There are two approaches here: cost and comparative. The first involves determining the costs of buying the same land and building a similar house. First of all, you need to assess the property’s location and research the price offers for your region. For example, selling your house in Houston, TX, will be a little easier and faster than real estate in a provincial town in the north of the country. Also, when selling a house, many people estimate its value based on their costs of buying and repairing it, equipping the site, installing a new fence, etc.
This is a mistake since these amounts can be incomparable – especially with inflation and wear and tear on the repairs and the home. In the second option, you compare your home to similar ones for sale and determine its market value: the more comparisons, the more accurate the result.
Consider the following parameters when comparing your home to similar homes:
- the parameters of the house and the lot
- the location of the house;
- the materials from which the house is made;
- the possibility of year-round residence;
- the state of the access road;
- ecological situation in the area.
In addition, the speed of the sale of the home depends on the activity on the market. If there are a lot of transactions on it, that is, it is not during a crisis or economic downturn, and you do not manage to sell the house within a month, the price of it may be inflated. During a period of low activity on the real estate market, this period can be six months. If the house doesn’t sell, try lowering the price. If this does not help, many realtors advise temporarily removing the ad from the sale sites, and after some time to update it and trying again.
The best time to sell real estate – the expansion and oversaturation stages, when prices reach a peak, and you can get the maximum income from the sale. However, sellers of homes and apartments used for their residence may not always wait for a good time due to personal circumstances.
The season also matters. Many put homes on the market in April or May, take offers all summer and close the deal by fall. Properties rarely go up for sale before the holidays and in the middle of winter, when many people are away on vacation and not looking for homes. However, some buyers don’t care about seasonality.
Starting A Home Sale In The Winter
There is less demand for suburban homes during the cold season. Start the sale in the spring or fall. Generally, people are looking for homes in the spring and summer, so it’s best to list it in March and expect that it may take 2 to 6 months.
Improperly Drafted Listing
Potential buyers’ first impression of the house is created by your listing, so you need to put your heart into it and apply all your creative skills. Take quality photos, shoot a video, and write a text that’s as honest and informative as possible.