How on Earth Are We Going to Sell our House?

The time has finally come to put our house on the market, what do we do first?  It’s a relief to finally have that decision made, but now new problems surface.  It’s true the   decision to sell was a tough one, but now that it as been made, what steps must be taken?  How can we insure success in a particularly difficult marketplace?

First, we will need a really practical trusted “full time” realtor to help and advise us on this very important transaction.  (Aunt Sallie’s second cousin “Amy” a secretary --- who happens to be licensed --- just won’t fill the bill).  We will need to agree to pay a commission (money well spent if we understand the services we will receive) to sell our house in line with the marketplace.  Commission fees are negotiable, but the lowest fee may not be our best choice, and we will need to understand that right away.

Second, we will need to see comparison properties to evaluate the best pricing we can expect for our house.  Our qualified and competent realtor will give us properties of like style and value, and we should see them and learn from them.  We must remember that our pricing is a competition with every other house on the market in our range.  Our house needs to be in line with what it’s worth, no matter what we might have thought before.  Price is the single most important thing in selling a house!  Pricing has to be right, or there will be no resulting sale --- only time and money wasted --- by everyone.  Price is how people select which homes to look at.  Out of their price range is out of their view.

Third, we need to make sure that we understand the moment we have listed our house for sale using the multiple listing services of realtors, we should consider that we no longer really own the house.  We are only living in it until it sells and we move on.  That sales system has the house as inventory, like the inventory of a store, and what we will be getting are the proceeds of the sale after all costs and loan repayments.  In short a business transaction, plain and simple.  All feelings and emotions about that upcoming transaction should be removed from our thoughts.  Our “store” needs to be open and available.  So what if someone shows up unannounced with realtor in tow, they will need to be welcomed and shown our “wares”.  If our property is difficult to show or is needlessly restricted from possible buyers, or if a series of limits on appointment times designed to minimize our discomfort and normal living activities, prevents a showing (to perhaps the only persons out there who would like the house --- and they never get to see it) we have failed in our marketing, we have failed in our presentation, and we have failed the professionals we hired assisting us.

Fourth, and probably the most important of all, we need to present our house in a way that will not “prevent” its sale.  We all have too much “stuff”… houses crowded with furniture will seem small,  particularly important things to us that will not impress the house buyers, need to be boxed, stored and put away.  Crowded garages only seem impossibly small.  If there is too much to deal with, there are ways to help set the stage for presenting the house in the best possible light.  We can rent a storage unit for example, and clear out the clutter until we move on to another location, which we can then over-clutter with our “important” belongings!  Impersonalize the furnishings!  Think of the model homes you may have seen over the years, and copy them.  Home builders know how to sell a product by making it as attractive as possible.  Clean, neat, uncluttered, neutral fresh painting schemes, cleaned and attractive carpeting, spotless bathrooms and kitchens --- these are the things that sell a house and make it feel like a “home” to the buyer when they are looking.  Buyers need to feel like they can “move” into a house and make it a home, and they get these feelings when they are looking.  As sellers, we must foster the feelings of the buyers, understand them, and assist in the “imagination” of moving in.

Fifth, let our professionals work.  Read about and understand what is needed for the escrows, new loans, appraisals, work requirements, and other items that always come up in every transaction.  This is where the realtors earn their commissions.  All professionals including the buyer’s loan professional is critical to our desire for a completed sale.  We can’t stand in the way of our professionals, but help them along to  ultimately get what we want, a closed, successful transaction!