When selling your Columbia SC house, there are a lot of things to think about and do, especially if it’s your primary residence. Aside from all the normal things that go with moving, like packing, finding a mover, notifying everyone, etc., there are a lot of other details you need to devote your attention to.
Things to Consider Before Selling Your Columbia SC House
Fixing Things – Before putting your house on the market or contacting an agent, you need to make sure your house is ready to sell. Repainting the house, fixing anything that’s broken and replacing damaged fixtures inside and outside. Clean up and clear out clutter. Keep in mind that presentation is everything, so you need to get as much work done before placing the property on the market.
Find an Agent – Make sure you hire a professional real estate agent to help you in selling your Columbia SC house. Someone who knows a lot when it comes to the delicate processes and legalities of selling your property. Whoever that person might be, make sure they have a proven track record. Since you will hire a professional for the job, expect there to be a lot of money involved. Real estate agents get a percentage of the selling price. That amount will be out of your pocket as soon as the process starts. Also, remember you will pay the sales taxes on the commission. Of course, you can always decide not to hire an agent to sell your property, but you need to prepare yourself to do all the legal work; and that could be very tricky if you don’t know what you’re doing.
Detach Yourself – It’s easy to become emotionally involved in selling your Columbia SC house. This may even be at the top of the biggest challenges home sellers will face once they decide to sell. Once you make up your mind, know that it already becomes a commodity. People will be going in and out to check the property and you cannot get too emotional if they start criticizing your house. People may appreciate it or not, so be ready for those comments and take them constructively. You may or may not decide to make the improvements from those observations but don’t let them get to you.
Consider Market Conditions – Don’t be in a rush about selling your Columbia SC house. You need to study the market condition and see what options are available. Get someone who can give you an appraisal that’s realistic and well documented according to market conditions. If you think your price is too high, you may want to consider selling at a lower price or offer. Whatever that price may be, make sure it’s coming from a professional who’s not ripping you off.
These are just a few of the things you need to consider when selling your Columbia SC house. For more advice and tips, browse the many other home selling tips on this website.
Columbia SC home sellers are all looking for an edge on the market. After all, it is summertime and the prime selling season, right?
It may be time to do a reality check about the state of your Columbia SC home and make necessary changes to get it sold.
Columbia SC Home Sellers Need To Be Critical
Now that summer is here, make sure you’ve washed all the windows. Remove any heavy drapes that may be obscuring a good view and replace them with something lighter.
Be sure to spruce up the landscaping. Add some flowering ornamentals, trim the shrubbery.
Consider having someone who doesn’t live in your home come in and give you a brutally honest opinion, as if they were a prospective home buyer.
You could have something simple turning off would-be home buyers, like an odor. When you live in a home, sometimes you don’t smell an odor you’ve gotten used to, but an outsider (like a prospective home buyer) may smell it right off the bat. It could be something as simple as the odor coming from your vacuum cleaner bag, or the trash can in the kitchen.
Columbia SC Home Sellers May Need Stagers
Home stagers are usually brought in before a home is ever listed for sale, but they may also be able to help with a home that isn’t getting much interest. There are different levels of home staging services available, from simple verbal consultation and suggestions, to complete staging services where rooms are rearranged.
If a home stager makes significant changes, ask your listing agent to take new pictures of your home, since the bulk of home buyers start their search on the Internet these days.
Columbia SC home sellers need to keep one important thing in mind. Even though the market is recovering, the recovery is not going to return home prices to where they were during the boom years for quite some time. If nothing else works and you’re desperate to sell, you may need to lower the price.
Price recovery is not going to be V-shaped. It’s going to be more of a straight line, and Columbia SC home sellers need to keep this in mind when pricing their home to sell quickly.
Selling a Columbia SC home is hard enough in today’s market without you making killer mistakes right up front.
Unfortunately, many sellers continue making the same mistakes that end up costing them money on the sale of their home, or even costing them the entire sale.
Frequent Mistakes When Selling a Columbia SC Home:
Not prepping the home for sale – Buyers want to see a house as flawless as possible, so sellers need to take care of every repair, declutter their home and add some curb appeal.
Buyers want to know their stuff will fit in the home without cramming, so moving everything to the garage or stuffing it into a closet won’t cut it.
Sellers need to keep their home “near-perfect” with landscaping trimmed, dishes done and beds made every day.
It takes about a minute for potential buyers to form an opinion about a house. Everything after that becomes positive or negative reinforcement of that early opinion.
Overpricing your Columbia SC home – a seller should price the home according to its condition and the local market, realizing it must appraise for at least the sales price. Home improvements don’t always return the dollars spent, so sellers need to be realistic and understand that the value of their property is based on the local market.
Permitting non-qualified buyers to see your home – These days, with tightened credit, a pre-approval should always be a prerequisite for a home showing to make sure buyers are shopping in the right price range. Many sellers make the mistake of showing their home to anyone who wants to look.
Dishonesty about flaws in the home – Disclosure laws vary, but sellers blow their deals when they don’t tell anyone about something they know is wrong with their house.
Limiting house showings – Never turn a prospective buyer with an agent away or let them know you are unhappy. This will only influence how the buyers think of your home. Sellers need to realize that even if it’s not convenient, buyers must be allowed to see the home on evenings and weekends. Sellers should always leave the home during a showing so buyers will be comfortable opening closets and looking in cabinets.
Taking an offer personally – Sellers should look at a sale strictly as a business transaction and not take low offers personally. Sellers often assume the highest price is the one they should accept, or they may become insulted and walk away from a low offer. Sellers need to be realistic about the current market in their area and look at the whole package, not just price. You don’t want a buyer who may ultimately be unable to close the deal.
Arguing over minor inspection requests – Some sellers get angry over requests made after an inspection. Sellers need to understand that their home isn’t perfect. They can negotiate, but they need to have supporting evidence if they choose to reject responsibility.
Not fixing items as required by the contract could delay or derail a closing and could end up costing a seller far more than the repair bill because of extra days of paying interest or having to put their home on the market again.
Not being ready for an appraisal – Once you have an accepted offer, you may be tempted to relax your housekeeping standards a bit. That could cost you. When the appraiser arrives, you need to make sure your home reflects the same condition as the day it went under contract.
Appraisals lower than the sales price cause friction between buyers and sellers and can cause new negotiations to start. Take care of your property and stay calm in the face of chaos. These are the best ways a seller can avoid a derailed sale.
Selling a Columbia SC home? Sellers need to be aware, with real estate prices continuing to tread along the bottom, it’s a tough time to sell.
It’s even more important not to make some of these dumb mistakes when trying to sell your Columbia SC home
These are just a few of the mistakes you could make when selling a Columbia SC home. If you’d like more home selling tips, we have those for you at this site under the “Home Selling Tips” category.
As always, if you have questions, please don’t hesitate to contact us or post them using our comment form.
Thinking of selling your Columbia SC home? The first big question you must answer is, what is your Columbia SC home worth? The best way to determine the current value of your home is by having a comparitive market analysis (CMA) done on your home…
Pricing your Columbia SC home properly before putting that “for sale” sign in the yard is critical to your success in selling your home.
Contact us for more information on getting a CMA done for your home.