Home Selling Advice

When selling your home, you should have your house in the best possible condition. Remember, if you are in a soft market and have a lot of competition, you have to do something to make your house stand out. Take care of any repairs that a buyer might be concerned about before putting the house on the market. If you don't have the monies to do costly repairs such as a roof, carpet, etc., then provide an allowance that will cover the cost of these items. Also, most buyers will require a home inspection at time of contract. Having a home inspection prior to putting the house on the market will help in two ways:

1. You will know what repairs are needed and can fix them.

2. It will speed up the escrow process and that means you receive your money sooner. Home inspections are not that costly and could actually make you more money. They normally run about 10 cents per square foot.

Pricing the house is also very important. Statistics show, owners who over price their properties, actually lose more money than if they were to price it right to begin with. Over priced houses normally stay on the market longer then those that are priced competitively. If it takes 12 months to sell your house and you have a mortgage payment of $700.00 per month that would cost you $8,400.00. On the other hand, if the house is priced competitively and takes only 90 days to sell, it costs you only $2,100.00. In this example, you would save $6,300.00 just by listing at the right price.

Making your house as accessible as possible is also very helpful. You never know when the right buyer may come along. If a potential buyer can't get in, you can't sell. Having your home on a lock box system can make it much easier to get into as well as a lot less inconvenient than having to chase down keys. If you are concerned about valuables, such as jewelry, money, etc., then store them in a safety deposit box.