Sellers Real Estate Articles Parksville Qualicum Beach, BC

Selling Your Home: Where to Begin?

First Impressions

Remember what first attracted you to your house when you bought it? What excited you about it most? When deciding how best to present your home for sale, it is helpful to try to get back into that buyer’s frame of mind.
A spruced-up house makes a great first impression on potential buyers. An attractive property grabs their attention and makes them excited about finding a house that looks and feels well cared for. Because buyers believe they’ll encounter fewer problems if they buy it, your house becomes more appealing and stands out from the competition. So if you prepare your home correctly, you’ll save time selling it when it’s on the market.
A good first impression makes an impact on a number of levels. It’s not just the way your house looks to potential buyers, but how it feels and smells to them, how their friends and family will react, how they imagine it would be to live there.
With simple improvements throughout your house, you can grab the attention of potential buyers and help them see why your house is right for them.

Common Real Estate Selling Mistakes

Mistake #1 – Incorrect Pricing

Every seller naturally wants to get the most money for his or her product. The most common mistake that causes sellers to get less than they hope for, however, is listing too high.  Listings reach the greatest proportion of potential buyers shortly after they reach the market.  If a property is dismissed as being overpriced early on, it can result in later price reductions.  Overpriced properties tend to take an unusually long time to sell, and they end up being sold at a lower price than they likely would have had they been priced properly in the first place.

The Right Selling Price Affects Your Bottom Line

When you’re selling your home, the price you set is a critical factor in the return you’ll receive in the real estate market. That’s why you need a professional evaluation from an experienced Realtor®. This person can provide you with an honest assessment of your home, based on several factors, including:

  • Market conditions
  • Condition of your home
  • Repairs or improvements
  • Selling timeframe

Surviving the Real Estate Sale

Selling a home can sometimes be a long, stressful, and costly process.  Like anything, though, equipping yourself with the right tools and the right knowledge can eliminate a great number of the potential negative aspects of the process – and get you the maximum return on your investment.

 

LISTING YOUR HOME MEANS MORE THAN PLACING AN AD

Are you thinking of selling your home? If so, you'll need professional help to ensure your home gets maximum exposure and is well-marketed. You'll want to enlist the services of a REALTOR® to make sure you achieve your goal.

Engaging the services of a REALTOR® to list your property for sale is the beginning of a selling process that includes a well-thought-out and detailed marketing plan, accessibility to a wide-range of potential buyers, and commitment to professional service. It also means you'll receive friendly, helpful advice throughout the sale of your home.

Technically speaking, a listing is an authority granted by you to a real estate broker to act as your agent in offering your property for sale or lease, according to the terms and conditions set out in the listing contract.

When you list your home with a real estate brokerage, you're entering into a binding agreement with that firm. Unless you already have your personal REALTOR®, try interviewing three REALTORS and ask them about the services they'll offer when they list your home. It's important that you feel comfortable with the real estate salesperson and the company you ultimately choose.

Trying To Sell Your Home: Why It Doesn't Pay To Go It Alone!

If you've been thinking about putting your home on the market, perhaps you've been toying with the idea of trying to sell it yourself? You probably think you'll save yourself some money because you won't have to pay a commission to a REALTOR®.

However, when you consider the amount of time you'll have to spend marketing your home, the costs associated with advertising and other incidentals, you may be surprised to discover that you're not likely to save much at all.

In fact, it's likely to take you much longer to sell your home privately than it would if you had used a real estate professional. There's also the chance that you may not even get as much for your home.

If you're still not certain that it's better to work with a REALTOR®, you should consider all the documentation, negotiation, and legalities involved in conducting your own sale. It's a tremendous responsibility to manage a transaction single-handed, involving what's probably the largest purchase you've made in your lifetime. If you're like most people you'll want to ensure that nothing goes wrong and there are no last-minute surprises.

Is your time valuable? You'll have to consider how much your time is worth and whether you're prepared to sacrifice much of it to show your home to potential buyers. Keep in mind that you lack the skills a trained REALTOR® has and that you won't necessarily be able to distinguish the serious buyers from the browsers.

 

The "Why's" and "When's" of Selling Your Home

Homeowners face a double quandary when faced with the prospect of selling their homes: how does one make sure the decision to sell is the right one; and once the choice is made, when is the right time to sell?

Traditionally, there have been four major reasons why and when people sell their homes: financial and market conditions, employment changes, family matters and lifestyle changes. In today's economy, one additional issue has emerged which has great bearing: low interest rates.

All these will not only affect your fundamental decision to sell, but will greatly impact your options regarding when to sell.

Why You Should Use A REALTOR To Buy Or Sell A Home

When it comes to buying or selling a home, most of us have probably asked ourselves: Should I use a REALTOR®, or can I do it myself? The thought that you might be saving some money on one of the biggest business transactions most of us will ever make can be very appealing.

Reasoning that you can "pocket" the real estate commission, or get a "bargain" on that For Sale By Owner property, often results in "false" savings. Selling or buying a home is a very complex procedure involving large sums of money, stringent legal requirements, with the potential for making some very costly mistakes. REALTORs have the qualifications and experience to help you make a successful purchase or sale in a relatively fast and painless manner.

The do-it-yourselfer seller or buyer will also have to factor in the considerable amount of time and expense required to market or pre-view properties, respond to or make calls and fill out paperwork.

Buying or selling a home on your own makes no more sense than trying to build a new one from scratch with the knowledge, training, experience and time needed to do the work properly.

Once you decide that using a REALTOR® is the way to go, it pays to shop around for this individual. By REALTOR®, we mean a licensed real estate professional who is a member of a local real estate board as well as the Canadian Real Estate Association (CREA), and in BC, the British Columbia Real Estate Association (BCREA). When you work with a REALTOR®, you can expect strict adherence to provincial law and to a national code of ethics.