Selling A Home? Avoid These Common Mistakes

By Author: Alford Brian
Total Articles: 7
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If you’re at the point in your life that you are ready to put your home up on the market, beware—there are many common mistakes that first-time sellers tend to make. In order to ensure that you get the best deal possible, before you hang up that “for sale by owner” sign in the window, read on and find out about the most common selling mistakes so that you can avoid them and have better success in selling your home at a decent price.

• Pricing your home too high. This is a very common selling mistake and may be the worst one on the list. If you put the wrong price tag on your house, then chances are that you won’t have too many buyers checking it out. And if you don’t have buyers looking at your home, how can you expect to sell it at all?
• Pricing your home based on what you paid for it. This goes hand-in-hand with our first mistake of pricing your real estate too high. Since the housing market peaked in 2006, home values have fallen approximately 27%. Let’s say that you purchased your home in 2006 and decide to put it up on the market for the amount that ...
... you paid for it. This is a big no-no. Buyers will look at that price tag and roll their eyes, as it’s completely unrealistic when you take into consideration the housing decline that has taken place. Be sure to price your home based upon the current housing market, not the state of the market when you purchased the house.
• Your home is in poor condition. In order for your house to sell, you’re going to have to put some effort into it—and that goes beyond vacuuming, dusting, and straightening up. Evaluate your home with a fresh eye—are there any quick fixes or updates that need to be made? Do the baseboards need to be scrubbed, and could you use a flower arrangement or two on the countertops? Go the extra step to prepare your house to look the best it can look when you put it on the market.

These are just three common mistakes that home sellers make when putting their house up on the market. What other common errors can you think of to share?