At the beginning of this decade, you could sell your home without even putting it in MLS. My, how things have changed. Now you practically have to beg a buyer to make an offer. If your property isn’t generating interest, what can you do?

When a real estate market goes cold, it can seem like there are no homes being sold at all. This is incorrect. There is just a lot of competition for the attention of a small pool of buyers. To get their attention, you need to do some unique things.

The first step is to play up your neighborhood. Location, location, location. It is the first rule of real estate and everyone knows it. So, make sure you list the attributes of your neighborhood when putting your marketing together.

There seems to be one owner in every neighborhood. Their yard is a jungle or completely dead. You can complain, but it rarely gets anything done. The answer? Offer to have it done. You’ll make it back on the sale of your home.

The next bit of advice has to do with pricing. You need to objectively evaluate comparable homes around you. Identify the homes that are similar to yours in size, quality and so on. Now, adjust your price to the bottom end of their prices.

Ah, but my home is better than the comparables because I have marble counters or something else. Yes, but most buyers will not care. Why? What does every new homeowner do? They fix stuff up! Your slight advantages don’t matter to them.

What if you just can’t bear to lower the price? Are you out of luck? Not necessarily. If there is some definite reason you should be priced higher than comparable homes, then it is okay. You absolutely must emphasize this in your marketing material, however.

One way to do this or just move your house is to offer favorable terms to buyers. We all want someone to show up with a suitcase of cash. It probably isn’t going to happen. Offer to help with the financing by offering a second mortgage. It can make all the difference.

An obvious, but often missed, final step is to make small improvements to the property that carry big weight. Landscaping is usually cheap and can radically change the look of a property.

Besides landscaping, there are other minor tasks that can have a big impact. Clean your driveway and organize the garage. Cut back plants in front of windows to maximize lighting and views. Walk the house and just make little changes to the details.

Popularity: 1% [?]

Bookmark to:
         

If you're new here, you may first want to get a copy of my information and resources jam packed handbook on your right. Thanks for visiting!