Marketing Your Home
Curb appeal is important. Staging is essential. However, if you want your home to sell, you might need to do just a little bit more.
This hasn’t always been the case. In a strong seller’s market, where a nice, reasonably priced home will probably get several offers, it doesn’t take as much work to find buyers. Unfortunately, there are a lot of homes for sale right now, including a backlog of foreclosures and short sales, and, despite the home buyer programs currently available, there are still way more homes than buyers.
That means that you may have to take a few more steps to help your home find a buyer. Marketing your home, fortunately, doesn’t require any real knowledge of how marketing works. Follow this guide, and you’ll be well on your way to selling your home.
Make it easy.
Buyers know that there is a lot of work that goes into finding a home. If you can make their jobs just a little easier, they’ll be more likely to give your home a second look. Make sure that there is a For Sale sign in your front yard. Most real estate agents will provide this. If not, ask. Have a listing statement printed up and available for anyone walking or driving past. A listing statement will describe the home, and give potential buyers the information they need to see the home or contact your realtor. If you are hosting an open house, that information should also be available, both on the sign and on the listing sheet.
Get the word out.
If you have a huge Facebook or Twitter friend list, use it. Post links to your online listing (usually arranged by your agent), and ask friends to pass the information along to anyone who might be interested. Put a classified ad in the paper. Tell everyone that you’re selling your home, from coworkers to family to the members of your bowling league. The more people who know you are looking for a buyer, the better the chance is that your home will sell quickly.
A word of caution:
When you’re describing your home in a print ad or online, or even in person, there are some words and phrases that you should avoid. For starters, stay away from absolutes. The words never, always, all and none should never enter the conversation. You also need to keep in mind that there are many descriptors that are very subjective, such as quiet. While you might not even notice the neighbors making noise, or the highway traffic, the next owner might be very sensitive to any noise at all. You also shouldn’t make any comments about the safety of the home. While it may be a safer neighborhood than most, that’s no guarantee that the home is perfectly safe.
These might seem like minor concerns, but there can be a lot of problems down the road if you mislead a buyer, even unintentionally. It’s better to be a little cautious, and let the new owners find out for themselves how great their new home is.