The recent WSJ article How to Sell a House, When You Have to Sell It Now is in my opinion, spot on! Rarely do I see an article in the paper get so many things right. I would like to quickly go through their list and throw a few of my comments up on top of them.
1. DON’T WAIT AROUND. – They point out that planning to camp on the market and hope for an insane buyer or the market to turn around overnight is not the smart thing to do. I absolutely agree. When you come on the market, you should still have a 30–45 day plan for getting it sold!
2. FIX IT UP AND CLEAN IT UP. – YES! Most homes I see could use a very thorough cleaning and de-cluttering to get them in showroom shape. Sellers of existing homes should remember that one of their biggest competitors are the new homes in the area and they are spotless. One thing to bear in mind is that repairs and maintenance don’t add to the price of a home, but they definitely make it look better in comparison to the other homes up for sale. Clutter is one of your home’s worst enemies when it comes time to bring buyers through. Just because you can navigate through your home doesn’t mean buyers want to. I suggest calling in a service like PODS to drop a container and then moving out half of your stuff, and everything possible from the garage. A clean, primped, uncluttered house is far more likely to get offers than its dark, unmanaged competition.
3. PRICE IT CHEAPLY. – Even here in the Seattle market where things haven’t hit the rocks quite as hard, it is VERY important to be aggressive on the price of a home. Buyers are expecting to make a deal right now, and very quickly will educate themselves on what homes are priced to sell and which ones are being overly hopefull.
“Forget what you think the house should be worth or what it was worth three years ago. That’s not what it’s worth today.”
4. HIRE A TOP REAL-ESTATE AGENT – This is great to hear from someone not in the business.
Get the best, most aggressive selling (listing) agent you can find.
When everything was selling before it even hit the market, of course, you didn’t need the best. You just needed the cheapest. But not these days.
This is not the time to get cheap and go all discount broker on things. You need an agent that will get in the trenches, market aggresively, call agents back that have done showing and get feedback, and work with you to get the home sold.
5. PROMOTE. PROMOTE. PROMOTE. – Here is one of two points that I do disagree with the article on. Not that you shouldn’t promote the stuffing out of your home, but that it should be co-ordinated through your agent. That is their job after all. For marketing my listings here in the Seattle area I use all the traditional methods, plus to really get the word out, I use a service that sydicates my listings to all the big players like Trulia, Zillow, Google and so on. There are just too many people searching those sites to be ignoring them! In addition, I have recently added a tool to my kit that allows buyers to get text messages with all the information and pictures of a home right on their phone. It sure beats the pants off the old paper flyers!
6. PLAY THE BANKER. – This is a relatively rare situation, and most sellers don’t have paid off homes or loans that allow them to wrap sales. In my opinion, the downside and risk involved outweighs the interest rate you will get on your home.
7. TAKE THE OFFER. – In a down market, hesitation can be costly. I always advocate strong negotiating and working to get the most for your home that is possible, but when the time comes and the offer is on the table you should strongly consider taking it. I have seen sellers walk away from deals because of a few hundred dollars diffence in position, which in a slower real estate market, may mean additional weeks or months before another offer comes in. Never forget to factor in the holding cost of keeping a property when you are considering an offer!
That is a pretty good list of items to consider when you are getting ready to sell a home pretty much anywhere in the country right now. Even here in Lynnwood, and the Seattle area in general, it is best to stay agressive and focus on the goal of getting buyers in to see your property, make them love it and get the contracts written!
Jacquie Cliff - The Amazon Negotiator
Real Estate Agent, Loan Officer and Accredited Buyers Representative serving:
Lynnwood, Bothell, Mill Creek, Seattle, Bellevue, Marysville, Mountlake Terrace, Edmonds, Everett, Snohomish, Kirkland and the surrounding areas!
Call me with any of your real estate questions at 425-773-3149 or email me at Jacquie@jacquiecliff.com anytime!
Tags: homes, marketing, listing, selling, house
Copyright © 2008 By Jacqueline A. Cliff, All Rights Reserved. *Wall Street Journal Gives Home Sellers Some Advice!*
Right off of I-5 is a great little Irish Pub in a place that you wouldn’t normally think to find an Irish Pub. But luckily for those of us in the Lynnwood and Everett area, 
