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We have include some general information about selling a home in the Greater Moncton area, be sure to fill out the contact form above to recieve our free information package with lots more information and tips on selling a house.
Introduction
If you are like most homeowners, your home is a special place.
A family place. A place where you, and your family have grown up together. Maybe you have seen your street change from a new subdivision, complete with muddy roads and saplings no taller than six feet. Now it's an established tree lined residential area with a character all its own.
And your home has probably changed as well. You added a room in the basement where you had some great parties. The sandbox in the yard looks a bit tired now, but it gave the kids a lot of enjoyment. There are lines on the door frame showing the children's growth from toddlers to teenagers. All of these things are what make your home just that - a home.
And now you are about to sell your home and that is the key thing to remember while you are reading this information. What you are selling is a home. What you will buy is a house.
You've invested a lot of time and money to make your home just the way you want it to be, as do most people. But that was for your enjoyment of the home. Every dollar you put in does not automatically mean you will get a dollar back when you sell.
To you, a home is memories. It's a reflection of your taste and your life style. And usually, there is a sense of loss when it's sold. Regardless of how much it sells for, it never seems enough.
To the buyer, a house is a listing in the newspaper. Its bricks and mortar. The buyer measures the worth of a house by comparing it to others in the neighborhood. It's not a home to him, yet. In fact, you will be doing the same thing as you look to buy your next home.
Pricing your home to sell
One of the most difficult decisions you will make when selling your home is setting a list price. Ideally, the price should enable you to sell in a reasonable period of time and still get a fair market value for your home.
I will give you some ideas on how to price your home and what can happen if your home is overpriced for the market at the time.
First, how to set the best listing price
The listing price can be determined by looking at the Comparable Listings that I have enclosed. This data consists of:
- Comparable houses currently for sale in your area, these represent the pricerange within which you would normally list your home.
- Houses sold recently, in your area, these give you an idea of what you will likely get for your home.
- Expired listings, these probably represent houses priced out of their correct range.
So, if you price your home at the same level as those expired listings, then you have a good chance of trying to sell a home that no one wants at that price.
While keeping in mind what the recent sales were, it is much better to price your home at, or even slightly below, the price of other comparable homes still for sale, since they are your direct competition. If the market is declining or stable make sure you anticipate the market with your price. List your home much closer and don't get caught following the market down!
Another problem with over pricing is that you prevent your home from being seen by many potential buyers. How does that work?
Usually, a real estate agent will provide buyers with a computer printout of houses for sale in their price range, from the Multiple Listing Service. If your home is the kind that the buyers want, but it is priced to high, it won't show up on the printout, and the buyers won't even get a chance to see your home.
In addition, by over pricing your home, you put it in with houses in a higher price range.
These houses, if correctly priced, will offer more features and better value than yours.
A buyer who is looking in this higher price range, will likely see your home but won't be satisfied with it compared to the others. After a while, real estate agents will see that your home is not competitive and will show it less often to the higher price range buyers. So you are out again.
Also, statistics gathered over many years show that you will probably get less if you overprice than if you list your home at or close to the market value!
You will see that the more overpriced the home, the longer the time to sell. As the amount over market increases, the time required to sell increases. You may also waste a chance at a small gain in selling price while waiting for a big gain. In fact, a house that is greatly overpriced for the market conditions, may not sell at all!
Is there any time to over-price?
To be realistic, we know that sometimes, for a number of reasons, a vendor decides to price at a level that is known to be higher than the market. Is there any time when you can do this? Well, the good news is, yes, but only under certain circumstances. Only if the market is climbing rapidly, should you take a change on overpricing. If you don't sell it right away, you can at least let the market catch up to you. The inherent danger of course, is how do you know when the market will slow down or stop? If you misjudge and get caught in a flat or declining market, you will probably never sell your home for that price.
Six benefits of pricing at Market!
Here are six benefits you will enjoy when you put your home up for sale at or close to the market value:
- You will get a faster sale.
- You will have less inconvenience. (Keeping home constantly clean and ready for potential buyers.)
- More prospects will be aware of your home.
- Sales people will promote your home more, since they are confident that it is well priced and therefore, saleable.
- You will get more showings of your home.
- You should get higher offers.
How you can "Sell Smart"!
There are lots of things you can do to maximize your selling price. First point out any features or improvements that may not be immediately obvious, such as upgraded insulation in the attic, a high efficiency furnace, upgraded wiring or unusual architectural details. So that we can, include this in our listing presentation.
Keep in mind that there are some features that will return all or most of their cost to a home, others that return a reasonable portion, and still others that return virtually none of the cost when you come to sell.
We call them "Value Positive", "Value Neutral" and "Value Negative".
They all have an effect on the ultimate selling price.
Value Positive
- Upgraded windows
- Modern kitchen and appliances
- Attractive modern bathrooms
- High-efficiency heating, air conditioning
- Plumbing, electrical upgrades
- Roof repairs/redone
- Attractive landscaping
Value Neutral
- Uni-pave driveway
- Private fences
- Playground equipment
- Conversion of closets to shelving or desk area
Value Negative
- Converted garage
- Loud or highly personal decorating
- Pool
- Obtrusive solar panels
- Amateurish home improvements
- Over-improvement compared to neighborhood
What you can do to help
Here is a list of some of the things you may want to do to help your home make the best first impression when the buyers come around.
First impressions really count with home buyers. A small investment in time and effort can provide a big advantage when agents show your home to a prospective buyer. You don't need to spend a lot of money on the home, just clean it, brighten it, paint it and tidy it. Here are a few ideas to get you started.
First Impression/General
- House number easy to see
- Windows, eavesthroughs, downspouts and soffits painted and in good repair
- Garage or carport, clean and dry. (Sell, store, or get rid of excess items)
- Try to create a feeling of "Lots of storage"
- Litter picked up
- Cracked or broken window panes replaced
Summer
- Lawns cut and raked
- Hedges and bushes trimmed
- Gardens weeded and edged
Winter
- Lawns cut and raked
- Hedges and bushes trimmed
- Gardens weeded and edged
- Snow and ice cleared away from walks and driveway
- Sidewalks sanded or salted. Booth tray inside front door
At the front door
- Doorbell works
- Door hardware in good repair
- Porch and foyer clean and tidy
- Fresh air in house
Interior Maintenance
- Cracked plaster repaired
- Chipped paint touched up
- Doors and cupboards close properly
- Leaky taps and toilets repaired
- Furnace wiped down and cleaned
- Burned out light bulbs replaced
- Squeaky doors oiled
Bathroom
- Mirrors, fixtures and taps cleaned and polished
- Seals around tubs and basins clean and in good repair
- Floors cleaned, garbage containers emptied
- Inside of cupboard and cabinets clean and neat
- Towels clean and matching
- Clutter put away
Kitchen
- Sinks and taps cleaned and polished
- Appliances cleaned
- Countertops cleared and polished
- Inside of cupboards and cabinets neat and clean
- Small appliances put away
- Clutter put away
Creating a Buying Atmosphere
- All lights turned on
- Air conditioner turned on
- Fireplace lit in cooler weather
- Closets neat and tidy
- Halls and stairs cleared of clutter
- Drapes opened during daylight
- Background music played quietly
- Carpets freshly vacuumed
Pets
- Contained or absent during the showing
Valuables
- Jewelry and valuables locked safely away or taken with you
- Valuable property is safely situated, out of reach or locked away. (Such as objects of art, vases, figurines, momentous etc.)
In Conclusion
You and your family are starting out on a new home, with new opportunities and challenges. You'll meet new friends and have new experiences.
Before long, the house you buy at your new location will become your home. Of course, the memories of the old house will always be with you, as they should.
But after a while, even your old home will become your old "House".
The pitfalls of over pricing
Price is the most important factor affecting the sale of your home. Failure to price your home completely may produce a price far below the original market value. Real Estate, like everything else, is market driven. Overpricing prevents a successful sale in the following ways:
Target Buying
Salespeople will promote more salable homes and use yours as an example of overpriced home to help sell a competing property.
Psychological Barrier
An overpriced home scares away buyers who liked everything in your home, but found a home cheaper down the street. Even when buyers know a home is overpriced they will not bother to put in a realistic offer and look elsewhere.
'We can always come down in price' - this is a fallacy
By the time you reduce your price to market value, buyers for the new price have bought elsewhere. Realtors toured your home weeks or months ago. They are now showing their buyers other homes.
Collapsed Sale
An offer conditional on financing will collapse when the bank appraiser says the home is worth less than the sale price.
'Something must be wrong with this house'
Buyers and their Realtors may begin to think there is something wrong with a home that has been for sale for a long time.
Market Changes
Increases in interest rates or any other market adjustments will drive buyers away who may have bought previously. If the housing market drops, your home may be worth less, necessitating an even greater price reduction.
The perils of selling it your self
By: Douglas A. Grey, LL.B. B
When the time comes to sell your home you may be tempted to sell is yourself. There is primarily only one reason for doing so and that is saving on real estate commission. The only other motivation could be a personal challenge or learning experience, but basically the desire to save money is the main motivation. You may indeed save money. On the other hand, the saving could be an expensive illusion. Based on my personal and professional experience and observation, there are some general disadvantages of selling a home yourself, as opposed to using a carefully selected and experienced Realtor.
Inexperience
If you don't know all the steps involved, from the pre-sale procedures and strategies to completing the deal and receiving the money, you could and probably would make mistakes that could be costly to you.
Many people, especially with their own house, tend to get emotionally involved in the sale process because of the direct interaction with the prospective purchasers. For example, frustration can be experienced due to rejections of the house, negative comments or vault finding, and people whose personality you don't like, or people who negotiate toughly on the price.
Time Commitment
You have to have open houses as well as show your property at times that may not necessarily be convenient to you. In addition, you are going to be spending time preparing the ad copy and staying at home to respond to telephone calls or people knocking on the door.
Advertising
Costs include all daily or weekly newspaper classified and or box ads, as well as a lawn sign. You would pay for this yourself.
Limited Exposure
There are considerable differences in the market exposure in terms of advertising by yourself and the types of advertising and promotion a Realtor could do it for you. There is obviously a direct correlation between the nature and degree of market exposure and the end price. Clearly, limited market exposure means limited prospective buyers.
Legal Problems
The prospective purchaser may supply you with his own agreement of purchase and sale. This contract may have been clauses and other terms in it that could be legally risky, unenforceable, unfair, or otherwise not beneficial to you. You may not recognize these potential problems or risks. In addition, you could end up agreeing to take back a mortgage (vendor-back mortgage) when it would not be necessary or wise, or to accept a long-term option or other legal arrangement that could be risky.
Lack of Familiarity
You may not have a clear or objective idea of exactly what a similar property in your market is selling for, or the state of the real estate market at that point in time. This can place you at a distinct disadvantage. For example, if you are being unrealistic in your pricing, along with limited advertising exposure, you could literally price yourself out of the market. Prospective purchasers may not even look, let alone make an offer. You may eventually sell your property, but only after several price reductions and after a long period of time. Naturally of course, this depends on the market and the nature of your property.
No Pre-screening
You would not generally know the art of pre-screening prospects in terms of questions to ask them over the phone. The end results is that you could waste your time talking to people over the phone or showing them through your house, who are not and never will be serious prospects.
Offer Price
You may think the offer is the best offer from that prospective purchaser or any purchaser, and therefore may accept it. That price may not be the best price at all. You may have started too low or too high or your initial asking price, based on emotion or needs, not reality; you may have received a "low ball" offer from a prospective purchaser that was never intended to be accepted but was designed to reduce your expectations; you may be inexperienced in applying real estate negotiating skills; or you may be subjected to effective closing skills on the part of the prospective purchaser.
Lack of Skills
This problem was referred to in the previous point. You may lack any negotiating or sales skills and feel very uncomfortable or anxious in a negotiating context.
Discount
It is not uncommon for the prospective purchaser to determine what a fair market value is and then ask to have an additional discount equal to the real estate commission you are saving. The primary reason why prospective purchasers are attracted to a "For Sale by Owner," is the prospect of getting a better deal than a property listed with a Realtor due to the commission otherwise built into the sale price.
Buyer's Market
Buyers in this type of market are very price sensitive, negotiate toughly because they want the best deal, and have the time to be selective after comparing what is available in the market. You are at a disadvantage if you don't receive all the exposure possible and use all the negotiating skills available.
As you see, there are distinct advantages to utilizing the services and skills of a professionally trained and experienced Realtor. The vast majority of home owners and real estate investors realize the benefits of using a Realtor and do so.
Douglas Gray, LL.B., is a recently retired real estate Lawyer and one of Canada's foremost authorities on real estate education.
Moving can be a money making proposition!
Selling your home is the ideal time to get rid of things you no longer need rather than paying to have them moved.
A garage sale is in order!
On the other hand, statistics show that more than four out of five people with good intentions of having a garage sale never get to it........ They run out of time!
Solution: Let your mover arrange a paying alternative for you. Allied Pickfords has an exclusive arrangement with St-Vincent de Paul in which your goods will be picked up free of charge and a tax receipt for charitable donations will be given to you.
If you found this information useful, fill out the contact form above to request our free home selling package!
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