How to Go From Selling a Home to Sold

Once you’ve started down the real estate road of selling a home, it’s discouraging when offers don’t start coming in. There’s a lot of preparation and decision-making that goes into selling a home: everything from finishing up projects inside and outside the property to scheduling to be out of the house during open houses. With all this hard work it’s understandable that home sellers get frustrated when the process of selling a home results in no sale. While there is no perfect answer, and timing is a huge factor, there are 4 key strategies for selling a house that I share with my clients. Following these tips will help your home stand out against the competition, and improve your chances of selling a home in this real estate market.

Why Price Matters When Selling a Home

Pricing a home to sell can be a sensitive issue, but it’s likely the most important aspect in selling a home. What a home sells for can vary by decade and sometimes even from year to year. So what your neighbor received as an offer last summer on their home may not be indicative of what you’ll get on your home this year.

It’s important to price your home according to current market conditions. The best way to do that is to follow market reports that list recent sales and selling prices in your area. The ones that I provide to clients are market reports specific to South Shore communities including Norwell, Hanover, Hingham, Scituate, Cohasset, and Marshfield. The market reports are emailed weekly and are free of charge, and contain current real estate data and trends for the South Shore. These market statistics are very helpful in determining pricing for selling a home. Sign up now forcustomized market reports from Capital Residential.

However, it’s not enough to just look at sales price on recently sold homes in the area. You should compare your home to similar homes in terms of neighborhood, size, number of bedrooms and bathrooms, and lot size. Pricing can change dramatically if your home sits on a busy street or has 4 bedrooms.

Another factor to consider when pricing and selling a home is days on market. Take a look to see how long it took for homes to sell in your area and how often and by how much the listing price was reduced during that time. The number of days on market provides key insight into how challenging it may be selling a home in your town or neighborhood. The ideal time for selling is within the first 3 weeks of listing. After that, interest usually slows, and sellers are left to consider reducing the asking price on their home. Success in selling a home starts with setting a listing price that matches the supply and demand in your town and neighborhood.

Marketing Your Home To Sell

Selling a home is competitive whether it’s a buyer’s market or seller’s market. And marketing is key in getting the attention of buyers and real estate brokers representing buyers. Start with signage. Be sure that your home has a for sale sign out and visible as soon as the listing goes on the market. This is important in creating interest that you are selling a home.

Have open houses for both buyers as well as real estate agents. Be sure that your home is impeccable and it never hurts to put out light refreshments. It leaves those who tour your home with a good impression, which in turn may result in leads from home buyers.

Concerned that your home isn’t impeccable? Consider working with a home staging professional. Usually a few simple steps can make a huge difference in home presentation. Clear clutter from all counter and table surfaces. Keep photos and wall hangings to a minimum. Remove toy bins, totes, and extra furniture, so that rooms and furnishings fit to scale.

Get word out that your selling a home. Utilize direct mail options such as oversized postcards and list your home in the real estate section of the local paper. Visibility is important in selling a home, so be sure that your listing agent runs a robust marketing campaign and gives you a written guarantee that your home will be featured for sale on Realtor.com, Trulia.com, Homes.com and Boston.com to name a few. If they are not highly visible as a listing agent, then it is likely your home won’t have much visibility as a listing with them.

A Picture Tells a Thousand Words: Selling a Home with Photography

Buying a home is as much visual as it is a logical decision. Photos are absolutely essential in selling a home. Online searches for home listings are very common in the buying and selling market, and listings that offer few or no photos are less likely to produce any interest. With online listings everywhere your home can be listed in multiple locations with dozens, even hundreds of visitors looking at your listing. With all of those opportunities to be seen, it’s important when selling a home that your property attracts visual interest.

Exterior and interior photos that are of high quality are a necessity. A photo of the front of your home is standard, but be sure to have the photo taken when there’s good lighting. Wait for a bright day, clear any debris from the yard and path, trim hedges, hang a wreath on the door or add flowers to outside pots, take the shot from an angle, and avoid extraneous items such as cars or neighboring homes. If you have a deck, pool, or backyard, take photos of each area. Again making each shot as attractive as possible.

Inside the home, photograph each room. Open blinds and turn lights on so that the images are bright. Tidy bedrooms, make beds, and remove all items from nightstands except for essentials like clocks and lamps. Try to include as much of the room as possible in the photo to show dimension. In the kitchen remove all items from counters, place a vase of flowers on the table, and clean appliances so they shine in the photos. If you have areas of visual interest such as hardwood floors, a fireplace mantle, or detailed wood trim take photos of them as well.

Selling a Home Starts with Choosing the Right Agent

With so many real estate agents to choose from, it can be an overwhelming decision for home sellers. But, it’s a decision that can mean the difference between successfully selling a home or being left with an expired listing.

Not all real estate agents are the same, and all real estate is local. Be sure that the agents you are considering are knowledgeable of buying and selling conditions in your town. Capital Residential specializes in home buying and selling in Norwell, Hingham, Hanover, Scituate, Cohasset, Marshfield and surrounding South Shore communities. We research, study, and analyze the real estate transactions in these South Shore communities on a daily basis. We know what the trends are and we relay that information to our clients to give them the best chance of a successful home sale.

Also, find an agent that markets well. If your real estate agent does a good job marketing their services, it’s likely that agent will market your property well when selling a home for you. At Capital Residential we promote an active online and print presence that includes the major real estate search engines as well as the local newspapers and direct mail efforts. We also utilize the latest social media tools such as Facebook and Twitter to promote active real estate listings on the South Shore.

Choose an agent that is experienced. Home sellers want a seamless, hassle-free process, and while there are hiccups that can occur in the home selling process, it makes it easier when you are working with an experienced, professional real estate agent. At Capital Residential, our goal is to provide our home selling clients with an experience that they can confident in and delivers results.

Selling a Home? Contact George Jamieson at Capital Residential

In the beginning stages of selling a home or left with an expired listing? Contact George Jamieson at Capital Residential in Norwell, MA. I can be reached by email at George@capitalresidential.com or call/text me at 617.877.4839. I am happy to answer your questions and work with you to set a real estate strategy for selling a home in today’s South Shore market.