Selling Your Home: 5 Tips to Beat the Competition
Even though there are record numbers of homes on the market in most areas of the country, there are still ways to outshine others for sale. Assuming your home is priced correctly, here are five ways to lure home buyers to your property:
1. Maintain and Stage. A home that has been taken care of throughout the years will offer a stark contrast to a vacant, empty foreclosure, for example.
If someone is lives in the home, the landscaping is not dead and there is warmth in the home. This can go a long way in selling a property. For many would-be homebuyers, it’s all about the emotion and having the ability to see what they can have.
As with any home, a fresh coat of paint, decluttering and the removal of unpleasant odors can go a long way to making a good first impression. But be careful not to over-improve the home, because the investment might not be worth the cost.
2. Mention Up Front That You’ll Help Pay Closing Costs. Whether it’s in the marketing material or in the listing, this could be an extra motivator to reel a buyer in. Generally, there’s a good chance they’ll ask for closing cost help anyway, but it might pay off to be proactive and offer it right up front.
If rising mortgage rates have your buyer spooked, consider paying mortgage points to bring the rate down. But consider a buyer’s timeline for staying in the home before deciding if this is the most effective way to help; paying points generally makes sense for those staying in a home for more than a few years, and with interest rates currently near all-time lows, this may or may not be a big factor for your buyers.
3. Offer a Home Warranty. Many first-time buyers are often coming from a rental, and they are used to calling a landlord when there’s a problem. To help them more easily transition into homeownership, provide them a warranty that covers major systems when problems arise.
4. Offer Mortgage Protection. In some cases, it might make sense to address buyers’ fears by purchasing insurance so they can keep up with their mortgage even if after losing a job. Basically, such plans will make several months of mortgage payments in the event the buyer becomes unemployed.
5. Don’t Snub Low Offers. Buyers know prices have fallen, so they’re being aggressive in their offers-sometimes extremely aggressive. But even if they come in with a shocking lowball offer, don’t scoff at it. Understand where they’re coming from, and try to compromise.
If they liked the home enough to make an offer, it’s possible you can arrive at a mutually acceptable price.