Sell My Home

We have already discussed Hiring The Right Agent in the article above. Your agent must effectively communicate with you. They must have an assertive personality with a strong ability to negotiate. Period! There are agents out there that get into the business for the money but are shy, hard to communicate with or worse: too nice to negotiate a good deal for you so they just agree with whatever the other agent says. I see this a lot of the time when I’m negotiating but in all fairness, I’m a tough negotiator. I’m what’s known as a triple threat.

These listings are called FSBO or For Sale By Owner. I applaud those who want to try it on their own, but to do it Right and get Top Dollar takes skill. There are over 100 hands that touch a home sale from title, inspectors, buyers, appraisers…etc. Each part has their own rules and regulations that you must know how to navigate around. You have to navigate the type of financing and what is required for each type among other hurdles. Simply put, not hiring any agent Can and Will cost you. It’s not just about negotiating the price like some people think.

The cleaner your home is, the easier it is for a buyer to see themselves living there. If you still have clutter, put it all in the smallest room, preferably a closet. You must make your home as neutral as possible. Help the buyer see themselves living in your home.

There’s an art to pricing your home. People think that Realtors or sellers just take a guess and slap a price on their home. In reality, they should look at their neighbor’s home, look at what other homes are for sale and how their home measures up to the neighborhood’s competition. Pricing your home is so much more complicated than just slapping on a price. If your home is unique or has unique features, this makes it even harder. The Case Study below is a great example of what NOT to do.

Using the same case study from above…. They hired an inexperienced agent who agreed to take a 1% commission on their ridiculously overpriced home. The agent has to earn a living and most of the time needs to pay their broker 30-60% of their commission and then there are fees paid to each brokerage. How much marketing do you think their agent was able to do? Answer: Not Much if any!  

If you don’t pay your agent at least 2% commission, the marketing doesn’t get done because there’s simply no money for it. If the home is over $700k, I could see a small reduction in commission but luxury properties take a higher level of marketing which costs significantly more. You could hire the best in the business but if you don’t pay for quality, you won’t get it!

A home at 162 Bedstone Dr. Fruit Cove, FL 32259 listed on 3/04/2022, during one of the hottest markets and one of the hottest areas (Top 3rd growth area in the country and A+ School district).  The sellers listed  their home at $675k ($155k more than the value) because the market was hot and they thought northerners would pay more to move down to Florida.  They dropped it little by little until now they’ve dropped down to $520k, which is exactly what it should be priced at before. Now they aren’t getting any showings and we’re technically in a recession. Their home is beautiful and there’s nothing wrong with it. They let the listing expire and will most likely end up taking less than what they could’ve gotten. I predict they’ll end up with at least $20k less than what they would’ve gotten 6 months ago. They also may have been able to get their closing costs paid for or even had a bidding war break out which would have likely resulted in a much higher sale price. Now buyers may wonder what is wrong with the house with the length of time the house has been on the market. This raises concerns for a buyer, which is a classic reason why you should never overprice your home.