Advice for Sellers in a Slow Real Estate Market

Whether you like it or not, the real estate market has ground to a slow trot. Selling a home can be difficult and requires you to return to the time-tested basics of selling a home. Here are some keys to remember and use.

1. Make your home available. It would probably help to just accept that your home is in the public domain from 9 A.M until 9 P.M. daily until it's sold.

2. When you are selling your home, keep it clean and tidy ALL the time. Let it get out of hand and an otherwise serious buyer WILL show up. If you don't have time to clean, hire a cleaning service.

3. If you have a limited budget for sprucing up your home, consider devoting a good chunk of it to getting your kitchen in top shape. Consider replacing appliances and fixtures. Whatever steps you take, just make sure your kitchen is in top shape.

4. When selling your home, be realistic about your asking price. You can check public record at the courthouse, or in many cases on-line, for the amounts of recent sales in your neighborhood.

5. When analyzing homes for sale in an area, it is important to focus on the correct numbers. Typically, you want to throw out any home that has a distinctly higher or lower price than the other homes unless there is something unique about it.

6. Many people try to sell real estate with an “as is” qualifier. The idea is this protects them from any claims the failed to disclose problems with the property. This assumption is incorrect. If you sell a home with problems, you must disclose them.

7. When showing your home, you need to have a friend watch your pet. You also need to go through the home and remove all pet odors, hair and so on. Once you sell the property, you can buy another one with a bigger yard for your little one.

8. Most states require real estate contracts to be in writing to be enforceable. The buyer invests time and thought in the process of committing his offer to paper. When you receive his written offer, you know ALL the items the buyer is trying to "nibble" from you.

9. The true price of a home is the market price. The market price is not the asking price, the appraised price and so on. It is what the seller and buyer agree it is. If you are selling, do not hamstring yourself with anything other than that.

10. Many people ask escrow officers for advice or help. Don’t expect any! Escrow companies are supposed to be neutral third parties. They handle the paperwork, not negotiations or problems.

If you are a seller, the real estate news probably sounds pretty grim. It really isn’t. There is always a market for sellers and buyers. You just need to put your nose to the grindstone a bit. Since most people don’t, you’ll have an advantage and get that sale.

Article Source: http://www.articlemonk.com

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