Depending on who your REALTOR® is and how much you like or dislike them, this is either a How-To or a What-Not-To-Do….
1. Being Hard To Reach
There’s nothing worse than getting an offer on a property that is listed and not being able to find the Seller. Offers are time-dependent, and it’s not unusual to get an offer that’s only valid for the next few hours. If your home is on the market, make sure you are reachable by text or phone and let your agent know times when you may be unreachable.
2. Wanting To Use Your Own Photos
Everyone looks online first these days, so we’ve got one chance to wow lookers. Unless you’re a professional real estate photographer, your personal photos will rarely capture the room in an optimal way. Real estate photography is a specialty, just like portraits or nature photography. Note: we do love it when you send us off-season yard (e.g., summer photos in the winter or vice versa) or sunset/sunrise photos.
3. Not Telling Us The Whole Story
I know that the asbestos/mold/fire experience you lived through is now in the past, but failing to disclose material facts will land you and us in the hot seat. Just be honest with us, and we will do everything that we can to protect you.
4. Refuse Showings On Your House
There is no avoiding the fact that selling your home will be inconvenient at times. Refusing a showing may be favorable at the moment, but may negatively affect everyone involved in the long run. The truth is showings that get refused rarely get rescheduled. Don’t fool yourself into thinking that a serious Buyer will reschedule – they often don’t. You don’t want to lose out on a potential buyer for momentary convenience.
5. Want the Cadillac Experience But Only Want To Pay For A Honda Accord
There are all sorts of real estate commission models that come with different levels of experience, services, inclusions, and results. It’s important that you compare and contrast before choosing the right agent for you. One of our biggest pet peeves is when a potential Seller wants the full Triangle experience with cleaning, staging, and direct marketing, but wants us to match the 1% commission that the random person who knocked on their door offered. They’re not different sides of the same coin – they are entirely different coins.
6. Call Us For Feedback Right After A Showing
We get it: every Seller has the same deep-rooted fear that their house isn’t going to sell, and you’re dying to find out what people think of your home. So are we! Good agents will reach out to the Buyer agents for feedback, but it’s not unusual for them to ignore us. They might be trying to protect their clients by not revealing their cards, or they might simply not have the time to give feedback on the ten properties they showed that day. More importantly, agents don’t normally walk out of a showing and call us right away. They usually wait until the next morning when they are back in front of their computer to fill out the request for feedback form. It’s to our mutual benefit – yours and ours – to get and receive timely feedback. Pro tip: be clear with your agent about how often you want to hear from them, and if they aren’t living up to your expectations, tell them.
7. Live Like A Slob While Your Home Is For Sale
We’ve gone to a lot of effort to get to the point of listing your home for sale. If you’re working with Triangle Realty, we’ve probably had your home professionally cleaned, staged and we’ve looked after the yard work. Don’t let all that effort go to waste during showings! Nobody wants to see your unmade bed or your mail on the counter or smell the dirty litter box or food waste in the trash can. I know, it’s a pain to make it seem as though your home is not being lived in when, in fact, you are living there. The truth is, the longer your home is on the market, the more important every detail becomes. Your effort will pay off.
Be sure to check out our blog on 8 Steps to Turn Your Home for Sale Into a HOT Property.
8. Believe You’ll Get Back All the Money That You Put into Your Renovation
We often get push-back from Sellers who expect a Buyer to pay a $35,000 premium for the $35,000 pool they put into their backyard. Your renovations may or may not be valuable to the average Buyer or increase your property’s value. It isn’t your agent who decides how much your renovations are worth, it’s the market and Buyers…though if you’re working with a top agent, they likely have an idea about the premium a Buyer will pay.
9. Talk Too Much on Social Media
In this day and age, it’s standard procedure for a Buyer’s agent to search the Sellers’ names on social media. Don’t be that Seller who portrays that they are “Desperate to get this house sold! I move into my new home in three weeks!!” or “So ready to move out of this house and away from the neighbor’s annoying dog”. Keep your feelings off of social media while you are trying to sell your home. Stay quiet. Stay classy.
10. Refusing the First Offer
So, your friends have told you to never take the first offer because ‘What if?”. What if a better offer comes along? Well, what if that first offer is the best one you’re going to get? If you get a good offer, it shouldn’t matter how early or late in the process it is. You don’t know what other offers may or may not come to the table. All you can see is the offer that is in front of you, and that should be the basis for your decision.
P.S. We have an Ultimate Guide to Selling Your Home and A Glossary For Buyers and Sellers that could really be of benefit to you after reading this blog.