Selling a home in any market can be a trying experience. Today you are competing with many possible short sales and foreclosures who can list and sell their homes for a lower price than you can afford. The good news to sellers is that there are things you can do to compete with and beat this competition! Here are a few things you can do as sellers to compete with short sales and foreclosures:
Make Sure Your Home is in Top Condition: Most short sales and foreclosures are in less than stellar condition. They tend to be dirty, need minor or major structural work, need cosmetic updating, etc. This work takes both time and cash, both of which are in short supply today. Make sure your home is clean, and that you've addressed possible cosmetic and structural issues. Your local real estate expert can help you identify which issues to address and provide top notch subcontractor names to help get the work done! Homes in pristine condition are getting top dollar and selling quickly even in todays market!
Stage your home to Sell: After you have made the committment to sell your home, now you need to get it ready for a buyer...it is no longer your home. Help potential buyers feel welcome by removing personal items, any religous references, and removing any and all unneccesary items from your home. Buyers won't feel they are invading "your" space, the rooms will feel larger, and buyers will naturally spend more time in the home. If when you are done staging your home it no longer feels like "your" home you are on the right track. Becki Borushko of the Borushko Team is a certified home stager, one of the many services we provide for our sellers in Indianapolis
Be Responsive to Offers: Short sales can take a long time to complete. Often the banks will take 90-120 days or longer to even respond to an offer. While there are laws being written to change this practice, they aren't in effect yet. You can easily compete with short sales simply by being responsive to offers as they come in. Also be very flexible with closing and possesion dates. Most buyers don't have the luxury of waiting for a response or waiting a long period of time to move in so be flexible!
Provide Financial Flexibility: Providing legal financing incentives can often be more valuable to a buyer than bottom line price and can certainly put you at a negotiating advantage over short sales and foreclosures. Consider offering to pay a buyers closing costs and more buyers will be able to purchase your home. Also note that most short sales and foreclosure are sold as-is (read buyer beware!) so being more flexible in your willingness to pay for items found on an inspection can make a huge difference to your potential buyers.
See also:
Foreclosures, Short Sales, and their effect on Home Values
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