Patience and Preparation are Required For Today's Home Sellers

Dallas Fort Worth area home sellers just loved it a few years back, when area housing was in short supply, the Fed's printing presses were in full production, and buyer demand was sky high, but that all ended when the Fed decided to rapidly increase the cost of borrowing, slowing demand and forcing the housing market to correct. 

Today's rates, however, are the lowest going back 8 months, and buyer demand, as a result, is picking back up, showing just how wrong the Fed was to raise rates in the first place. How long this downward rate trend repreive will continue, is anyone's guess, but for sure you can save on monthly payments with today's lower mortgage rates. 

How to Succeed in a more Traditional North Texas Housing Market

Today's home sellers once again, need to embrace the old-fashion concept of preparation, because a well-prepared home may be the difference between selling or expiring unsold. Selling is a competition sport, where the best-prepared listings contract fastest, typically for more money and go on to close. Let's face it if out of ten listings a buyer tours, eight are so-so, but two stand out, and one of the two homes is priced to reflect bonafide market COMPS, which listing do you think the buyer will be more motivated to make an offer?

I have found that selling a home is a repeatable science when you embrace the concept of common sense preparation.

Basic Home Seller Preparation Checklist Prior To Listing Your Home in MLS

1. DECLUTTER. All non-essential personal belongings should ideally be removed to temporary storage, this will help to give your home a more spacious pleasant look. This includes removing personal family photos and other personal possessions that distract buyers from giving their full attention to your home. Decluttering the garage, attic and closets help to complete the overall tidy look. A home that appears crammed with "stuff" gives the wrong impression of being too small, and can conflict with an otherwise great impression.

If you remember one thing about buyers, it is this, you're dealing with emotions. Buyers want to love the home they buy and are looking for reasons not to. So removing objections is key to a successful sale.

2. FIX-UP. Once you have decluttered, it is time to embrace repairs, perhaps updating your kitchen or master-bath, which are two of the most critical areas to impress buyers, or perhaps adding wood floors all designed to improve your home's "wow factor." Painting is always a smart choice, to help give your home that new look, especially if your paint colors are showing a lot of wear or if the color is dark or dated.

If your paint is in good shape, changing the color temperature of your interior lighting to pure white 4000K LED's, or perhaps a cooler spectrum for darker homes, can also improve your home's visual impression by making walls appear lighter with less of a yellow or tired looking hue. In today's market environment, well-planned pre-listing projects will boost your home's curb appeal by eliminating sight objections that can cast doubts in a buyer's mind.

One more point, keep ALL RECEIPTS. You'll need that come appraisal time along with a summary or spread sheet itemizing your expenditures.

3. CLEAN-UP. Once a home is dialed in, then a final deep cleaning works wonders. This includes dirty tile grout, windows, ceiling vents, door hinge areas, kitchen cabinets, including inside cabinets and drawers, organizing closets, etc. 

4. FINAL STAGING. This is your final, pre-MLS review before activating your listing and includes drive up curb appeal.. Like clothes that are mismatched, homes can have all sort of mismatched furnishings that can create an odd look and staging is the art of correcting that. The rule of thumb here is to remember, that great looking furnishings and accents can improve the impression of a so-so house, but can also decrease the impression value of an otherwise outstanding home. Builder models are a great example of how important staging is to capture a buyer's attention and imagination. My advice has always been, "when in doubt, remove it."

5. MLS LIST PRICE. Finally, once you're ready to list, we re-walk your home to evaluate all of the above and then agree to a final listing price. We use COMPS, to justify a probable sales price based upon how your home compares (get a quick DFW area online Comp Report). Remember, not only do you have to sell your buyer on your home's value, but when a lender is involved, you will have to sell the BANK APPRAISER too, and if comparable values don't support your contracted sales price, you may be forced back to the negotiation table or risk a buyer cancellation. Most resale contracts today will contain a Form 1948, or Addendum Concerning Right to Terminate Due to Lender's Appraisal. This form stipulates what occurs when an appraisal does not support the contract sales price.

We Need Listings, And if You Need to Sell, Let's TALK!

When it is time to sell, we offer the absolute best combination of full service, years of experience and amazing low commission cost! In fact, we can even help you save you more than FSBO. ARG offers a full array of client MLS listing services and middleman free savings. Also if you're buying a new home, the good news is builders have known about our market leading Free Move-up for years and hiring us will make them breath easier. Since 2004, we have maintained a 90+% success rate selling our MLS listings. To learn more, call Mike @ 214-727-3686 or fill out the form below and pick up a Free Copy of our Seller's Guide.