When a home owner decides to put up a property for sale, there is often a period of confusion. Most first time home sellers have no idea where or how to start selling a home in Houston.
It’s very important that home sellers understand what the home sale process entails, the costs associated with selling a home, and many other important variables of the home selling process.
Prepare Your Home For The Market
One of the biggest mistakes made by first time home sellers is that they do not know how to or are unprepared to list a home in the open real estate market. Before selling a home for the first time, you must make sure your home is show-ready as soon as it’s listed for sale.
One of the biggest suggestions for any first time home seller is having a home inspection completed before the house is listed for sale. The likelihood that a home buyer will decide to have a home inspection is very strong. Today’s home buyers are scared away from potentially problematic homes relatively easily so correcting problems that an inspector finds before listing your home for sale can greatly decrease the chance that a deal may fall apart due to a buyer getting scared off.
Another excellent way for a first time home seller to prepare their home for the market is by making low-cost home improvements before listing the home for sale. Just a few of the most popular low-cost home improvements to consider making before selling your home for the first time include;
- Freshly painting rooms
- Professionally cleaning floors and/or carpeting
- Replacing outdated light fixtures
- Replacing outdated hardware on cabinetry
It’s important that first time home sellers understand the importance of making a great first impression on potential home buyers. By not properly preparing a home for sale, a first time home seller could be costing themselves thousands of dollars and also valuable time, in the event their home takes longer to sell.
Hire A Top Realtor When Selling A Home In Houston
First time home sellers need to understand the importance of having a top producer representing them during the sale of their home. Selling a home is not an easy task, so don’t attempt to sell your home by owner. For sale by owners, also known as FSBOs, have a failure rate of 85%-95%.
In any given real estate market, there can be several hundred to several thousand real estate agents who have the ability to sell a home. It’s important that home sellers understand that not all real estate agents are equal. Some real estate agents are part time real estate agents, some are primarily buyers agents, and others may only have had their real estate license for a month or two.
How can a first time home seller ensure they hire a top producing listing agent? It’s actually a fairly simple answer: you need to know how to properly interview real estate agents. A home seller who knows how to properly interview prospective real estate agents will have a much greater chance that they hire a top producer and not the opposite.
Understand Your Local Real Estate Market
Real estate markets can vary significantly from one neighborhood to another. Home sellers need to understand what the current state is of their local real estate market. Generally speaking there are three “states” of a real estate market, a sellers market, a buyers market, and a balanced market.
Some real estate markets will vary depending on the time of the year. For example, typically during the spring months of April, May, and June, the Houston, TX real estate market experiences a strong sellers market. Since the spring months are typically stronger months to sell a home, many home owners have to decide whether they should list their home in the fall and winter months or wait until spring.
Decide What Your Next Move Is
First time home sellers often neglect to figure out what their next move is after selling their current home. Will you move into an apartment? Will you be buying a new home? Will you be building a new home? It’s important when selling a home in Houston that you have a strong game plan for your next move.
If the game plan is to purchase another home, a home seller needs to determine whether they can get pre-approved for a mortgage without being contingent on the sale of their current home. While it’s uncommon in most cases that a buyer is able to purchase a home without selling their current home, it’s extremely important to know. Buying and selling a home simultaneously can be tricky and it’s important that a game plan is in place if this your next move!
Price Your Home Correctly
The number one reason a home doesn’t sell in real estate is because the property is incorrectly priced. There are lots of different reasons why home owners incorrectly price their home and it’s important the first time home sellers don’t make those common real estate pricing mistakes.
First time home sellers often have no clue on how a listing price is determined in real estate. There are many different ways a listing price can be determined and it’s important that you understand the various ways:
- The most common real estate pricing practice is a comparative market analysis that is completed by a real estate professional. A comparative market analysis, or CMA, can be summarized as a review of local active homes for sale, past home sales, and also past expired listings. A top producing real estate agent should be able to determine a probable sale price of a home by completing a detailed market analysis.
- While a CMA is the most common way to determine the price of a home, another accurate way to produce a listing price of a home is by having an appraisal completed on the property.
It’s critical that first time home sellers avoid some of the inaccurate ways to price a home, such as using the homes assessed value or using an online home valuation estimate, such as Zillow’s “Zestimates.” It’s highly unlikely that an online website based out of San Diego, CA can accurately determine the price of a home in Houston, TX.
Know What Your Closing Expenses Are When Selling Your Home
Home sellers are often shocked when they learn about the seller expenses that they traditionally are responsible for. One of the hardest pills to swallow for a first time home seller are brokerage fees. First and foremost, real estate commissions are negotiable. First time home sellers often forget that the previous owner of their current home paid the brokerage fees when they purchased their home. Brokerage fees are normally the largest expense incurred by a home seller.
Other home selling expenses that home sellers need to consider include the cost of an instrument survey, re-dating of an abstract, transfer taxes, and also the possibility of helping a buyer out by contributing a seller concession towards their closing expenses.
When selling a home for the first time it’s important to keep an updated mortgage pay-off balance handy, if applicable, so when a purchase offer is received you can determine what your closing expenses will be and there are no surprises a few days before closing.
Final Thoughts
Selling a home for the first time can be extremely stressful and exhausting. A home seller who has a top producing agent in their corner will have a much greater chance of a smooth and successful home sale.
If you are looking to sell your home or have any questions about selling a home in Houston, give us a call at 281-861-4624 or email us at info@thelokengroup.com.