Selling your home can be a daunting experience. It will probably be one of the busiest times in your life. You already have a lot to worry about as potential buyers schedule last minute walkthroughs. You will be concerned with adjustments in the market that will affect your price, and the possibility of having to pay two mortgages if you do not sell your home before you move into a new one can be a terrifying reality.

Without the right knowledge you may lose hundreds to thousands of dollars that could have been added to your profits. The wrong real estate professional may make these mistakes and be responsible for the loss of money. You don't want to break even from a sale. Yet, I've seen it happen more than once to people that have gone to agents that concentrate on image marketing and unsuccessful real estate techniques that date back to the 1970's and 1980's.

You need to find an agent that is in-tune with the real estate market of the 21st century. The right agent will be a keen professional that works as your own personal investor. He or she will be able to sell your home quickly and efficiently. They will understand how to utilize techniques that will work in your specific selling area.

Selling your home is something you should not do on a whim or without careful thought and consideration. You have many memories of your current home that you are going to cherish. A lot of sellers have stated that selling their home can be emotionally exhausting.

Here is a list of eleven mistakes you cannot afford to make when selling your home.

1. TMO vs. CMA: Getting an accurate market picture so you can maximize your profits: A professional agent will make sure that you receive a TMO (Total Market Overview) as opposed to a CMA (Computerized Market Analysis). While a CMA is helpful, and you should not discount it, the TMO will give you and your agent a much clearer picture of the total market for your area from the top downward. This can assist you in making the right judgment when pricing your home. It will also give you a much better idea of how quickly other homes, similar to your own, have sold in your market.

2. Avoiding making Repairs: It is inevitable that you will have to make some minimal repairs to your home before selling it. If nothing else replacing carpeting, repainting walls, wallpapering, and smoothing out cracks in your walls are usually very simple repairs that can be made without forcing you to pay a lot of money to fix your home up. I have seen sellers try to avoid paying for these repairs. Usually this ends up costing them much more then they bargained for. There are numerous things you can do to bring your house back to life without emptying your pockets. Even the smallest repairs can increase your home's value and make a big impact on potential buyers as they see how great your home really is.

3. Trusting an Agent just because He says He's the Best: If an agent is repeatedly telling you how great he or she is, how many homes they have sold, how experienced they are, or that they are top in sales its time to find a new agent. Be wary of agents that boast about themselves. An agent should tell you what they can do for you not what they can do for themselves. The truth is, not all agents are created equal. Just because Joe Smith Top in Sales with We Sale Real Estate Realty says he can sell your home, don't believe it is true. Many times "top in sales" means he is at the top for his company not your area.

With so many agents online, and no real way to keep track of how many sales each company is making (except by taking their word for it), it is nearly impossible to find the realtor that is top in sales in any given area. When choosing an agent find out what they can do for YOU, not what they have supposedly done for others. Shop around, and even consider FSBO before ultimately deciding on the right real estate professional for you.

4. Being Uncertain about Selling: DO NOT sell unless you are positive you are ready to move. By being uncertain about selling your home you are not only being unfair to potential buyers, you are wasting the buyer, your agent, and your own time. Your agent can and will find you buyers. However, if you are seesawing with the idea of selling your home you could ruin a potential sale.

5. Being Accessible to Buyers: It is important to be able to make your home accessible to buyers. If they cannot see your home they aren't going to want to buy it. This does not mean that you should hold showings 24/7. A one a.m. visit can be disarming for everyone involved. The key is to target the right times, during the day when the home can be available for showings. The right real estate professional can help you set up the right times that do not affect your lifestyle, and still allow for buyers to have access to view your home.

The more accessible you are to buyers, the better chance you have of truly getting the price you want for your home. You never know, the perfect buyer might have gotten away, simply because they couldn't schedule a viewing. Don't let that happen!

6. Unqualified Buyers: You do not want to waste your time with unqualified buyers! This is technically not your responsibility once you have chosen a real estate agent. It is their job to check the buyer out thoroughly to make sure they are qualified to buy a home before you even bother with them. You need to be confident that you have picked the right real estate professional so they do not waste your time with unqualified buyers.

The right buyer may have tried to schedule a showing, but couldn't because someone that was unqualified scheduled before him. Don't let just anyone represent you and your home. You need to trust your agent. Ask him or her from time to time if they are checking out buyers to ensure they are qualified. Remind them that if they do not do this it may just be a waste of their and your time.

7. Upgrades vs. Maintenance: A common mistake that sellers make, that can cost them quite a bit of money, is not knowing the difference between upgrades and maintenance. When you sell your home you will want to perform maintenance. Maintenance is anything you do to your home that makes it livable (i.e. adding a new roof because your old one is leaking). If you do not perform maintenance on your home it can drastically reduce the value of your home. The problem is that people assume if they perform maintenance on their home they not only deserve the value of their home, they also deserve extra to pay for the maintenance costs.

If you were the buyer would you be willing to pay full price for a home with a leaky roof or drafty windows? Probably not. However, fixing these things should get you your asking price. As a buyer you wouldn't want to pay extra for something that should be up to par already, so don't expect your buyer to want to do this either.

Upgrades are when you add something to your home to make it better. This will increase the value of your home. You can ask for more then the price you would ask for before the upgrade. Some examples of upgrades are: adding a pool to your yard, building on a garage, or adding rooms onto your home. There can be problems with upgrading.

Sellers often assume since they spent x amount of dollars on a pool or another type of upgrade they should receive their home value + x amount when selling their home. Just because you have added something to your home does not mean you can ask for the seller to pay the full value for the upgrade. Therefore, if you plan to upgrade to sell you're usually better off just selling the home without the upgrades. Usually you end up having to eat part of the costs of the upgrade.

8. Finding Even Ground when Participating in the Sale of your Home : First, you are not weak or powerless when it comes to selling your home. You deserve to actively participate in the sale. How your participate can really shape your sale. First, you need to find a qualified real estate professional to aid you in your sale. You can also decide to sell your home on your own. It all depends on how confident you are in your knowledge of real estate and ability to sell your own home, and how much time you have to devote to selling your home. No matter what you decide it is ultimately YOUR decision. Don't feel you need to rely on someone else to handle every aspect of the sale.

If you do decide to go with a specific agent or realty team don't just sit back and let them handle all your personal business without your input. You deserve to know what they are doing, how they are handling the sale, how the sale is going, and be kept informed of any changes the agent makes.

Likewise, you should NOT be expected to do the real estate professional's job for them! If you do end up doing this you are better of just selling your home on your own. It may be a little tricky at first to find the right amount of participation in your sale. It is always better to show more interest in your sale then little to none. The right agent can reassure you, answer all your questions, and help you find even ground when participating in your sale, which will ensure success!

9. Pricing your Home Incorrectly: The right agent can help you find the right price based on the TMO (Total Market Overview) in your real estate market. This agent will also use a CMA to compare and contrast to the TMO to get a much more thorough picture of the current market in your area. The wrong agent can cause a world of trouble that can turn into a selling nightmare.

Overpricing your home can lead to your home sitting on the market wasting away. No leads will come your way. No one will even want to view your home. If you have a very tight schedule when it comes to selling your home (i.e. you have two months to find a buyer because you're moving for a new job) you need to be absolutely certain that your home is in the correct pricing bracket. Otherwise, you will not only jeopardize your home's sale you may also jeopardize the chance you have for the job of a lifetime.

Pricing your home too low can cut your profits unfairly. I don't know one real estate professional (TRUE professional is the key) that would not want you to maximize your profits. Make sure your agent knows enough about your real estate market to successfully price your home.

Your agent should be re-examining the market every 10-14 days. This is because there are subtle changes and fluctuations in the market that can ensure that your price remains correct with the flow of the market.

10. Hiring an agent that uses overused and outdated methods: It is hard to believe but 98% of agents use outdated techniques to sell homes. Many of these methods date back to the 1970's and 1980's. In the good old days, agents could use something called "image marketing". They would use pictures and lame statements to make buyers and sellers assume that they are number one in hopes that the buyer would purchase a home from them and the seller would use them to sell their home.

Image marketing no longer works! There are millions of agents online today. All of them have websites. These agents STILL try to rely on image marketing, but it just won't work. In the 1970's and 1980's it was easier to use image marketing and then rely on the market to carry the sale.

Why doesn't it work any longer? It has been done before! People no longer want to sell their homes with the self-proclaimed #1 Agent in Tempe. They want someone that is going to work for them to sell their home as efficiently as they can. They want someone to maximize profits, provide them with accurate real estate information, and have the real estate knowledge to know how to work for you.

Today, there may be thousands of agents that represent Arizona. All of them have websites and close to all of them have statements about how wonderful they are, how talented at selling homes they are, and include pictures of them plastered all over their website.

You want to find the agent that sticks out. An agent that provides you with information on your area, articles, forms, reports, and answers all your questions quickly and efficiently truly is there for you. It should no longer be about THEM THEM THEM it should be about YOU!

If you can find an agent that focuses on what he or she can do for you you're on the right track to finding the perfect real estate professional.

11. The Right Time to Sell: Selling real estate is NOT seasonal. That is a common misconception that many sellers make. You can always sell your home in any type of market. However, you do need to check out the market to make sure that you are selling at a time where you can maximize profits on your house. If you do not have a strict deadline for the sale of your home you may want to wait until the market is in your favor. However, don't assume that means you cannot sell your home at any moment.

Your real estate professional should have a strong understanding of both the seller's market and the buyer's market. They should be able to help you get the maximum profit for your home in your specific market at any moment in time.

 

When selling your home do not go into the process with your eyes closed. You need to be armed with the knowledge you need to sell your home and avoid costly errors that could have been avoided. Knowledge truly is power. With the right real estate professional working for you the sale of your home should be smooth sailing. You really do not deserve anything less.