Tips for Selling Your Home: The worst mistake a vendor can make selling their home

In this blog, our latest instalment in our Top Tips for Selling Your Home series, we share the worst mistakes a vendor can make – and how to avoid it!

In a recent survey conducted by Real Estate Business (REB), real estate agents were surveyed on where home owners go wrong when listing their property for sale. And the results were eye opening.

According to 80% of all agents who responded, overpricing your home is the single biggest mistake vendors can make.

So what causes vendors to overprice their home?

Here are some of the main reasons property owners may overprice their homes:

• Lack of trust in the agent.
• Fear of selling too low.
• Greed – wanting the money for a holiday or new car.
• Swayed by the opinion of family and friends who think the home is worth more than it is.
• Pride – the home down the road sold for $… but mine is worth more.

How to overcome these pricing issues

Lack of trust in the agent.

When selling your home, the REIQ recommend that all vendors undertake at least 3 appraisals. Each agent’s appraisal can be looked at individually and assessed. Each appraisal should contain at least 3 examples of recent past home sales similar to the property being appraised. With portals like Corelogics, these appraisal reports now even show images of the interior of the example home.

Another useful snippet of information in these appraisal reports, is the number of days on the market.

EXPERT TIP: Look for examples of properties that have sold under 90 days to estimate your selling price range.

Add the sale prices up and divide by the number selected to arrive at an average sale price.

The same could be done for days on the market. By adopting this pricing process, you will have full confidence in your selling range.

Fear of selling too low

This is related to the above and a similar process should be applied to obtaining a selling range.

Greed – wanting money for a holiday or new car.

Greed is unique. It mostly stems from the past when there was less information available about the sale price of properties.

Sellers thought their home was worth so much and because they think it is worth XYZ dollars, they believe (and expect) that a buyer will just walk in and pay it. Unfortunately, the internet and property portals have ended the good fortune of past sellers who fall into the greedy category

Buyers do their research now. Most know more about the current market and the price range they are buying into than agents. The internet tells buyers how long a home has been on the market and how many page views it has had.

Family and friends who think the home is worth more than it is.

Friends and family who say that you shouldn’t sell below XYZ dollars and say your home is lovely and is worth every cent of XYZ dollars, should buy your home. These opinions are usually emotional and no friend or relative would walk into your home and say “I don’t like your home at all”. If they did they wouldn’t be invited back again.

Pride – the home down the road sold for $… but mine is worth more.

“The home down the road got a high price. Mine is better than that place, I want at least this much more.”

Usually this method of pricing only ends in grief. When the house down the road sold for the price they received, the buyer could have been a what is known in the real estate industry as a heart buyer. That is a buyer who wants the home hook or by crook – buys the home in the first week it is on the market.

There are many other factors that come into play with the sale of a home.

Pricing a home is the most critical component of the sale process

Pricing determines how many buyer inspections you will receive.

• Overpricing can mean no buyer inspections.
• Under-pricing can see you inundated with buyers.
• Pricing also determines the offers you receive.
• Pricing determines how effective your advertising will work in attracting buyers to open homes.

For everything you need to know on Pricing Your Home and more, click here. It’s a must read for any home owner thinking of selling where we share our expert knowledge and provide useful links to other relevant blogs and articles.

Thinking of selling? Speak to Gott Realty today! Call us on 0419 777 577 or enquire online here.

If you’re looking for a real estate team that is honest, respectful and always acting in your interests, request a free no-obligation property appraisal today.

Our team has unprecedented access to local property data and insights, and we are here to help you sell your property for the best price possible with the least amount of stress.

Gott Realty service Albany Creek, Eatons Hill, Cashmere, Warner, Lawnton and Bray Park and many more areas across North Brisbane. Learn more here on our blog.

Contact Steve on 0419 777 577 or enquire online here.