Priced to High- This is the single most important piece of marketing your home properly. Price to high and your house goes unsold. When your home is overpriced, many times the right buyers are not even looking at your home, your home does not compete with the competition. Your home needs to stand out among the competition. In any market, a home should have 15-20 showings in a 60-90 day period and out of those showing one acceptable offer should be tendered. A home that sits on the market and stagnates ultimately sell for less than it is worth as the buyers start to wonder what is wrong with the home. Price it right coming out of the gate, you will net more money and avoid tons of aggravation. 
Choosing the Wrong Real Estate Agent- Many times sellers will choose a real estate because the agent is a friend or a relative or even worse they are the real estate agent that gave them the highest price for their home. Your home is your biggest asset. You need to hire an agent that can sell your home for top dollar, in the least amount of time and with the least amount of hassle. You don't need a super star real estate agent who close 300 deals a year (as a matter of fact you might not get the attention you need), but you do want an agent that is full time in the business that closes at least 12-25 deals a year and has at least 3 years in the business. Out of those deal half of them should be homes the agent listed for sale. Next, trust your instincts. You will rely on your real estate agent to provide you with market information that will determine your homes price, how to market your home for sale and how to negotiate and close the sale of your home. Do you trust that information? Is their information logical and understandable? Is this someone you feel you can work with? Choose an agent based upon the strength of their marketing plan and their reputation, not Aunt Mary's kid or your best friend or the agent that told you "I can sell your house for....."  Ignoring Necessary Repairs- Depending on the price range of your home it doesn't need to be perfect. But neglecting leaky roofs, holes in walls, crumbling front staircases.... basically your punch list items can seriously cost you in the selling price of your home or even hinder the sale. You home needs to be buyer ready. When homes appear to be in good condition it attracts good buyers who are willing to present good offers.
Consider doing a pre-home inspection. It will give you an idea of what will come up in a home inspection and give you an opportunity to fix any problems prior to your buyer doing an inspection. Remember any time a buyer starts deducting home repairs from the price of a home they think it cost 3x what it really does. Learn how to prepare your house for sale.  Not Preparing your Home for the Market- We discussed repairs already but now we are talking about de-cluttering, cleaning and presenting your home in the best possible light. You must showcase every room if possible. It could mean removing furniture, personal items, repainting or cleaning. You need to neutralize the decor, open up spaces and have your home spic and span from top to bottom.
An experienced real estate agent works with tons of home buyers and can predict a buyer's reaction. I recently viewed a home with a buyer where the living room was painted orange. It actually was a nice space but all my buyer's could do was focus on the orange and how hideous it was, not the cathedral ceilings or the big bay windows.... You are selling a house, not decor. Consider a home staging session. The cost of a few hundred dollars can actually return you thousand in purchase price. Being Emotional- Being too emotional can harm a home sale. Selling your home is a business transaction. It doesn't matter that the buyer doesn't like your personal taste and wants to rip out the new kitchen counter tops you just installed or their demeanor as they negotiate. Emotions causes home sellers to not look objectively upon a situation and do irrational things. Remember, nothing matters but getting the home sold with terms that are acceptable to you. Not Paying Attention to Data- Pricing your home is all about market data and interpreting data. I have watched sellers ignore market data and list their home for what they and their neighbor Bob thought it was worth, only to have it sit on the market and stagnate or rot. Don't forget your neighbor wants your house to be worth more because that means his is!! Real estate markets are also dynamic. They are ever fluctuating. Market data needs to be reviewed about every month or so to make sure you are headed in the right direction with your home. There is nothing that can cost a home seller more than chasing a down market because they refused to take the market data seriously. Not Accommodating Showings- If home buyer's cant see it, than they won't buy it. You must have your home in tip top showing condition at all times and available as often as possible. Again, speaking from experience, if it is difficult to get a showing when it is convenient for the buyer, many times we will turn away from the house and never see it. When I am working with buyers, I am usually showing them multiple properties on a tight time schedule and in many cases in several towns. If you tell me "no" to a showing and I discuss this with my buyers and they were only marginal about your home, then you may have just lost a potential buyer. Failure to Respond to Offers- Respond to every offer do not get insulted (see the Being Emotional section). I have an agent that I overheard one day getting all upset because she had an offer on a property but it was $25,000 off asking price and she knew her client would just get insulted and reject it. Well, I heard this got on the phone with the seller and said listen this is a starting point, let knock a $1000 off in good faith and state the position of why the house is worth every penny of the asking price and see what happens. So with-in 24 hours we had an accepted offer with-in $3000 of asking from the same buyer. Your agent should have a negotiating strategy for every type of offer and be able to present multiple options to you in the negotiating process. An experienced agent knows how to negotiate. We do it every day. |