Planning on Selling your Home in 2017?

Many folks make New Year’s resolutions concerning their living situation: Deciding it’s time to buy a home for the first time, thinking it’s maybe time to move up, or simply considering selling their current home.

If you’ve decided that it may be time to sell, there are several steps you should take, including involving trusted professionals in careful consideration and planning. The first step should be to get an experienced, knowledgeable Realtor involved.

In planning to put your home on the market, you’ll need advice from a real estate pro working in your area about what things may or may not be needed to do to your home first, what price you can expect to get, and what time of year is best to get it listed.

Choosing a Realtor should not be taken lightly. Just because someone is a “top producer” doesn’t mean they are the right fit for you. Nor is a recommendation from someone who does not have personal experience working with a specific real estate pro.

The two most important criteria in choosing a Realtor should be their knowledge of your neighborhood and property type, as well as good references from people you know and whose judgment you respect. An agent that’s successful in the suburbs may not be the best choice to list your home in the city, just as an agent that may live in your neighborhood but has no experience selling there may not be a good fit.

If you’re interviewing more than one agent, don’t make the mistake of hiring the one that says you can get the highest price for your home. You’ll need facts and figures to back up that claim, and it may turn out that the one who gave you the lower price has a better handle on recent comparable sales. Ask how and why they came up with their pricing.

It’s also important that you have a good connection with the Realtor. Choose someone you feel you can trust and whose workstyle syncs with yours. Among other things, they should be a good communicator who is able and willing to educate you about the process.

Once you’ve chosen the Realtor, they should be willing and able to help guide you through the next steps. Here are a few important issues you’ll need to discuss:

• Pricing is clearly the most important issue. Too many people think that it’s best to shoot for the highest price possible, especially if they’re not in a hurry. That is completely inaccurate. If your home is overpriced, it will become “market-weary,” and buyers will end up making lowball offers. Overpriced homes often end up bringing less in the end than they would if they had been priced correctly to begin with.
• Condition is the next most important factor, and one of the main reasons to contact a Realtor well in advance of when you think you want to sell. For example, when I go see a new client about selling their home, they usually have a list of items they think need to be addressed before selling. I’ll go through the house with them and help them figure out which things really are important and which things aren’t. More often than not, I’ll end up saving them time and money by taking things off the list that aren’t going to affect the bottom line. It’s important to note that these items vary greatly by area and price range. What may be a big draw in one area or price range may be a non-issue in another. Or possibly even a negative.
• Timing also can be an important factor in selling your home. A Realtor can help you figure out if there are better times of the year than others for selling in your area. Those are not necessarily universal, so it’s important to know the specific market. And, if your timing is driven by factors you cannot control, your Realtor will help you make the most of the timetable.

Once you’ve gone through these steps and made some well-advised decisions, it’s time to get to work on any repairs or upgrades that need to be done to ensure your home is ready to make its debut on the market.

Similarly, if you are a homeowner even considering a renovation in the New Year or are a first-time buyer planning to pull the trigger in 2017, begin with input from your Realtor and other professionals, like your mortgage banker. Knowledgeable pros can help you spend your time and money wisely, but also assist with the planning and homework that goes in to big home-related decisions.