David Bach is offering a couple of tips for selling your real estate for top dollar, and they're not bad. I've sold a couple of homes with no real estate agent, each selling in less than a week, so I think I have some credibility to give advice that complements his. So, below I've expanded on Bach's advice, while also disagreeing with him in a few places:
#1: Find out what your house is worth. Bach suggests going online and/or checking local listings and visiting the open houses in your neighborhood. That's smart, but in my mind, his last suggestion is best–get an appraisal from a professional.
Bach suggests an agent do this, or an agent's appraiser do this. I disagree, regardless of whether you are using an agent or not. Get an appraiser who is not tied to anybody that will be trying to sell your home for you, someone who is completely objective. You'll get comparable listings of homes that have sold locally as well as an opinion of how your house stacks up against these recent sales, without any hype one way or the other.
My issue with real estate agents is that they often want the listing, regardless of whether they think you've priced the house correctly or not, so you could end up leaving money on the table, or not getting your place sold at all if you've overpriced it based on looking at a "comparable" sale that really doesn't compare to what you're selling.
#2 Make it look pretty & smell nice — Clean it, fix easy cosmetic stuff, repaint if necessary and if not overly costly. In the two houses I've sold, my wife and I said to each other right before the sale, "It looks better than it ever did when we lived here." All those little ticky-tacky things that you never got around to–get around to them now. Spend $500 today that could net you $10,000 in the sale.
We painted a bedroom, stripped some wallpaper, changed some old crappy bathroom hardware, all the little things that we could have done and gotten enjoyment from while we lived in the houses but just never did.
Also, bake some cookies right before your open house & if you have fireplaces, light them. Baking cookies might sound cheesy, but it makes a place feel cozy. And I don't care if it's the middle of summer when you're selling, a roaring fire makes people feel happy & excited about the prospects of living in your house.
Bach mentions curb appeal, which I think is hugely important. In reality, you can only do so much about this, unless your house has a glaring issue, like a worn paint job or complete lack of landscaping, in which case you should definitely do what you can.
The best advice I can give on this: buy homes that have plenty of curb appeal to begin with. If you fell in love with it before you even stepped inside because it looked so great, so will other people. Everyone likes to come home to a place that looks great, and they're more willing to overlook some things that aren't so hot on the inside if they can look at the listing after your open house and be reminded of how gorgeous it looked from outside. We all have a selective memory, and great curb appeal goes a long way toward making people forget the stuff that's not quite as great.
The home I live in right now is not in a rapidly appreciating neighborhood and some houses are sitting on the market for a long time, but I feel confident we could sell quicker than some of our neighbors because it's very pretty to look at from the outside, even if it's not markedly different on the inside.
Bach suggests you ditch the family pictures when you have buyers coming through because you want buyers to see themselves in the house, not you. I disagree. Yes, you don't want the house so cluttered with your stuff that people can't see themselves in it, but if you have a few family photos that show you and the kids smiling away on happy vacations or in studio portraits, that's actually a good thing. It makes a buyer feel like they're buying a place with a good "spirit"–what would you rather have if you're a buyer, a house with a happy family currently living in it, or a home being sold because the owner just died? (There's plenty of good real estate from dead owners of course, I'm just talking about the upside to having some shiny happy people photos on display.)
3. Try to sell without a real estate agent – This isn't Bach's advice, it's mine.
It isn't always possible to sell a place yourself, and for some people it's just not desirable, but if successful, you'll make a heckuva lot more money. If you've done the other work above and your home's in good shape at a good price, you have a good shot at selling your home quickly and profitably with no commissions to pay out. With the last home we sold, a real estate lawyer handled all the paperwork for about $500, much less than a real estate agent would get.
Granted, selling on your own is not for everyone. You have to publicize the home for sale via classified ads or any other means you can think of, real estate agents will not bring their buyers to see it so you'll be limited to buyers who comb the real estate ads on their own (no Multiple Listing Service for you!), and you'll have to handle negotiations face-to-face instead of through intermediaries. If you are going to get emotional when someone disses your house, this could be difficult for you. (Actually you will get emotional, I guarantee it, but can you keep it under control enough to do the deal?) Some people just don't have the time to sell on their own–that's certainly a valid reason.
But, if you're game, I highly suggest giving it a try. It could mean thousands of extra dollars for you.
Selling a home is stressful, for sure. But it can also be fun to fix your place up as nice as possible and have buyers come through. If you are selling on your own, your enthusiasm for the place will shine through and get others excited as well — no agent can do that, because it's not their place. They can say all the right things, but buyers know that they say the same thing about any home they're listing. You can point out features, tell buyers how you've used these features, plus answer questions that an agent won't know the answer to. There may be a downside to this, as you'll end up pointing out warts in your home because you can't help being honest, but that's OK. Buyers know that no home is perfect, and your honesty can actually pay dividends.
Enough from me. Get to work and good luck!
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When you’ve chosen an agent, the house has been measured and described to your satisfaction, and some fairly realistic photographs have been taken, you will soon be visited by people looking at the property.
Purchasers are looking for a good deal in just the way you are, and may wish to shop around considerably. Many myths have arisen about the value of classical music playing, fresh bread baking and a ground coffee smell from the kitchen swinging a sale. There are no rules, but you will soon develop a routine way of showing your house at its best and finding out what potential buyers are looking for. Questions will be searching, but the truth (or at least a tactful silence) is the best policy for potentially awkward issues such as your relationship with your neighbours.
Seriously interested buyers will visit again and again to help them make up their minds. You should talk to them and find out what their position is as regards selling their property or arranging their mortgage. They may be more or less organised than you think.