Selling A Home in Richmond, VA – in this market!!!!
If you’re a Seller this year, here is your Real Estate Strategy for 2010. If you’re buying, congratulations! This year will probably be the single most attractive time to purchase property in the last 30 years. Rates are low, prices have come way down and inventory is plentiful. So, get your Trulia iPhone App downloaded and get out there!
Sellers, you have several homework assignments, ignore at your own peril. Seriously, take this advise or forever kiss your equity goodbye.
Assignment#1: Get it Staged – De-clutter, accessorize and accent! This is your biggest financial asset - make it look good.
Assignment#2: Get it Appraised – It makes a great bargaining chip in negotiations with buyers! And a powerful addition to your marketing. If a third party says your home has value, then how is a buyer to low ball you.
Assignment # 3: Get it Inspected- Not getting your home inspected yourself; prior to putting it on the market is the biggest mistakes Seller’s make. A good Home Inspector runs about $300, and it’s much smarter than giving up $2500 to a scared buyer during negotiations. Now that you know what your houses value and condition are, let’s get it sold.
Assignment # 4: Forget Open Houses and Go Social. - Open Houses do nothing but bring nosy neighbors and looky-lou’s trampling through your house. Only 1-2% of buyers actual buy a home from an Open House according the National Assoc. of Realtors. BUT if you reach out to people on social media you are much more likely to generate positive results. Either you or your agent should have a good Social Media strategy. The good news is it’s easy. Just make a flyer for your house at Postlets.com and then publish your flyer to all your Facebook friends. Bingo, everyone in your circle of friends knows and friends Love to talk about real estate! In this case the more talk the better.
Assignment # 5: Don’t be Discreet – Moving and selling may sometimes NOT be the first thing you want to tell your neighbors, but if you want a sale, get to chattin’. Statistics show that many people find out about deals before they hit the market through friends and neighbors. I sold a house one time, by simply mentioning it some of my friends at a party. Turns out, they had a buddy that wanted to leave in that neighborhood.
Assignment # 6: GO Web2.0 – That’s right, its a brave new world out there. Do you know that thousands of people in Richmond look at Homes for Sale on You Tube! Believe it. Think about it, what a great way to show off the house, than a real video tour through the home. This is not some slide show “Virtual Tour” idea from the 90′s, this is a live video walking through your home. It can even be narrated! We had a property, that a man from Chicago show on You Tube. He called and said he was going to be In Richmond, for two days looking at places. He had narrowed down 3 homes online and just wanted to actually get inside before he made an offer. He took our property, because the You Tube video basically “sold it for him”, he said.
Assigment#7: Target Your Buyer -Tailor your ad campaigns. We use Facebook Ads and Google Adwords to buy targeted ads for a particular demographic. That way, we know our target buyer is seeing our listings.
Assignment #8: Lose the Ego – This is a business decision. Yes, this is the home that you have lived in and loved for years, but its all about business now. When low ball offers come in, take a breath, and react professionally. You don’t want to lose a deal over frayed feelings. Keep your cool and leaning on your Realtor as a moderator and negotiator.
Assignment#9: Get Real – Price it with the Market. The market has change, although all of our expectations are still the same. You need to look at your situation. Decide what the market is willing to bear for your property and decide if you can afford to sell.
Assignment#10: Rent it! - We manage hundreds of mid to high-end homes with lovely tenants. Renting SHOULD be on the table as a option. Sometimes , its makes more sense. If you lose $400 every month on rent, over 2 years that is a only a $9600 loss (which is tax deductible). You could get an offer $10k or 20k less than your list price in this market easy. Run the numbers.
But homes are selling. So, do your homework. And remember its all about packaging. Your home is a product, and you want to package it in a way to compel buyers to want it.
Good luck out there!
