Are you really ready to sell your home?
Before you roll your eyes, take a second to truly think it through. It’s a serious question with a lot of different facets: Maybe you’ve got a schedule in mind and you’re financially ready – but are you in the right frame of mind to get the most out of your sale?
We know that selling your home is more than just tricky financially; it’s an emotionally loaded and taxing process with a lot of ups and downs. But when the going gets tough, it’s vitally important for your sale that you stay engaged, open to suggestions, and willing to play the game.
With the right real estate team by your side and everyone on the same page, we know that you can sell your home. So, what are the habits of highly effective sellers? What are the best ways to mentally approach a sale?
Here are three mindset changes that can help you sell your home faster:
1.) Commit to the Sale as a Team Project
It would be nice if all it took to sell a home was having your real estate agent put up a listing. Then you and your agent could just sit back and wait for offers to roll in, right?
In reality, selling a home is a complicated and time-intensive process that requires a lot of teamwork between seller and agent. Just as it wouldn’t be fair for your real estate agent to turn over all of the work of showings and open houses to you, your sale will be more difficult if you’re not willing to collaborate and remain open to different approaches, strategies, and methods from your team.
There’s an “i” in “selling,” but, like that peewee coach used to say, there really is no “I” in team. Be open to new ideas, be flexible about timelines and market conditions, and come into every meeting ready to listen to the knowledge that your experienced agent brings to the table. We're note suggesting you take whatever he or she tells you on face value, but explore the logic of the recommendations, after all, your agent has done this a few hundred times.
And of, course, expect the same from your agent! After all, you do know your home better than anyone. Your agents should be ready to listen and apply their skill set to help you out in any way they can.
And speaking of knowing your home…
2.) Give Your Home to the Market
It’s important to adopt the mindset of turning over your home to the market. In essence, this means pretending that it doesn't belong to you anymore and treating the property as a product that needs to be marketed for sale.
It can be hard to give up a home. It’s a physical representation of years – maybe even decades – of hopes, dreams, choices, and memories. But while it’s natural to be sentimental, clinging too tightly to your home can be counterproductive.
Take this example: Alex is a homeowner with extremely specific taste in wall colors and furniture. But rather than taking his agent’s advice to make a few cosmetic changes to neutralize the aesthetic and make the property more appealing to outsiders, Alex decides he likes his home as it is. And it is perfect, for him.
We see this all the time, whether it’s a refusal to ditch outdated design elements or even a stubborn insistence on leaving up sports memorabilia. And when this does happen? We sometimes see potential sales grind to a halt as prospective buyers fail to see themselves in the space.
Be flexible and be willing to adapt your place to appeal to customers' fresh eyes. Think like a marketer and you’ll be able to turn over your house faster. And think of it this way: The sooner you do make the sale, the sooner you can start making new memories and design choices in a new home!
And always remember…
3.) It Costs Money to NOT Sell a Home
Remember the old business adage that you’ve got to spend money to make money? In real estate, it holds true.
Let’s look at another example: Jesse has a gorgeous Lakeview town home. But while the outside of the property and the location are just about perfect, the inside needs to be staged. Instead of spending two thousand dollars to stage the home now, something her agent is confident will sell the home on the short-term, and for a high percentage of the list price, Jesse is "done" spending money on her "old home." This is going to end up costing Jesse in carrying costs, and, ultimately, she’ll likely net less money at the time of sale.
In a recent real world example, some home sellers passed on a quote to spend $4000 staging a completely vacant 3000 square foot home. The extra 60 days on the market cost them about $4000 in carrying costs (they were lucky to have a very small mortgage, along with property taxes and condominium assessments), and arguably another $15,000 in lost value when negotiating the sale of the home. The market time increased about 70%, giving buyers the perception the sellers were "desperate" to sell, and many likely interested buyers didn't have the imagination to see the space as their own and pay full market value.
This is a very real situation, and we see it all the time. Sometimes a $500 investment – in minor upgrades, decluttering, or staging – is the difference between getting the best possible price on your home and getting $5000 less.
When you’re ready to fully commit to making your sale, drop Real Group a line! Our experienced, professional team is here to guide you every step of the way, through all of the daily stresses and the major victories of Chicago real estate. To get started, why not shoot us an email or check out our listings?
