Common Homeowner Mistakes

Taking It Personally

As the homeowner, it's hard not to be emotional about selling your home. After all, you've likely taken some time to put your own touches on the home as well as have fond memories in the home.

For these reasons, you might take feedback or certain offers personally. Don't. Instead, use that information to your advantage.

For example, if you get a lowball offer from someone who is just looking to negotiate, don't write it off completely. Instead, use that offer to lure more offers on the home. Once you get another offer on the home, you might be surprised at how high that first offer may come up. Some buyers just really try to negotiate a better deal.

Complicated Access

It's paramount that you make your home accessible to active buyers. People have different schedules and sometimes are unable to make the weekend open house every time. 

Making the home unavailable during the weekdays or evenings can really sabotage a multi-offer situation. Always try to accommodate every showing. A good way to be more efficient with showings is to require buyers to provide a pre-approval. This will cut down on looky-loos who are just getting into the market and/or are not serious.

Overpricing The Home

"We want to price it high to leave room for negotiations" is a common statement we hear from sellers. It's understandable, you don't want to leave money on the table. However, that is exactly what happens when pricing it too high. How? By driving away buyers who are ready, willing, and able to pay top dollar for your home.

You also run the risk of not receiving multiple offers on the home. Remember, we don't care where the offers are in price, we just need to get them in and use them against the other buyers who want the home. After all, negotiations are all about leverage, and when you have multiple buyers, you have the leverage.

Poor Preparation

Cleaning, painting, and small repairs are things that can be easily done with a small budget and make a huge difference. Sure, some sellers just don't have the time, but we do. That's part of our 7 options for selling program.

We will help adjust and oversee the preparation of your home. We want the buyer to imagine a lifestyle in the home and not be distracted by the problems. 

Non-Disclosure

Disclose, disclose, disclose. Seller disclosures are a part of every home sale. If there is something wrong with the home, more likely than not, the buyers and their home inspector will find it. Disclose any known issues to your listing agent and on your seller disclosures to the buyer.

Get in front of major problems by either getting a home inspection before listing the home or getting bids from professionals to fix any known issues. Hiding it until later will only sour the deal costing you more time on the market. more headaches, and potentially less money.

If you or someone you know is looking to buy, sell, or invest here in San Diego, we would love to be your real estate resource!