subject: The First Step To Selling Your Home [print this page] The First Step To Selling Your Home The First Step To Selling Your Home
Just as with anything else that you want to accomplish in life, when thinking about selling your home it's a good idea to give some thought to exactly what you would like to see happen and how. Once you have that clarity - write it down! This will help you articulate your goals and provide a roadmap to make sure you end up where you want to go. To kick-off the process of selling your home, answer yourself some questions.
What is Your Motivation?
Why are you selling? For example: a job transfer, you need a larger home or you're downsizing, you are facing foreclosure and want it stopped, etc.
What is Your Objective?
What do you want to accomplish by selling your home? It could be to free up money for a down payment on a larger home, or for debt relief. You may simply want to get rid of the house and break even without damaging your credit. Or you may want to cash in on an investment, but only if you can net "x" amount of profit. Be as detailed as possible in your answer.
Time Frame
When do you want to close the sale by? Do you have a target move date, or a need to start your new out of state job on a particular day?
What is your Unique Selling Proposition (USP)?
This is something few sellers ever give thought to but is extremely helpful with the marketing of your home. If you were a buyer, why would you want to by the home? A good place to start would be to list the things that attracted you to buy it in the first place.
Was it the views, the proximity to a major employer in town, or maybe the neighborhood (if so what is attractive about it)? It could also be the value - maybe you're planning to offer to sell the home at an unbelievable price. In most cases your USP will be a combination of different items which should be listed in order of importance.
What kind of Agent do you need?
Simply put: a good one :) There are many ways you could assess prospective agents, but my recommendation is that you make your decision based primarily on their integrity, their marketing plan and by how well you get along with them.
While many people think that this decision should be based solely on which agent recommends the highest listing price and the lowest commission, in my experience, if those are the only criteria you use, the chances are you'll end up with the least competent agent.
They're the most likely to suggest a high price and to work for a low fee, but they are also the most likely to lose you money somewhere else in the transaction. You may gain a half percent in commission cost but then lose three percent due to poor marketing, negotiation and transaction management. And that doesn't make sense.
Also, don't automatically assume that an agent can't, or won't help you if there's not enough equity in the property to pay for commissions. There are a multitude of possibilities that can make it work for everyone - talk to your agent and explore what can be done.
Conclusion
All this information will help you or your agent in crafting a detailed sales plan and to put together different marketing materials. The exercise will also give you an indication of the appropriate timelines.
You should also become familiar with the next steps in the home selling process: valuing your home, pricing your home and how to make your home presentable for buyers.
