There are many reasons to position your home to be the next in line to sell.  Here are the top 5:
1. You’ve put your house on the market.  That means it’s time to sell! You’ve decided to move for a variety of reasons.  Maybe a job transfer, maybe a move up or down, maybe a tightening mortgage payment.  Regardless, Sellers can’t rely on the old theory, “I’ll just put it on the market and see what I get.”  That’s so yesterday.  Don’t waste your time or your Broker’s time. The Buyers out there are too savvy. They won’t “just make an offer.” Too many Sellers still haven’t realized how important positioning is, and how competitive the market is right now.  Regardless of a renewed sense of consumer confidence, there will not be a marked appreciation on your house for quite awhile.
2. When rates do begin to rise, and they have been over the past two weeks, Buyers’ purchase power will begin to erode. That means the pool of potential customers for the product you’re selling will get smaller.  Your house is on the market – it’s a product.  It should appeal to the largest number of potential purchasers as possible. And it should either be a phenomenal deal, or be updated to current taste and style.   Don’t underestimate the feedback if you hear the price is too high. That might be a reflection that rates are impacting Buyers and their willingness to make an offer on a property they view as average – either for reasons of pricing or condition, or both.
3. There is an unseen pent-up inventory of homes waiting to hit the market. More inventory will translate into more competition and eroding or flat prices.  Sell now, before you’re competing against the Seriously Delinquent, Pre-Foreclosures and Bank-Owned Properties (REO Inventory.)  A recent Core Logic study shows how much inventory threatens to come on the market throughout the U.S. in coming months.
4. Don’t think distressed sales won’t affect your price.  Should appraisers attempt to use like-kind sales?  Yes, they should.  But when short sales and foreclosures begin to dominate they will affect pricing throughout the market. In the high-end, we’re seeing more and more short sales, more and more bank-owned properties.  Everyone has been affected by the Great Recession – get your home sold if that’s your goal.  Listen to what your Broker tells you about price and condition.  Your Broker is your consultant.  She (or he) is there to help you.
5. It’s time to keep emotion out of it.  That’s hard, I know.  If I were selling my home today, I would want the highest price possible. But the price in your mind is not usually the price a house sells for.  Do you truly want to sell your house now? Isn’t that why you’ve gone to the effort of readying it for the market, making it available to Buyers, and hiring a Broker?  Be a savvy Seller, one who can brag to your friends that you sold quickly in a really tough market.  Don’t be the Seller with multiple price reductions and months and months on the market.  You will lose in the end.  Be the Seller who sells – the entire reason you’ve placed your home for SALE!
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