Over the past couple years I have been refining my approach to listing homes for sale and selling them. This strategy is very specific and is all about creating a situation that entices one or more buyers to make an offer on your home in the first few days it’s on the market when the seller has the most strength in negotiation.
Much of the effort that goes into selling a home with my strategy is done prior to listing the home for sale. The initial up front work involves preparing your home for sale and determining exactly what price to price it at.
Most homes have at least a couple items that need to be addressed prior to listing them to improve their appeal to potential buyers. I often recommend new light fixtures if they are dated, painting rooms that need it due to current color or paint condition, flooring replacement and cleaning if needed.
Other than kitchens and baths, most rooms are made up of flooring, paint, trim, light fixtures, windows, window coverings and whatever stuff the person has. I also recommend changes so the home is staged better and has minimal clutter. Window cleaning is always a good idea too. Sometimes the home needs help on the outside to improve curb appeal. On occasion the home needs something more. I also have many relationships with contractors that I know and trust that I can recommend to you if you need help getting your home ready to sell.
To determine pricing I run three comparative market analysis on the subject home comparing it to other homes in the area that are currently for sale, under contract and recently sold and I look at inventory levels to see how many homes we will be competing with and how fast they are selling. I also start previewing homes for sale in the area so I can physically see what the competition has to offer and what each location is really like. Previewing is key. Virtual tours are done to entice buyers and their agents to come to see a home and don’t reveal everything you want to know.
I then refine what I think the subject property is worth. If that’s in line with what the seller wants and needs for the home we keep moving forward. If the seller wants more for the home than it’s currently worth and the market is going up, I recommend that I track the value of their home until it’s where it needs to be if they have the time to do that.
Even in a seller’s market, buyers won’t pay more for a home than it’s worth and this strategy is to create a situation where a buyer will make an offer in the first few days the home is on the market. Over pricing results in eventual price reductions and price reductions don’t have the same effect as pricing at fair market value at the beginning because the home isn’t a new listing when the price reduction comes.
Once the home is ready to sell and the price has been determined, the seller makes the home ready to show, I meet with the seller to complete the paper work and we discuss what they love about their home to help me write the copy for it. Then I have a professional photographer take pictures of the home so they are complete prior to listing the home for sale. I use to take the pictures myself, but my photographer does such an amazing job that I’ve decided it’s better to let him do his magic.
Once I have the photos, I review the photos and with the list of what the seller loves about their home, I write the copy for the remarks on the MLS and the fact sheet.
Then, with all the pieces in place, I list the home for sale and schedule an open house for the first Saturday during the early afternoon. I promote the property and open house on Utahrealetate.com, Zillow, Trulia, SLCHomeBuyer and many other web sites and I do a paid promotion on my SLCHomesNews Facebook page which puts the home in front of thousands of additional local people. The for sale sign goes up, the keybox is installed and the fact sheets are delivered immediately.
Because the open house is the first one for this newly listed home, the open house is typically very well attended with 20 or more couples and individuals.
This approach has been producing great results for my clients, with an offer or two coming in on most of the homes I’m listing within the first few days of marketing them for sale. The benefit to the seller is they have the most negotiation leverage during the first days their home is listed for sale, so it’s more likely that a buyer will be willing to pay full price and it’s possible that more than one buyer will make an offer. There are many more specifics to the strategy than listed above and this is just the work done in advance of listing and the first few days of marketing. After that there’s negotiation, contract and transaction management, home inspection negotiation, closing the transaction and more.
If you are wondering what your home is worth, have any questions about buying or selling real estate in and around Salt Lake County, or if you would like to track the value of your home, contact me.
If you found this article interesting and would like to keep up to date with the Salt Lake County real estate market, I typically post two to three times a week on my SLC Homes Facebook page and you can find that at:
https://www.facebook.com/SLCHomesNews
Thank you!
Kevin
Kevin Coyle
REALTOR Broker CRS MBA
SLC Homes
M: (801) 243-0699
Kevin@SLCHomeBuyer.com
