Selling an Orlando Home? Keep Your Feelings In Check!
One of the biggest events in someone’s life is selling a home. It’s also a very emotional time for a homeowner knowing that they have to say goodbye to the place they’ve called home for so long. These feelings and emotions can tend to create state-of-mind in which the homeowner is no longer thinking clearly.
There are a lot of misconceptions or myths that exist about putting a home up for sale. Some sellers actually believe that selling their home will be super easy and there isn’t any preparation involved at all. Sellers that feel this way while their home is on the market never end up getting top dollar. They either end up settling for less money or just change their mind about selling at all.
Sellers that are aware of what it takes to make their home more desirable to buyers will be in a much better position to sell for a higher dollar amount.
After 12 years in the real estate industry, we know what it takes to sell your Orlando home for top dollar no matter what the situation.
We’ve come up with a list of the 5 most common myths about selling a home in Orlando
- Any Orlando Realtor Can Sell My Home
Let me start by asking you a simple question. If your nephew just passed his exam to become a real estate agent two weeks ago, would you trust him to sell your home? Or would you seek out an Orlando Realtor with years of experience and a proven track record? Hopefully, you picked option 2.
Picking the right real estate agent to represent you in the sale of your home is crucial. It’s also the 1st step in the route to a successful sale! One of the biggest myths in the Orlando real estate industry is that all real estate agents were created equal. This couldn’t be further from the truth and sellers who ignore this could end up losing thousands of dollars on the sale of their homes.
The truth is that every Orlando Realtor is different, and the way they market their listings is probably also different. Old schools realtors rely strictly on newspaper ads while other, younger agents, will only rely on social media and other online advertising.
So how do you know which realtor to choose? This is where knowing how to interview a real estate agent properly comes into play.
Sellers should ask certain questions when interviewing a realtor to sell their home. These are some basic questions to ask when determining which realtor is right for you.
- How many homes have you sold within the past year?
- What’s your marketing plan to sell my home if I give you the listing?
- Are you a full-time real estate agent?
- Can you provide me with references of your most recent listing clients?
- All Homes In Orlando Sell Fast
Far too many people in this world rely on gossip to get their information. They’ll tell you about their neighbor down the street who sold their house in one day… for the full asking price! Stories like this are unrealistic and probably aren’t true.
The truth is that not all Orlando homes sell fast with little or no effort. If this were the case, Realtors would be obsolete and I would be doing something else for a living.
There is a multitude of variables that factor into the amount of time and effort it takes to sell a home in Orlando. Like if a home is situated across from a public landfill, it’s highly likely that it will take more time, effort, and creativity in finding a buyer that doesn’t mind the smell of garbage twenty-four-seven as opposed to a home in a quiet neighborhood with a waterfall and rainbow in the backyard. Although this example is extreme… you get the idea.
The point I’m trying to make is that your home may take some time to sell. So don’t get discouraged if your home’s been on the market for 3 weeks and still hasn’t sold.
- Overprice The Home So You Have Plenty Of Room To Negotiate
I’ve seen homeowners make this mistake over and over again… A homeowner will price their home unrealistically high thinking that they are leaving themselves some wiggle room to negotiate a fair price. DON’T DO THIS!
When a house is priced correctly from the start, it will generate a ton of interest, especially in the first few days of it being on the market. This tends to create a multiple offer situation and maybe even a bidding war…That’s what you want!
- No Need To Have The Home Looking It’s Best
By pricing a home too high you’ll get a lot less interest and some buyers won’t even go see it thinking that the home is out of their price range. Consult with your Orlando real estate agent when it’s time to determine a listing price.
If you’ve shown as many Orlando homes as I have, you’d know the difference between showing a home that’s “show ready” and one that isn’t and how it affects a potential buyer.
A seller that takes the time and effort to make sure their home is looking its best before listing will surely come out ahead of a seller that doesn’t make the same effort. It’s like the old saying “you only get one chance to make a 1st impression”. Whoever made up that saying was probably a listing agent because it definitely applies to the residential real estate industry.
Preparing a home for sale isn’t that hard to do and doesn’t even cost that much. There are so many little things that you can do to your home that could mean the difference between getting an offer… or not getting an offer.
Here are a few basic tips to get your home ready for sale:
- Fresh paint
- Clean all surfaces
- De-clutter
- Ensure all light bulbs are working
- Remove excessive personal items
- Zestimates Are Accurate
A Zestimate is an auto-generated home valuation from the popular website Zillow.com. This site as well as many other sites that are similar provide homeowners with what they think their home is worth within seconds….that’s right,…seconds not even minutes!
The problem with these sites is that the home valuations that they provide are never accurate. These are not local sites… So how can a company based in California give me accurate information about how much my house is worth in Orlando?!… They can’t!
Sellers that believe these auto-generated value estimates get a rude awakening when a local Orlando real estate agent prepares a CMA [comparative market analysis] for them and it’s $15,000 less than their “Zestimate” and sometimes even more!
If you are looking to sell your Orlando home, don’t allow yourself to be guided by these popular myths and misconceptions people spread about selling a home.
Consult with an experienced Orlando realtor so that you have the knowledge to move forward intelligently and sell your home for top dollar!
For an accurate valuation on your home, GET A FREE CMA PREPARED BY A TOP ORLANDO REALTOR
