What are the most common house advertising mistakes that people make? You probably know a few of them already. For instance, you might know how easily the sale is blown by inaccurate pricing or deceptive listing descriptions.
More importantly, though, do you know how to avoid such mistakes? If not, don’t worry. We’re going to explain all you need to know about this in the following guide.
This guide includes tips on how to determine the correct value of your home, how to stage, how to list, and more. We’ll also share some less intuitive tips, like keeping your emotions out of the selling process. Keep reading to learn how to improve your house advertising strategy.
1. Not Knowing the Value of Your Home
Your home may never sell if your initial listing price is too high. Buyers have no reason to bid on your overpriced home when there are similar homes for a much better deal.
What’s worse is that when your home remains listed but unsold for a long time, it lowers your chances of selling it. At that point, the buyers who were previously interested have already decided against it. And the rest of the buyers will overlook your house to view the more recent listings.
Then, you’ll have to drastically reduce the price to get people interested again. Lastly, buyers will then feel confident that they can haggle the price down even further. Ultimately, your house takes longer to sell and sells for much less when you overprice it.
So the first thing you need to learn is a proper pricing strategy. Here are a few ways to do this.
Get an Appraisal
There’s no better, faster way to learn the true value of your home than to hire a professional house appraiser. This will cost you a few hundred dollars. But then, proper pricing will gain you several thousand dollars so it’s worth it.
Get a Comparative Market Analysis
Another way to get a professional opinion is to get a CMA (Comparative Market Analysis) from a local real estate agent. In this report, they compare the closing prices of similar homes that recently sold in your area.
The agent may charge you for this service. But they’re likely to offer it for free if you enlist them as your agent for this sale.
Do Your Own Research
Also, you can draw up your own CMA the same way a professional agent would. Check out recently sold, local houses on various real estate listing websites.
Find those that are similar to your own in age, features, and square footage. Then, compare their prices and price yours slightly below the average.
Yes, Price It Below the Average
You heard us correctly. We just explained the dangers of overpricing. But you might be needlessly concerned about underpricing.
Underpricing simply isn’t a problem. For one thing, it gets your house sold faster, especially in a highly competitive market. Plus, you may get so many buyers interested that they begin a bidding war.
2. Not Letting Go of Your Emotions
Unfortunately, there’s a point at which all the good advice we just gave you goes completely unheeded. We call that point “emotional attachment.”
For example, you now know that you should price the house low. But then, your emotions tell you that you can’t let it go for so little. They say, “The house is too important/holds too many memories/blah, blah, blah.”
Well, it is up to you, we suppose. But trust us. If you put your emotions in charge of pricing, you’ll suffer all the bad scenarios we just described.
That is, your overpriced house will take too long to sell, resulting in a huge price cut, anyway. You’ll only be prolonging the inevitable.
3. Quick Fixes/Coverups
If you want to repair your house before selling, repair it. If you don’t want to, then don’t.
However, there’s a third option that you should never, ever try. Never try to cheat the buyer by hiding problems or making it look like they’re fixed when they’re not. This strategy does not work, ever.
Your efforts aren’t going to fool the professional home inspector whom the buyer will undoubtedly hire. These inspections always unmask sellers as the dirty, rotten cheats they are, where applicable.
Alternatively, employing temporary, Band-Aid solutions isn’t great either. Either repair the problem for real or post the problem in your listing description.
4. Dishonest Listing Descriptions
Failing to list your house’s problems is just as bad as covering them up. Excited buyers will view the home, only to be repelled by obvious problems that you should have told them about in the first place. Always describe the exact condition of your house, and its issues, in full detail.
In the same way, don’t forget to boast about your home’s good points. For example, maybe your roof and driveway are brand new as of 3 months ago. It would be a shame if these selling points go to waste because you forget to tell your buyers.
5. Poor Staging/Photographing
If you list your home with a bad photo or none at all, it’s about as bad as overpricing. Your home will take too long to sell and you’ll have to cut the price.
It’s pretty silly to allow this when all you have to do to prevent it is spend about $200 on professional photos. On average, your house should sell 32% faster due to these high-quality photos. Similarly, staging your home before hiring the photographer will help, too.
6. Selling at the Wrong Time
Statistics are pretty clear about the best and worst times to sell your home. Namely, it’s best to sell in spring/summer. The worst time is after September and especially during December.
7. Using the Wrong Selling Strategy
Most of the issues on this list have to do with listing and selling your home the traditional way. However, this strategy isn’t ideal for all types of houses. You may, for instance, benefit more from selling to a cash buyer instead.
This is an especially good choice for those who need to sell their house fast or can’t afford the necessary repairs. Plus, you don’t even have to list your home when you sell this way. Go here to learn more about how this works.
Don’t Make These House Advertising Mistakes
Remember these house advertising mistakes and keep this guide bookmarked for easy reference. That way, you can be careful to avoid making these mistakes yourself.
Find more great tips like this on our blog. Or, for related content, read these 7 Factors That Affect Your House Value.