Are you thinking about selling your home in the near future? Whether you are going to sell your home yourself, or whether you plan to list it for sale with a licenced real estate professional, there are three things that you need to understand and keep in mind throughout the entire process of preparing to sell, and selling, your home.
First: your home is the place where you have experienced life, and in many ways, it’s like an old friend. The mere thought of parting with your home can trigger many strong emotional feelings and sentiments. The longer you have lived there, the more of life you have experienced there, the stronger those emotions and feelings.
Those emotions can work against you, and actually sabotage your selling efforts if you aren’t careful. You need a clear head to plan and execute each step of the way. Here’s a tip to help you find that objective mindset you so badly need.
Your house is an inanimate object. Severing your relationship with an inanimate object does not sever your relationship with the experiences you have had there – you can take those experiences with you, if you choose to!
Second: remember that ‘facts tell, emotions sell’. In other words, humans base their decisions to buy on emotion, not fact. More often than not, we use facts to justify the decision to purchase, a decision that we have already made, based on emotion.
This is especially true in the case of houses. In fact, buying a home is likely one of the most emotional experiences most people have. It’s about where they live their lives, where their children grow up, where they take pleasure from their favorite hobby. It’s about their sense of worth. And while it’s usually a fact that a home buyer’s choice of a new home is restricted by a few factual matters, such a the lending limit the mortgage lender will approve, within those financial parameters, a buyer’s emotion rules!
Therefore, to sell your house in the fastest possible time for the most money the market will allow, you must do everything in your control to make your home emotionally appealing to prospective buyers.
Third: you don’t want to break the bank in the process of preparing your home for sale. Don’t take on a major renovation projects just to sell your property. Remember, there are no guarantees that you would recover the costs. In fact, it’s most likely that you would not.
A conservative approach works best. Explore different cosmetic improvements that can be made. Cleaning, painting and a bit of refinishing don’t cost too much, yet these efforts can make an impressive difference – in terms of looks, salability, and sale price.
And always, always remember – you are doing what’s necessary to market your home to as broad an audience of potential buyers as you can, not to make it perfect.
If your home is in or near Victoria, BC and you would like a complimentary copy of my Guide called “…58 Home Selling Tips For a QUICK Sale… and For Top Dollar!”, Contact Me and I’ll be sure to get one to you.
Bye for now,
...Victoria's blogging real estate professional.
