ARG's Home Sellers Guide
Thinking Like a Successful Home Seller in the N. Texas Real Estate Market
Price it Right the First Time
Price is the single most important reason why homes sell or do not sell! If you truly want to sell your home then pricing your house right from the very start should be your number 1 priority.
What you need to avoid is listing your home and not being "MLS" ready. If your house does not look its best from day 1 you undermine your most critical days on market, the first 30 - 45 days. This "bubble of opportunity" happens only once per listing and for those sellers who make their house look "right" from day 1 and price their house correctly, experience the greatest success.
When sellers have dated paint jobs, or non neutral paint colors, dirty windows, carpets, counters & floors, and are in need of repairs, then those buyers do nothing to help motivate buyers to bring an offer. The fact is you won’t win a medal by over pricing your house in the DFW Market nor are you likely to get an offer, and you may very well end up taking less then a fair market price if your home ends up languishing for too long in MLS. Having your home sit on the market and age like cheese gets old fast.
Going through the drill of prepping before showings on a moments notice begins to discourage sellers especially when after dozens of showings there has been "no real interest." "No real interest" means something is wrong. And most likely the price is too high and or the home does not complement the price being asked. "No real interest" means you also have not made the "short list" after a dozen showings. "Short list" is when a buyers agent informs you that you are in the top 3 for a particular buyer.
The other problem in the local McKinney area market is the competition from new Home Builders. Sellers who try and price their 1-2 year old home near or at what new homes are selling for will nearly always loose a buyer to the new home builder unless you have a unique home and location and have done some very special owner enhancements that justifies the price enough to make buyers stop to take notice.
Ok, so you think your house is worth more than the average nearby homes in your neighborhood and that you have something ‘special?’ Well maybe you do. Lot location & lot size are critical factors that buyers are willing to pay more for. In fact buyers will pay more for the right set up. And what is that?
- Large Lot - .3 Acre or larger
- Cul de Sac
- Greenbelt / Creek lot
- Private backyard
- Backyard faces EAST (afternoon backyard shade when it is 100F)
- Convenient closer-in Location for short work commutes
- Away from noisy roads
If you don’t have all or a combination of the 7 major location factors and a desirable well maintained house, then your home needs to be priced within the market parameters if you expect to be a successful seller. Think of it this way. Only about 10% or less of available real estate has the unique location aspects listed above. These homes cost more to buy and command a higher sales price when they sell and they always have less competition when they are on the market and hence typically sell faster. If you are not in that group of homes, then you are competing with ~90% of the market. This is why average interior lot homes are mainly price driven and why it is critical to price these homes right if you want to be a successful home seller.
Shopping For Realtors Until They Tell You What You Want to Hear
The easiest way to achieve failure in your efforts to sell your home is to shop Realtors until you get the highest starting Listing Price, or who have marketing ideas that sound good but add little to your true ability to sell your home.
What you should be asking is to see the percentage of homes listed to homes SOLD from the agent you are considering and then consider the advice being given. About 90% of Realtors are part timers, hungry for business, and are more prone to give you exactly what you want versus what you should hear in order to get your business. Even Realtors have a learning curve. In the end the market will win. There is simply no getting around advertising at the right price. When you are at the right price, many times you get a full offer or very close to a full offer and your time on market is greatly reduced. I can't tell you how many clients ARG could have listed, but the home owner felt the price I was proposing was too low or they wanted a listing agent who can parade other realtors through their home versus actual buyers!
Many of these homes became expired listings and were relisted multiple times with several different agencies to no avail. Had these home sellers taken sound advice day 1 and priced their homes correctly, before their listing became stigmatized due to time on market, well you get the picture. There is no getting around reality, it's what keeps us all sane! The fact is the market is bigger than any Realtor, including ARG, and psychological equity that can't be cashed in is of no good use to anyone. There is simply no substitute for real honest advice derived from proven experience. When Realtors present you with hard facts about the market, you need to listen!
Listen to Your Realtor!
Your Realtor will present you with a very careful competitive market analysis or “COMP” to show you what other homes have sold for. In fact, every month it would be wise to review a new COMP to see if average sales prices are changed so you can adjust if necessary. If after being presented with this information you insist on pricing your home above market pricing then you are most likely setting yourself up to join the long list of expired MLS listings, or you may find yourself selling at a lower price then if you priced your home right from the start!
Importance of Staging Your Home
You have something to sell, and buyers are looking for something to buy. Your job is making a buyer want your home! A refreshingly good looking home is the No.1 reason why a home sells.
If your home looks cluttered, needs to be cleaned, is arrayed with worn out furniture or furniture that does not complement your home, has funky paint colors, visible damage, dog damage, dirty paint and other unsightly "red flags", then you are setting yourself up to fail in your effort to sell. Unless you are prepared to take care of business on your end, you are most likely wasting your time trying to sell your house.
If buyers pull up to your home only to see a yard that needs obvious attention, or finds litter, and other personal effects scattered about, think of the initial impression you are sending a buyer? Since this is a buyers market, and you get only one first impression, you want it to be a good one.
Sometimes good advice is hard to give by an Agent and may be tempered by the agents underlying desire to obtain and keep your business, but in the end being honest may be the difference between getting your house sold with the least amount of headaches and for the best price, or not selling at all. As a seller, it can be difficult to hear criticism about your home, but remember, both you and your agent have the same goal.
As a seller, the choice is yours, and what you do will be the difference between success or failure, between getting a better offer or a below market offer.
Turn on the Lights and Open the Blinds
For a showing it's critical that your home looks its very best. Before the potential buyer arrives, turn on the lights and open the blinds in every room. Even if your home is a Mansion, lighting is critical for a good first impression. Second impressions are hard to come by if you don't get it right the first time.
If you are selling Big Screen HDTV's or Media Room Equipment, turn it on and show it off, and do pick out the best hi def channel you have.
Sellers if you can just hold just one basic thought about today's buyers it would be this: today’s buyers are busy people and you only have a short amount of time to attract their attention while they are in your house! My experience has shown me over and over again that buyers don’t want to buy a project and most won’t hang around your house for more than a few minutes if your home does not make a good first impression. They want to find a great looking house for the lowest possible price. That is the mind frame of today's buyer and a successful seller needs to know this and use it to their advantage to capture a buyer's attention.
So, deep clean, paint, touch up, pack up and thin out furniture and personal belongings to make your home look and feel spacious and new. Then light a candle or add fragrance to the air, turn on the lights, open the blinds, switch on the ceiling fans, turn the radio on low, and switch on the media room equipment and give the buyers something to really stand up and take notice of!
Sell Your Home, Not Your Personal Belongings
People often wonder why vacant, clean and like new homes sell so fast? The fact is a buyer is more prone to notice a clean vacant home more then one that is lived in.
More importantly sellers really need to ponder that during each showing the buyer will spend only a certain amount of time in your home. The "clock" starts at the curb. Now do you want buyers looking at pictures of your family members hanging on the wall in every room and other personal nick knacks in an effort to try and figure out who lives in your house, or do you want them focusing primarily on the house you so desperately want sold? Every distraction in your home reduces the actual time the buyer spends looking at the house itself. The buyer really is not interested in you or your personal belongings and I can’t tell you how many times a house would have had a chance to sell had it not been for the personal property distraction seen by the buyer.
If, on the other hand your home truly looks like an expensive model home and has a central theme, that can actually work to your advantage. Remember you are competing for a buyer that has been through dozens of model homes and dozens of clean empty new homes. Example – If you live in a $500K home, but your furniture looks like it belongs in a $150K home, what kind of impression does this send to the buyer? Does it complement or distract? Does it help the buyer like your home more or less? Remember the buyer is trying to visualize how your house would look with their belongings in it and not yours. This is why it is always a good idea to rent a storage space and remove items from your house to make your home feel more open with less sight distractions for the buyer to see.
Leave Your Emotions out of Your Home Sale
When you finally get an offer, don't blow your top if it's not what you were expecting. It is not about you, it's about your house and the market! A low offer is nothing to pout about.Some people never see an offer. If market numbers bare out and support the offer you received, then you may be over priced.
If your home has something special going for it, like a premium lot location (listed above) and special upgrades, then you may want to counter offer. Just remember don't take it personally, its not about you. Your agent will help you counter the buyer's offer and work to make the buyer's agent understand the important differences that warrant a higher selling price.
The Numbers Don't Lie
From 4/20/06 through 10/17/06 there were a total of 8588 MLS Listings for McKinney, Texas. Out of these numbers there were:
- 1657 Homes Sold - ~ 19% of Total Listings Sold
- 2727 Expired Listings - ~ 31% of Total Listings Expired
- 2999 Cancelled Listings - ~34% of Total Listings were cancelled
- 1205 Active Listings currently in MLS - ~14% of Total Listings are still active (at the time of this printing)
This means that two thirds of all McKinney MLS listings in the sample 6 month time period were not successful! Also keep in mind that a good one third of the homes that sold were new homes, making the actual resale numbers even lower.
Regardless of the sophisticated marketing efforts employed by a variety of Realty agencies, big and small alike, only approximately one fifth of all MLS Listings successfully sold. Keep in mind many homes for sale had multiple listing numbers and or were re-listed to reset the DOM (Days on Market). So you see its not about the agent's marketing presentation employed to get your business that really counts, but rather getting your home priced right so you can be in the one fifth of MLS Listed homes that do sell!
That is why ARG believes getting the price right and paying the least amount in agent commission fees is the right approach to successfully selling your home in the Collin County, McKinney area Real Estate market.
Learn more about the Selling Process
The professional team at Askins Realty Group, McKinney, TX, will be happy to answer any questions you may have regarding selling your home in McKinney or surrounding area real estate. Find out how you can save thousands with our Texas Best Buyer Rebate. Please email or call (972) 529-2394 Local Office.
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