Five Scary Mistakes to Avoid When Selling your Home

The prospect of selling your home can seem daunting—even scary—but it doesn’t have to be a frightful ordeal. There are a lot of steps to take on this journey, and one misstep of any kind can potentially cost you valuable time and money. With this in mind, we’ve compiled a list of spine-chilling mistakes to avoid when selling your home:

Not properly anticipating closing costs or time

No one enjoys receiving an unexpected bill, and when it’s a substantial one, it can cause quite a fright! Typically, the buyer will pay the closing costs on a home sale, but this can shift like a ghost in the night, depending on the situation. So, be sure to educate yourself on the ins-and-outs of your deal before making that assumption. Market conditions will often dictate the terms of a given sale, as buyers are able to request that sellers cover closing costs under certain circumstances. The amount of time it takes to close on a resale house can also vary wildly, so it’s always good to err on the side of caution and overestimate how long the process will take in case you encounter any hair-raising delays.

Improperly pricing your listing

Determining the best price point for your home is a science. Much like Dr. Frankenstein assembling his most famous creation, you’ll need to take bits and pieces from a variety of sources in order for your sale to be successful. Given that supply and demand are the key driving factors of home values and prices, being cognizant of trends in your market is pivotal to selecting a price point that will be attractive to buyers, as well as your bank account.

As you most likely learned during your homebuying experience, home prices can fluctuate dramatically from month to month, week to week or even day to day. Simply going with the first estimate you see online might work, but adopting a more dynamic approach to selecting a price point is more likely to yield success. Research recent sales in your neighborhood, look at data from experts and, if possible, talk to recent home sellers near you to gauge how their experience went. Knowledge is power and the more power you have when determining your home’s listing price, the better.

Hiring the wrong (or no!) real estate agent

Real estate agents are an invaluable resource when it comes to selling your home. They have experience and expertise that the average homeowner simply doesn’t possess, which is why, in most cases, they’re more than worth the cost of a commission. Like anything else though, there are good and bad realtors—so be sure to do your due diligence when selecting an agent that will tend to your needs in a timely, professional manner. You don’t want to get stuck with a zombie, mindlessly wandering through the sales process, or a vampire who’s only interested in how they’ll benefit from a given transaction. Read online reviews, check references, ask around—do your homework. Partnering with an agent who doesn’t have the right skillset to get your home sold will cause a lot of headaches and even more heartache, so avoiding this pitfall is incredibly important to your home selling process.

Masking issues your home may have

“Honesty is the best policy”—and this holds true in real estate. Fully disclosing any and all issues your home may have—now or in the past—is paramount to establishing trust with your buyer and also avoiding any legal issues that may arise from making less-than-true claims about your home’s condition. Painting over mold in the basement, poorly patching up a damaged roof, superficially covering up foundation cracks, etc. should never be done under any circumstances. If your house looks like a haunted cabin, don’t hire any witches to cast illusory spells that make it look like a castle!

Poorly staging your home

Making a good impression on potential buyers is key to selling your home, and proper staging of your abode is the best way to attract offers. You don’t want to scare away buyers by having mummies in the closet or monsters under the bed! Be sure to have your home professionally cleaned before hosting an open house or granting tours, and if necessary, have some touch-up painting done to both your interior and exterior. To enhance your home’s curb appeal, consider hiring a landscaper to pull weeds, spruce up your lawn and tend to any unsightly shrubs or trees. Finally, strategic lighting can transform your home from spooky to spectacular!

We hope that this list of eerie mistakes to avoid when selling your home will guide you toward a smoother, more successful journey!