Posted by Team Kawohl
Selling your home can be one of the most stressful times in your life.
Many factors can affect the length of time your home is on the market. Is it a buyers or sellers market?
Like a commodity, home sales are all about supply and demand.
Do you have the upper hand? This will determine the outcome of the sale of your home.
Expecting Top Dollar for an outdated home:
Let’s face it, we all think our own home is the best. We are biased simply because our home is our castle.
Many sellers don’t realize they are in strong competition with other homes for sale. Sellers who’ve updated their homes and put in many upgrades over the years have a superior marketing position.
Some sellers don’t see the value in spending money to properly prepare their homes for sale.
Your home’s sales price will greatly depend upon condition. If your condition is better than other comparable homes on the market, you can expect a higher sales price. If your home is dated, you can’t expect to get the same price as the homes that have been completely updated or remodeled.
Getting angry at a low offer:
Sellers have three options when it comes to dealing with incoming offers:
1. Accept the current offer
2. Counter the current offer
3. Decline the offer. (The Kawohl team does not consider number three to be a valid option) Why? We strongly encourage our sellers to at least counter. Many sellers are inclined to feel insulted or become angry at a lowball offer.
Most savvy buyers have seen your homes’ competition in the same price range.
They may absolutely love your home but may want to try to get a sense of your bottom line.
We all love to get a good deal, don’t we?
Just remember when we go to buy your new home will be doing the same.
We try to remind sellers to take the emotions out of negotiating and view it completely as business.
If the offer is too low, we can respond with a strong counter offer to make your position very clear.
You’d be surprised how many buyers will actually accept the counter.
Not being flexible:
We’ve all heard the old saying everything is negotiable.
In real estate transactions there is a lot of give-and-take.
Sellers need to have a flexible attitude when it comes to negotiating the purchase agreement.
We’ve run into sellers who simply state “I am not paying closing cost for any buyer.” Our question to them… “Why not if you’re still netting the same amount of money?” Many buyers need the closing costs in order to make the deal financially feasible.
Repairs are a big item sellers often have difficulty with. If you’re working with a great agent you shouldn’t have to worry about too many repairs being called during the inspection. A good agent will have addressed those issues with you during the pre-marketing phase.
Radon is a great example. Many buyers will include a radon test in their home inspection. Radon becomes an issue if the level comes in too high. The buyer will expect you to pay for a radon mitigation system.
Many sellers may say “I’m not paying for this!” Sellers need to realize the high radon level will now need to be disclosed to every new potential buyer. This will be a huge negative for selling your home. Our answer is fix it so you can sell the home and move on to your next goal.
Take some of the stress out by hiring great realtors that know how to negotiate on your behalf. Great agents should be able to get you the best price possible.
Remember, you hired a professional to get professional help and opinions. Please listen to the advice to make your transaction be as smooth and seamless as possible.
John and Chris Kawohl are realtors with RE/MAX Results in Woodbury, MN and are licensed in Minnesota and Wisconsin. We are always ready to talk or stop by your home and welcome any questions you have! Feel free to contact us at KawohlTeam@Results.net or call us at 651-269-3308 or 651-343-8445. We are proud to make a donation to the Children’s Miracle Network with every transaction.