Home > Home Sellers > Marketing your Home
There are many strategies-some using common sense and others psychological-for making your house attractive to a potential buyer.
Now that you have decided to sell your home, it's time to consult a professional in marketing - your Realtor®. He or she knows what can motivate buyers and what financial incentives will move them to action. Also, your Realtor® has resources to link your home with a network of professionals all over the country that matches buyers and sellers every day.
Building Traffic
There are many different ways that your Realtor® can attract prospective buyers to your house. In addition to the traditional advertising in the real estate classified section of the newspaper, your Realtor® may include your house in home magazines that are distributed free in places such as supermarkets. These magazines often include pictures of your house to show off its architectural style to buyers. Radio, TV, the Internet and specialized publications like college or business newspapers, also offer a creative avenue for marketing a house. Your Realtor® can also employ the "Multiple Listing Service" (or "MLS") as a more targeted form of advertising. This service is extremely important for a sale because most buyers work with agents all over the country and agents use the MLS to match the right property to the right buyer.
Listing agents are always trying to attract buyers, and agents who are assisting buyers are always looking for the right properties to show them.
Open Houses
A buyer "event" like an open house can help stir interest in your property. Your Realtor® can schedule a time when prospective buyers can come and take a look at your home to see if they are interested. Weekends are traditionally the best time for an open house. Most people have more time to browse. Sometimes, an agent may even suggest scheduling an open house on a weekday evening, particularly, if this time of day shows your house at its best proverbial light. Do not underestimate the power of lighting. A warm fire on a cool evening can add an element of comfort.
Your Realtor® may also suggest a "broker" open house, called a "caravan". This is not directed to the public. This way other agents can preview the property, take mental notes and hopefully match one of their buyers with your house.
In either case, your agent may suggest holding an open house while you are not present. You may feel more comfortable by taking any of your valuables and storing them in a safe-deposit box. Then, all you need to do is sit back and let your Realtor® do all the work.
Many Realtors® will tell you, the way to sell your house more quickly is to provide assurances to the buyer that the structure of your home is solid and free of potential problems. The investment you make in an inspection will sway a prospective buyer's confidence toward believing that any claims you make about the condition of the house are true and accurate.
This will guarantee that the house will be free of defects over a certain period of time. Many inspection companies can include this into your inspection
Additional Incentives
Let's say, all your efforts to motivate a buyer have paid off, and you are ready to shake hands, but there's one obstacle; your buyer has no down payment. Your Realtor® can help you figure out if your old loan is assumable by the buyer. If this buyer is someone you have confidence in to buy your house, you might suggest supplying the down payment as a loan. This is known as a "second mortgage." You must decide whether the buyer can afford the additional note and whether you mind receiving a part of the sale in monthly installments.
One last incentive is called the "buy-down." This is a way of bringing down the interest rate on a mortgage with an interest rate up to 8 percent, but the current rate of interest is 10 percent. The seller, then, makes up the difference in money with one lump sum fund, which is then repaid at a later date by the buyer. This is used to pay the lending bank every month for the first years in the life of the mortgage. The buyer is then expected to make the full payment. This investment by the seller will mean that he or she does not have to compromise and come down in price.
Just remember to talk with your Realtor® about all the options and the pros and cons.
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