How to Sell a Home

Kristy Stavrou: Selling your home in a down market requires a couple of things. First of all, motivation. You obviously want to get out of the decline as fast as possible. So if your house is worth a $100,000 today, what might it would be worth in 6 months, if its falling at a rate of $5000 a month? You want to be the next one sold.

Your best opportunity to sell your home is within the first month of it being on the market. If you don't, what people perceive that as is desperation. They perceive it as you have to sell and you are willing to take a much lower price on it. But if you sell your faster, then you will actually make more money on the house. Pamela Jones: Pricing mistakes are the most common reasons why homes don't sell. Another mistake that sellers make is they spend money on major improvements, thinking that it will add value to the home. Dennis Bruce: So essentially, they raised their price. What they are doing is they are eliminating the pool of prospects. Keep your house clean, leave it the way it is, price it for what it is and it will get absorbed by the marketplace because everybody is looking for the houses that they can buy for less money and invest money to make it their own. Kristy Stavrou:You should absolutely leave your home, when someone is coming to see it. Put away personal effects and items into drawers. You want the buyer of your home to be able to picture their family, not yours, in the home. Pick everything up, do the dishes, pick your kids and your dog and leave the house with the lights on and may even some music going, the fire is on the fireplace. You just need to show people that you have loved and taken care of your home. Dennis Bruce: If you get an offer that you consider to be too low, I wouldn't necessarily dismiss it. You can be emotional about it and be offended and just not counter or not respond, but what you are doing is you are pushing away that prospect. Everybody likes to negotiate, but somebody is not going to forgo their dream home because the seller wont negotiate it. If compared to all the other products out there, its the overall best value. Kristy Stavrou: Its your asset, you get to choose ultimately whether you will take that offer or whether you will turn it down. Once you have accepted an offer, the rest of the process is really handled mostly by your agent. There are about 35 steps afterward, that you really won't have to mess with too much. However, you will have to clear out for a home inspector, for an appraiser and your agent will be coming back to you with any requests that the new buyers have, such as fixing a hole in a wall, or replacing a shingle on the roof, or repairing a cracked window. Pamela Jones:Selling a home is certainly a more difficult process in this market, but your home will sell faster, if it shows nicely and its priced to sell. Pricing is the make or break decision in this market.

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