8 Tips for Selling a House in Today's Market

Selling a house in a good market is difficult enough, so how do you do it in 2011, when the market is so unstable and uncertain? I've been selling real estate for 20+ years, and this is one of the most challenging markets I've seen. 

Here's 8 tips to help you get your house sold in a difficult market:

1) Price your house right. Find out which houses have recently sold in your immediate neighborhood in the last 90 days, and do the math. Find out which houses are currently for sale. Drive by these houses and take a good look at them. If you can do the research yourself fine, if not, contact a good local agent and work with them. 

Do not trust sites like Zillow to figure out what to list your house for or what your house is worth. From my experience, the data these sites use is often outdated from county records, and even for current MLS listings, they don't always capture price reductions in a timely manner, or closed sales prices correctly, and you need accurate, reliable data to work with.

From the data you've gathered, figure out which houses are truly comparable to yours. For example, if your house is 1,200 sq feet, 3 bedrooms, 2 baths with a 2 car garage, you want to use houses that are typically within 15% +/- on square footage, which would be +/- 180 sq feet. So you could realistically use houses that are about 1,000 sq feet up to 1,400 sq feet as comparables, as long as they are similar in age, style and amenities to yours.  

The way I create a CMA is with a spreadsheet, and I include the following for each of the houses I'm using as comparables: list price, sales price, DOM (Days on market), year built, square footage, number of bedrooms, number of baths, garage and/or carport spaces, site size, and view. Make columns for each of these items and fill in the data. Do the same for active listings, as this is your competition. Calculate price per square foot by dividing sales price by square footage. (I realize this is a lot of information to process, so I will create a separate hub with examples so you can see how I do it.)

Once you get an accurate idea of what's going on in your market, and where your house potentially falls in the mix, you can decide what to list your house for, depending on your motivation, and this is very important. If you do not HAVE TO SELL your house right now, it might be better to wait until the market is more stable. You basically have a choice: Do you want to price it to sell it as quickly as possible, or if time is not a factor, and you want as much as you can get for it, then price it higher and hope for the best. But be aware, some agents, like myself, will not take an overpriced listing, as we end up spending time, money and energy marketing a property that other agents, and savvy buyers, will not waste their time on.

You want to lead the market and price your house for action, not languish for months without any showings. If you are getting showings, you're priced in the ballpark. If you are not getting any action at all (no showings, no agent previews) within the first couple of weeks or so, you are priced too high.

2) Make your house shine. Declutter, clean and repair everything inside and out. It's very difficult to be objective about your own house, and you need to be very critical. Cleaning does not typically cost a lot of money, just time and elbow grease, but it's crucial that your house makes a good first impression. Wash windows inside and out, wipe down doors, handles and frames, pressure wash walkways, driveways, entrys, gutters. Touch up paint or repaint a room or wall if it's needed. It's also a great time to clean out closets and garages, and donate to local charities.

Go stand in the street and look at your front yard and house including your roof. This is the first impression your home makes to potential buyers, and many decide not to look inside if it does not have good 'curb appeal', so it needs to look attractive. Does the lawn need to be mowed, or trees trimmed? Then get on it. Add some color with new flowers near the entry, make it look inviting.

I've seen some articles that advise people to remodel a kitchen or bathroom before they sell, however, in these difficult economic times, that's not always possible or practical. The condition and lack of updating can be reflected in the price, and buyers can update it later. But no matter how old or outdated your house is, it must look clean and presentable. People can look past old appliances, but filth and dirt are absolutely unacceptable.

Pay attention to how your house smells. If you have animals in the house, if you smoke in the house, or cook with very strong spices or fish, your house will likely have residual odors that potential buyers may find offensive.

Don't forget the back yard, fences, patios and decks. They need to be clean and safe as well.  

3) Make it easy to show your house.  I'm talking primarily to those of you who will list your house with an agent, however, the same principles apply if you are selling your house on your own. If you have very limited showing times, difficult and/or specific showing instructions, and are not flexible when agents call to show your house, don't be surprised when you get no showings. Electronic lockboxes are the norm now, so if it's at all possible, use one. If you have health or other restrictions, then limited showing times are understood and agents will work with you.

4) Get your house on the MLS. If you list your house for sale with an agent, this is not a problem. For those of you selling your house on your own listen up: agents search for houses to show on MLS, not on sites like Realtor.com or Yahoo. Those sites are for the public, so you are missing out on a huge segment of the market by not working with an agent. This is, however, your choice, and you do have to pay for their services. Just something to consider.

5) Have a sign. The NAR (National Association of Realtors) published a report last year on what helps sell a house. The top 3 things that made up about 85% of the total are: MLS/agents, the Internet and signs.

6) Get your house on the Internet. This seems obvious enough, as approximately 85-90% of buyers start their search for a new house online. If you list your house with an agent, your listing probably automatically goes to Realtor.com (which is the biggest real estate search site in the country, and if your agent is a Realtor), so you definitely want to be on this one. There are some FSBO sites that do feed listings to Realtor.com, so check those as well.

I also provide my clients with their own personal website for their house, typically something like: 123YourStreet.com and have a custom sign rider printed with the web address and a now I include a QR code too. (Now I'm giving away my secrets...)

7) Use lots of great pictures. These pictures go into the MLS and then to all of the other sites on the Internet, and the more GREAT pictures the better. If you or your agent can take good pictures use them, if not hire a professional. Yes, it makes a huge difference if you have good quality pictures of the rooms and important elements of your house. A word of caution: do not include pictures of meaningless things like closet doors, personal artwork, hallways, laundry rooms or half-baths (unless they are actually fabulous). Also, no people should be shown in the pictures. Showcase your home's best features, including the yards, decks, and other living spaces. If your house has been listed for a few months with no action, try taking new pictures and uploading those to the MLS and Internet. It can make a difference.

8) Be patient. This is probably one of the most difficult things to do, because there's no action involved, just waiting, and waiting, and waiting for the phone to ring. Keep working through the other 7 tips, review the market, your home and your listing every few weeks and make changes as needed.

Unfortunately there's no sure formula for selling your house, but these 8 tips are what I advise my clients to do in these difficult times. Keep a positive attitude and it will sell.