In addition to making sure that your home is correctly listed on the Multiple Listing Service (MLS), see if your agent has built a virtual tour or website where the (as mentioned below) excellent photos can be a much larger size than those in the MLS. I like to devote a page to each room specifically along with appropriate verbiage guiding the viewer to understand the images or perhaps to set the emotional stage to help "feel" the room. One key to determining if the photos are appealing or not is to examine whether the camera used was wide angle enough to show the room well and whether or not the pictures have been de-keystoned (adjusted so that the walls are parallel as opposed to leaning ) and are vertical. A last important feature of excellent photography specifically for the Eugene market is to make sure that, while the interior is well lit, the view through the windows to the outside is also well lit, not just white out or with a flash reflection. Most Eugenians are outdoorsy folk, and showing the view outside the home helps them see themselves living there.
My rule of thumb for pricing (depending on where your home is in the price range and your need to sell) is that if you home is on the market for two months without an offer or at least someone viewing it twice or more, your home is overpriced by 10%. The only variable in the previous rule of thumb is where you are relative to the average price. If you are below that price (as of November 23, 2010 it is $202,900), change the two months to one. As you go higher above the average price, increase the months. Several years ago in a slightly seller's market, the average time on the market to get an offer for a home priced at $1,000,000 was one year.
Also, use psychology on your side, be sure that the buyer's experience from parking at your home through the front door into the first room entered is impeccable. Here is the reason why: If everything appears well tended and loved at the beginning when someone is meeting your home, they will tend to overlook other flaws later as they explore. This is easy to see if you take the opposite approach: there is dry rot around the garage door, weeds are growing in the driveway's expansion joints, the lock on the front door is difficult for the Realtor to open and the door sticks, the paint is peeling on the front of the home; then the potential buyer enters the home saying, "I wonder what else is wrong." Not a good attitude for a potential buyer to have.
All else being equal, essentially it all boils down to presentation and price. Therefore ask your Realtor to show you the competition. Walk through those homes with a pencil and paper noting what is the same, better, or worse than your home. Also make a note of how long those homes have been on the market as well as the price changes that may have occurred. Add or subtract those features in the competition compared to your home, and see if the price you have is the BEST of the lot. If not, reduce your asking price. Every study I have seen indicates that the longer your home is on the market, the LESS money you will sell it for in a market like today's. I think you would be well advised to consider making your home the best deal by at least 5%.
Talk to your Realtor about all of these ideas. Good luck with your sale.
Dohn Riley, Hybrid Real Estate, Eugene, Oregon
541-726-7220
homes@dohnriley.com
No comments:
Post a Comment