The real estate market changes. Sometimes homes sell in a weekend with multiple offers. Other times buyers have more choices, take longer to make decisions, and are a whole lot pickier and this can be frustrating for both the homeowner and myself. When this happens, how you sell your home matters.
Putting a house in the MLS, sticking a sign in the yard and waiting for something to happen is not a marketing plan and chances are it will not get your home sold.
Seriously, in a changing Knoxville market, sellers need to get four things right: price, presentation, condition and marketing. Those are also the big themes in my home-selling guide.
1. Price It for the Market You're Actually In
Here's the thing...
What your neighbor sold for six months ago doesn't automatically determine what your home is worth today.
Neither does Zillow.
And neither does what you need to get out of the house.
I look at recent sales, competing homes, condition, location and what buyers are actually responding to right now.
Inflated pricing can be one of the reasons a home doesn't sell.
And I will never tell a seller a higher number just because it's the number they want to hear.
I'd rather have an uncomfortable conversation at the kitchen table before we list than have your house sitting on the market 60 days later wondering what went wrong and then we both are frustrated.
2. Market Your Home the RIGHT Way
This is the part I could talk about all day and where I really excel and out market my competition.
Buyers can't fall in love with a house they don't know exists. When I list a home, I don't just put it in the MLS and cross my fingers.
Depending on the property, my marketing can include:
- Professional photography, video, virtual tours and floor plans
- Zillow Showcase which detailed reporting on the cities and states people are viewing your home from.
- A dedicated property website
- Google marketing
- Social media and short-form video
- Email marketing directly to my database
- Direct mail
- Targeted online advertising to potential buyers that may have already seen your home online.
- Signage that makes it easy for buyers to get more information
- Drone photography when it makes sense for the property
- Virtual staging when a home needs a little help showing buyers what a space could look like
My goal is to get your home seen, shown and sold and this matters even more when buyers have choices and may or may not be in a hurry
Your first few days on the market are valuable. I want your home showing up where buyers are looking and looking GOOD when they find it.
3. Don't Ignore the Condition of the House
Does that mean I think you should remodel the kitchen and bathrooms before selling?
No.
Sometimes the best advice I can give a seller is, Don't spend that money.
But I do want to know about potential issues before they become surprises. I do advise my sellers if you are aware of any problems inside or outside of the home lets go ahead and get them fixed that way we are well prepared for when the buyer gets their home inspection.
If you are reading this and your home has a crawl space please take a few minutes to take a peak inside your crawl space. I run into more homeowners that have no idea they have moisture in the crawl space or dead rodents.
Every house is different. Sometimes a pre-listing inspection makes sense. Sometimes it doesn't. Keep in mind if you do get a pre-listing inspection you will need to disclose any defects that the home inspector finds that you choose not fix.
4. First Impressions Start Before Buyers Walk Through the Door
I am telling you... buyers start judging your house from the photos. Then they judge it again when they pull into the driveway. You don't necessarily need thousands of dollars in landscaping. Fresh mulch. Trimmed bushes. Clean sidewalks. A pressure-washed driveway. A clean front porch. Maybe a couple of plants by the front door. Little things can make a surprisingly big difference.
As a homeowner if you always enter the home from the garage I may ask you to start going in the front door. Why? I want you to see what the potential buyer is seeing and we may need to do more sprucing up.
A Changing Market Doesn't Mean Your Home Won't Sell
It means we need to be smarter about how we sell it.
Price it correctly.
Make it look its best.
Deal with the things that need to be dealt with.
And then market the heck out of it. That's the part I love.
A changing market just means both of us meaning you the Knoxville homeowner and myself the Realtor may need to work harder to get your home sold.
If you're thinking about selling a home in Knoxville or the surrounding East Tennessee area, send me the address.
I'll take a look at the house, the competition and what's happening in your specific market and tell you what I think.
No fluff. No telling you what you want to hear just to get a sign in the yard.
Let's figure out what it's going to take to get your house sold.
