tips for selling a home Archives - Luxury Homes/Top Towns

Now is a great time to sell your Westfield home. Prices continue to rise. Interest rates remain low. And Westfield made the Top 10 List of Best Suburbs to Live in New Jersey. We keep seeing more and more buyers looking to move here. But even in a seller’s market, you need to make sure your property is in tip-top condition. That is why home sellers can benefit from a pre-list inspection.

Most buyers have a home inspection performed during the escrow process. But home sellers greatly benefit from a pre-list inspection, too.

Home Sellers Advice: Pre-List Home Inspection

No Surprises

One of the best reasons why home sellers should perform a pre-list inspection is because it eliminates the element of surprise. Your buyer will most likely have an inspection performed during the escrow period. If you get one done before you even list your Westfield home, you know the condition of your home as it stands today. Inspections uncover issues you may not have even been aware of. Performing one now allows you the chance to get ahead of it.

You have two options if you find issues during the home inspection. One, spend the money fixing it/them. If problems are fixed before you list your home, buyers won’t even know there was an issue to begin with. Or two, get estimates from local contractors for the cost of repairs. When the buyer performs their home inspection, you can present them with your findings. In turn, this may mean reducing your sale price in order to factor in the costs and make the sale happen. But it also shows transparency and due diligence on your part which sits well with buyers.

Money Savings

How does spending a few hundred on a home inspection save home sellers money? It allows you time to shop around for the best deal on repairs. Also, when you show the buyer that you recently updated an aging system (electrical, HVAC, roofing), it shows them that you put pride in ownership and took care of your home. Plus, when the buyer accepts the disclosure of any repairs made, they acknowledge that they accept the home in its current condition. This greatly reduces the chance that buyers come back later on in the transaction and ask for discounts.

More Marketable

Finally, a pre-list home inspection helps your Westfield home become more marketable. As I said before, buyers like transparency. It provides them with a certain level of trust that you are being forthright. Make sure you have the results of your pre-list inspection readily available to buyers as well as the proof of any completed repairs.

Scott Gleason, CRS at RE/MAX Select, Luxury Homes

There are many pre-listing tasks every seller should undertake before putting their home on the market. Decluttering, packing up, and staging, are just a few of the chores on the list. If you want to make your Westfield home sale a success, follow these simple steps.

How to Make Your Westfield Home Sale a Success

Price Your Home According to the Current Market

Click here for an instant “No Strings Attached” valuation of your home.

First, let’s talk money. Pricing tops the list of importance for most buyers. Price it too low, you risk losing money. However, price it too high and you risk losing buyers’ interest. It’s imperative that you price it according to how the market currently values it. How do you know what that magic number is? That’s where your Westfield REALTOR’s@ knowledge and expertise comes in to play. Not only can they run a Comparative Market Analysis (CMA) of your neighborhood, but they can also factor in the current market trends they see on a day-to-day basis.

Professional Photos Sell Homes

Next, to make your Westfield home sale a success, you’ll need great photos. Most buyers take to their computers to search for homes. That means that the photographs posted will be their first exposure to your property. If you only offer lackluster photos, they may hinder the chances of buyers actually coming to see your home in person. Consider hiring a pro to take photographs of your property or even a short video tour. The extra polish a professional provides might be the catalyst that brings more traffic to your door.

Make All Needed Repairs

Then, make sure any and all necessary repairs are complete before you list. While small items can be tackled yourself, definitely hire a pro for the big things, like plumbing, electrical, water heaters, etc. Buyers tend to overestimate costs of repair issues by as much as 200%. Then, they start decreasing their offer price to offset these costs. Also, when they see cracked tiles, dingy grout, or stains on the carpet, they often worry about what other, larger problems you haven’t taken care of. That puts an even bigger dent in their offer price. It might even turn them away from buying your Westfield home altogether.

Share Information About Your Home

Once a buyer has a home inspection performed, some of the problems your Westfield home may have endured over the years will come to light. It instills a sense of trust with the buyer if you are upfront about these issues, even if they are no longer a problem. Besides, it’s the law for New Jersey homeowners to disclose any “known material defects” in regards to the home they are selling. This includes past roof damage, water damage, termite infestations, etc, even if they happened before you owned the property. Then, you can then explain how these issues were resolved. As part of the home selling process, you will be filling out a Seller’s Disclosure Statement. This information must be included here, too. Keeping this information from buyers could end in litigation down the road. It’s much better to be forthright with this information from the beginning.

Leave During Showings

Finally, in order to make your Westfield home sale a success, don’t stick around while it is being shown to potential buyers. Let your REALTOR@ field questions and highlight your home’s best features. Take the dog for a walk. Visit with friends. Go out to lunch. See a movie. Go shopping. Buyers feel much more comfortable if the owner of the property isn’t hovering around when they are trying to tour a home.

Want to make your Westfield home sale a success without all the stress? Use these tips as a guideline. And be sure to contact me when you’re ready to put your home on the market.

Scott Gleason, CRS at RE/MAX Select, Luxury Homes