Photo courtesy of Harold Collins, II
Harold Collins, II is a local real estate agent with eXp Realty. Photo courtesy of Harold Collins, II.
Preparing to sell your home can be a daunting and confusing process.
To provide clarity, local Realtor Harold Collins II of eXp Realty answered some key questions to consider when starting the selling process.
Q: How should homeowners determine the right time to sell their home?
A: The right time to sell largely depends on a homeowner’s particular situation. But as a general rule of thumb, we usually advise avoiding the period from Thanksgiving to the new year — at least a week or two into January.
Right now, the question may be when to sell because of where interest rates are. I tell people that if you are capable of purchasing and you’re planning to buy a home more expensive than your current one, then now is the time to purchase. But if you are selling your home to buy a less expensive one, I would say wait until rates come down.
Q: What factors should sellers consider when choosing a real estate agent?
A: One of the biggest things, to me, is trust. If you can’t trust the person who is helping you with what, for most people, is the largest investment they’ll sell in their lifetime, then that’s probably not a good fit.
Q: What are the pros and cons of selling by owner versus using an agent?
A: As I mentioned, for most people, selling a home is the most expensive transaction they’ll ever make. Trying to do it yourself without a professional’s help — especially when it comes to negotiating — could end up costing you thousands of dollars.
I’ve seen several owners underprice their homes by $30,000 to $50,000. That’s a significant amount of money.
A good agent helps keep the deal together and ensures that everyone involved is satisfied with how it turns out.
Q: What advice do you give sellers about pricing their home competitively?
A: A lot of times, people think, “My home is worth $600,000, so I’ll price it at $605,000 and negotiate down to $600,000 to give myself some wiggle room.”
But by doing that, you may eliminate an entire group of potential buyers searching in a specific price range. For example, buyers often search in increments — $550,000, $570,000, $600,000, $625,000, $650,000. By pricing at $605,000, you’re now being compared to homes in the $625,000-and-under range.
Meanwhile, buyers looking at homes up to $600,000 — who might have been willing to spend that full amount — don’t even see your listing. That larger audience creates competition, which can drive up the price. If you overprice at $605,000, you miss out on that competition, and buyers may not be as eager to make an offer. Let the buyers bid themselves up.
