Full Description

Sell your home no matter what the market is like!

If you are like most people, your home is the biggest financial asset you have. When it's time for you to sell it, though—especially in a slow market—you need to be careful to avoid the six biggest mistakes that people make when putting their homes on the market. Otherwise, you might not be able to find a buyer.

Loren Keim, a top real estate professional with over twenty years of experience, explains these six mistakes and challenges in detail and teaches you how to avoid making them. These six key things to overcome when you sell your home are:

• Poor Staging—Do you know what potential buyers really think about your home?
• Incorrect Pricing—Are you overpriced compared to other houses for sale in your area?
• Improper Marketing—Are you doing enough to find potential buyers?
• Location-Challenged Properties—Do you own a home near an airport, train tracks, or on a busy street?
• Functional Obsolesence—Do you know how to fix the problems in your house that are keeping buyers away?
• No One Is Buying in Your Area—Is your home going to be the one in your area that buyers will fall in love with and have to buy?

With helpful tips and websites listed throughout the text, this easy-to-read book will help you accomplish the seemingly overwhelming task of selling your home and getting top dollar.

Table of Contents

Introduction to Selling Your Home
Reason #1: Poor Staging
Reason #2: Incorrect Pricing
Reason #3: Improper Marketing
Reason #4: Location-Challenged Properties
Reason #5: Functionally Obsolete Properties
Reason #6: "No One Is Buying in the Area!"
The Steps to a Successful Sale

Chapter 1: Staging Your Home for Top Dollar
Competing with New Construction
Staging a Home: Step by Step
Curb Appeal
Curb Appeal Checklist
Entrance Foyer or Entry Hallway
Entry Checklist
The Living Room
Living Room Checklist
The Kitchen
Kitchen/Breakfast Area Checklist
The Dining Room
Dining Room Checklist
Bathrooms
Bathroom Checklist
Bedrooms
Bedroom Checklist
Backyard
Backyard Checklist
Garage
Garage Checklist
Basement
Basement Checklist
What to Do if Your Home is Vacant
General Staging Issues
The Keys to Staging

Chapter 2: Pricing Your Home Properly
The Realtor's Competitive Market Analysis
The Dirty Little Secret of Realtor Pricing
Appraised Value
Understanding Price Positioning and Price Points
Net Proceeds

Chapter 3: Market Timing
Market Timing—Is Now the Time to Sell?

Chapter 4: Figuring Out the Best Way to Sell
Selling For Sale By Owner
Full Service versus Discount Brokers
Interviewing Realtors
The Listing Process
Holding the Home

Chapter 5: Marketing Systems
Where do Most Buyers Come From?
Using the MLS
For Sale Signs and Directional Signs
Flyers and Brochures
Four Keys to Writing Successful Ads
Internet Marketing
Virtual Tours
Open Houses
Specifically Targeting Likely Buyer Groups
Broker's Open Houses

Chapter 6: Guerrilla Marketing Techniques
Staying Ahead of a Sliding Market
No Money Down Offers
Paying Buyer's Closing Costs and Buy-Down Loans
Allowances
Auctions
Lease Purchases
Paying Realtor Bonuses or Higher Commissions
Giving Away a Car or a Vacation
More Creative Uses for Flyers

Chapter 7: Other Property Challenges
Location-Challenged Properties
Pricing Location-Challenged Properties
Functionally Obsolete Properties
Properties in Difficult Regions
What to Do with One Bad Neighbor

Chapter 8: Showings
When Should You Allow Showings?
To Lockbox or Not to Lockbox
Should You be Home for Showings?
Stop Talking
Safety
The Most Common Misconception About Showings
Feedback
Lookers or Buyers?

Chapter 9: Offers and Negotiations
Your First Offer
Purchase Agreement Analyzer
Conditions and Contingencies
Counteroffers and Successful Negotiation

Chapter 10: What Can Go Wrong Will Go Wrong
Creating a Calendar
Obstacles to Closing the Sales Contract

Chapter 11: Settlement
The Final Walk-Through
The Settlement or Escrow Process
The HUD Settlement Statement
Junk Fees
Prepayment Penalties

Chapter 12: When All Else Fails
"We'll Buy Your Home Cash!"—Investor Offers
Renting Out Your Home
Understanding Taxes and Capital Gains
Upside Down in Your Mortgage: Dealing with Short Sales
What if You Are in Foreclosure?
Keeping Your Home
Not Keeping Your Home
Don't Wait Too Long

Chapter 13: When to Panic
Being Logical in a Home Sale Rather than Emotional

Conclusion
Glossary
Appendix A: Interview Checklist for Agents
Appendix B: Useful Websites
Index
About the Author

Excerpt

Excerpt from Chapter One: Staging Your Home for Top Dollar

A few years ago, a client came into my office with a problem. His home had been on the market for almost two years without selling. He had tried four different real estate companies and a variety of marketing programs and nothing was working. The Realtors he worked with kept trying to get him to lower his price, believing that was the only solution to selling the home, but he owed too much to bring the home down to the level his most recent Realtor had suggested. His job transfer was only weeks away, and he was desperate for help.

Before I went to the property, I looked over the listing information and it appeared to be a very nice home that was priced correctly based on the current real estate market—it had over four thousand square feet of living space on two acres of land with an in-ground pool. It was actually quite a package for the price compared to other similar properties in the area. When I arrived at the home, I determined the problem was not the asking price, but rather the staging of the home.

The home was intentionally hidden by huge trees in the front to obscure the home from the road. While this accomplished the owner’s goal of having privacy and seclusion from curious eyes, it did not fit with most buyers’ desire to have sharp curb appeal.

Walking into the home felt like walking back in time. Although this was an extremely well-constructed home, it was built in 1969, and the decorating was original. While buyers will overlook some things and are usually willing to do some redecorating to their tastes—in terms of the paint color on the walls or the color of the carpets—almost no buyer will purchase a home he or she feels needs to be completely remodeled unless he or she gets a true premium on the price.

Upon first entering the home, a potential buyer would walk into an enormous living room with narrow yellow pine floors and white walls—a very 1970s look. To further exacerbate the problem, the front door was at the far corner of the living room, and the ceilings in the room were lower than normal—under eight feet. The room appeared awkward and rather than giving the appearance of a spacious living room, it appeared to be a long, generic room.

As buyers turned toward the kitchen they found green oak cabinets that were probably very expensive in the 1970s. However, thirty years later, this was probably where the seller was losing most of the buyers. Every buyer who came through the house for the first two years it was on the market would say there is too much work to be done because the first two rooms they looked at both needed updates.

The bright side of the home was that it had spacious bedrooms with hardwood floors, a walk-out lower level, a beautiful private backyard, and plenty of closet space. Unfortunately, the initial impression the potential buyers had entering the home negatively impacted their view of the rest of the property.

We solved the problem for less than $300, and sold the home in six weeks for full price without reducing it like the prior Realtor wanted to. First, in order to change the initial impression buyers had when walking into the home, we asked the owner to place a mauve-colored area rug—a simple inexpensive carpet remnant—in the middle of the living room, leaving hardwood exposed around the edge, yet updating the colors. Then, we had the owner wrap the room in a black and mauve wallpaper border, which took only twenty minutes for the owner to install and yet made a big difference in the appearance of the room. The border helped to pull the mauve out of the carpeting. The final touches in the living room were mere furniture rearrangements. When I had first viewed the home, I did not realize that there was a pair of windows directly across from the front door. These windows looked out over the backyard, a highlight of the property. The owner, however, had chosen to place large furniture in front of the windows, obscuring them from the view of potential buyers. By removing the furniture, a buyer entering the home immediately looked across the room at the expanse of yard behind the home.

Other changes we made included asking the owner to remove and cut back some of the trees in front of the house and to place flowers and add some color in the kitchen. A new country tablecloth with red in it helped to complement the green cabinets. Matching hand towels were hung from two cabinets. Bright flowers and table settings helped the buyers’ eyes to focus in a different direction than directly at the cabinets, and they brightened the room. The last addition was some decorative towels in the bathrooms. A few hours of work and a few hundred dollars probably saved that home seller ten thousand dollars or more.

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