Did you know that its currently an incredible time to sell a home?
Let me break it down for you. There are approximately 10,000 or more single family home owners who meant to sell last year, but didn’t due to unforeseen circumstances. This means there are thousands of buyers to begin with. Add on to that the percentage of homeowners who are now sick of living where they are living, low mortgage rates, and the fact that most of the millennials have reached their 30’s, its no wonder we are facing a lack of inventory this winter.
Okay, so knowing it’s an ideal time to sell a home, the question becomes: how do I take advantage of a seller’s market?
Luckily, you don’t have to do it alone! Real estate agents are here to make your buying and selling processes easier and more successful. Here are 5 things your real estate agent should be doing to help you take advantage of the current market:
- Prepping your home
As your agents, it’s our job to get to know both you and your home. We’ll get to know your house well, so we can meet with you and discuss potential improvements to be made. Don’t worry, we aren’t here to renovate your entire home, but we do want to make sure your house sells for top dollar. That may mean a few changes, but we’ll help you through that entire process!
2. Marketing
Real estate agents have to understand the power of good marketing. It’s important to market heavily before the house is even on the market! Waiting until your house is listed to promote it to buyers gives a short window for people to get excited about it before seeing it. When we market before it’s even listed, we are able to attract as much attention and as many buyers as possible (not to mention the power of off-market opportunities).
3. Building suspense
It may sound silly, but it’s actually super important to build suspense for your potential buyers. That’s why we’ll list your home mid-week. Buyers will see your listing on a Wednesday, but have to wait until Saturday or Sunday to come to a showing, all the while building excitement and curiosity. Just like a good superhero movie, we want to leave buyers on the edge of their seat, wanting more.
4. Showing Blocks
This might seem like an obvious tool, but not for the reason you think! Showing blocks are great to maximize how many people are actually visiting and seeing your home. But the secret power of showing blocks? The more people, the more competition! Showing blocks are great ways to motivate potential buyers to put in offers because they see how many other people are interested in your beautiful house.
5. Playing the Competition
Like I just mentioned, real estate is a competitive game for everyone involved: agents, buyers, and sellers. It’s vital that your real estate agent knows how to play the competition to get the best offer for your home! One effective way to do this is to announce the best and final offers on specific days: this will spark competition between buyers, and encourage lots of offers! Agents should also be competitive in pricing, using a variety of techniques to attract bidding wars and even offers that are more than your ask.
This might seem like a lot to take in, but remember, you’re not in it alone! The best real estate agents should always be deploying these five strategies (and lots of others) so that you can have the most lucrative sale.
I also want to let you in on a little real estate secret: we sold millions of dollars worth of homes in off-market listings last year alone. If you’re looking to sell, but aren’t sure you want to jump into the open market, we have thousands of buyers and an incredible off-market database to help you take advantage of this market.
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