Especially if you haven’t done it before, selling a property can be terribly daunting. First-time home sellers can easily become overwhelmed by all the little details associated with the sale of a house, and this is a reasonable reaction, considering all the literal and figurative fine print that selling a house comes with.

 

For one, sellers aren’t necessarily well acquainted with the finer details of the home-selling process. Putting a property on the market comes with significant admin, and just getting the word about a property out can be an exercise in marketing that the average Joe simply doesn’t have enough experience of.

 

Add to this, the expertise required to know what sells and what puts buyers off, and it can become rather difficult to sell a house if one has no experience of the property game.

 

This article will aim to give first-time home sellers a good idea of what exactly selling a home will mean for them, and how this process can be more easily streamlined to provide the best possible outcome for sellers – selling the home quickly, and at the best possible price.

 

Where to start when selling your home

 

Even if they are often very confident in their abilities, people who do not work in the world of real estate every day rarely know how this industry works and how they will be able to differentiate their property form the myriad of other comparable houses in their city or suburb that are bound to be on the market at the same time as their own home, vying for the attention of the many buyers looking to invest in property or buy a new home.

 

For this reason, the very first port of call for first-time home sellers should be finding a real estate agent that is qualified and experienced in their field, who also has ample experience of doing this type of business in the city or suburb in which the property is being sold.

 

Sellers shouldn’t be rattled by the large amount of real estate agents that they might come across when initially commencing this search. It is a good idea to speak to friends or family that have recently sold their property. Even in our modern era, word-of-mouth is not dead, and gauging what agents are like from real-life examples provided by people you know is one of the very best ways to find agents who can help sellers sell quickly, with a good profit in tow.

 

If you don’t know anyone who has recently sold their property, online agent finders like Perfect Agent are some of the best tools to find agent recommendations that have been tailored to suit your exact needs and requirements.

 

When using Perfect Agent’s service, sellers won’t have to contend with exorbitant prices on top of whatever they’ll need to spend to get the property ready for the market. Perfect Agent’s recommendations are given completely free of charge, allowing sellers to make a choice about the agent without having to think about the money they’re spending to make the choice.

 

Finding an agent you can trust is key to starting the selling journey off on the right foot. Real estate agents that have the right experience and qualifications provide a valuable service that far outweighs the amount they charge in commission after the sale has been completed. Because they know how the real estate market is likely to perform in a specific city or suburb at a given time, they’ll be able to recommend an approach that will make the property appealing to the largest possible group of potential buyers.

 

How much is my house worth?

 

Knowing just what price they can expect when selling their home is one of the most common questions people who are selling property for the first time have. This makes perfect sense, keeping in mind that selling a house is one of the biggest financial transactions most people will undertake in their lifetime.

 

There is no clear-cut way to answer this question, though, as every home is different. This is because the price of property tends to vary widely from city to city and even from suburb to suburb.

 

Home prices will greatly depend on comparable properties in the city or suburb. When referring to comparable properties, we are talking about properties that are similar to the property being sold. This pertains to the physical attributes of the property, as well as to its location and general condition, among a myriad of other things.

 

The real estate agent that is helping sellers to get their property from “for sale” to “sold” will probably do a comparative market analysis (or a CMA for short) to ascertain what the property is worth. The CMA will give sellers an idea of the fair market value of the property, which will give them an estimate of what they are likely to get once the home is sold.

 

However, it is important to remember that the CMA won’t necessarily exactly match what the property fetches, as the market conditions at the time of the sale will also heavily influence the price. The real estate world is notorious for its unpredictability, and this is why a real estate agent is a crucial partner on any seller’s selling journey. Real estate agents who have been in the field for quite some time have probably seen just how the ebb and flow of the property market influence prices. They will know whether a buyer’s or a seller’s market is at play when the property goes on the market, and will make their price estimates accordingly.

 

Still, sellers should not accept that price estimates will give them an exact idea of the profit they are likely to make on the sale of their home, especially if their agent recommends renovations and repairs.

 

How to sell your home 

 

Effective marketing is crucial if a property is to stand out amongst the many comparable properties it will be competing with. A home that is not properly marketed towards the right audience, it is quite likely to get lost in the noise and spend far too long on the market.

 

How to sell a home is intricately intertwined with the sales approach that is taken. Your real estate agent will probably recommend a varied marketing approach which includes advertising the property online and in more traditional media.

 

When it comes to online marketing of the home, the impression it makes is very important. This is why a professional property photographer is paramount. Similarly, home staging helps to create the broadest appeal for the home. By staging the home correctly, prospective buyers are able to imagine themselves in the space. If this is the feeling they get when viewing the property online – and make no mistake about it, most buyers first encounter the properties they fall in love with in the online sphere – sellers make a good first impression from the get-go, and are more likely to generate greater interest about the property. More interested buyers means there’s a greater chance that the home will be sold for a larger amount, as there might be some competition among a number of buyers. It goes without saying that this bodes well for buyers who want to sell quickly and at a high price.

 

When to sell your home 

 

When is the right time to put your property on the market? This will be influenced by a number of factors. First off, the general condition of the property will dictate whether it should be marketed as a fixer-upper or as a home that is ready to move into immediately. When your real estate agent does the comparable market analysis on the property, they will make recommendations with regards to repairs that hold the potential of giving sellers a big return on investment when the home is ultimately sold. Sellers should heed this advice, as real estate agents know what appeals to buyers in the area.

 

If sellers do not have the money to undertake the repairs recommended by their agent, they should consider selling the home as a fixer-upper. Properties that are in dire need of some TLC do not fetch the same prices as homes that do not require work, and sellers must remember this when budgeting, especially for the home they are planning to purchase after their current one is sold.

 

Finance options when selling your home 

 

Sellers frequently forget to consider the many hidden costs that come with selling a home, and don’t set out their budget accordingly. Some of the costs that sellers don’t plan for include things like moving costs, marketing costs (these are not always included in real estate agencies’ offering – ask your agent whether this is charged on top of their commission fee), conveyancing fees and handling fees.

 

Conclusion

 

Selling a house isn’t the simplest thing in the world, nor is it the most complicated. However, sellers that have a good real estate agent assisting them throughout the process will feel much more at ease leaving some of the nitty gritty work to someone that has been playing this game for most of their professional career.

 

Still don’t know where to start looking for the right agent to help you sell? Perfect Agent will recommend a number of good agents, based on your exact requirements.