Rookie Mistakes Sellers Make

Buying your first home is a huge decision to make.  On the other hand, so is selling your first home.  It takes just as much work to sell a Ventura County home as it does to buy one.  The process can feel pretty overwhelming sometimes.  To help alleviate some of the pressure, here is a list of rookie mistakes sellers make.  Keep them in mind when you sell your Ventura home and you'll have a much more successful transaction.

Overestimating the Value of Your Home - The most traffic your home is likely to see will be within the first two to three weeks it is listed.  When you overprice your home, buyers will go on to another property.  Your home will then sit on the market until you bring your price down to more reasonable levels.  There are two problems with this.  Not only does your Ventura County home languish on the market for much longer than it should, but price reductions make buyers wonder what's wrong with the property.  The offers you get may end up being much less than if you had priced your home appropriately to begin with.  Get a market report of other homes that are comparable in size and amenities to yours.  The report should include what the homes were listed at, what they sold for and how long it took them to sell.  This will give you a more accurate vision of what your home should be listed for.  Your REALTOR can help you with this.

Underestimating the Value of a Clean Home - We're not talking just about the surface cleaning (general tidiness of a home).  Instead, we're talking about the down and dirty stuff, too.  While beds should be made, dirty clothes should be picked up and placed in the hamper and toys should always be put away after use, you need to give your home a good, deep cleaning.  Wash the windows until they sparkle, both inside and out.  Scrub the grout in the bathroom and kitchen.  You may even have to replace it if it's really grimy or cracking.  Wipe down the cabinet doors and refrigerator to get rid of smudges.  Deep clean the carpets, furniture and drapes.  These are the three places that hold foul smells the longest, including pet odors and cigarette smoke.

Loitering - Your REALTOR calls you up and says that they have some buyers who are very interested in your Ventura County home.  They want to stop by to see it for themselves in a half an hour.  What do you do?  It tends to make potential buyers uncomfortable to have the current owners in the home they are looking at.  You definitely don't want to make a potential buyer uncomfortable.  Go for a drive, take in a movie or go out to lunch/dinner with your significant other, family or friends.  Whatever will take you away fo a couple of hours is a good thing to do.  Your REALTOR® will fill you in on the details after the buyers have left.  After all, that's what you hired them for.

Picking Your REALTOR® From the Phone Book - Don't let a glitzy ad, shiny web page or even web ranking determine who you hire to sell your Ventura County home.  Interview as many real estate professionals as you think necessary before deciding on the perfect one for you.  Experience and knowledge mean much more than a high paid ad placement.  It may take a dozen interviews before you find the person that fits your needs.  But that is so much better than settling on someone who doesn't know what they're doing.

These are just a few of the rookie mistakes sellers make.  When it comes time to sell your Ventura County home, please consider the Z Team.  We are very experienced and always eager to help our clients.