Home Selling Tips From Hundreds of Homeowners: Practical Advice You Can Use

Marketing Alpha
May 3
5 min read

Updated: Aug 28

Unlike real estate investors, ordinary individuals and family homeowners are usually more confused when selling or changing houses. They want to move to a bigger house, but they don’t know how to better sell the old house and give more budget to the new house. They may have some experience in buying houses in the past, but they are at a loss when selling a house for the first time.

In order to help novices in house-changing or house-selling to avoid pitfalls, Axis has summarized the experience of hundreds of homeowners it has worked with to sell their homes and will teach you how to make these preparations!

01 It is very important to find a professional and reliable agent

To sell a house, you need to find a listing agent, which is also known as a seller agent by some newbies. Unlike a buyer's agent, a listing agent is a broker who specializes in helping sellers sell their houses.

A professional listing agent understands the current housing market and can find the right time to sell a house in a volatile market. They can plan the listing time for sale. They understand the psychology of buyers and know when buyers are more interested in newly listed properties.

How to sell a house better is a simple matter for professional listing agents . They will use their experience to help sellers find the advantages of the house, teach sellers how to create a good selling appearance, how to clean the house, recommend sellers good staging, and find a professional photography team to help sellers take pictures of the house, so as to attract more buyers with beautiful and attractive interior and exterior appearance of the house.

As the person who knows his house best, the seller does not have the professional ability to show the characteristics of the house when selling it, but the listing agent can screen the points that buyers are concerned about through the various characteristics of the house . Therefore, the seller should tell the agent as many relevant characteristics of the house as possible, such as the community characteristics of the house or the characteristics of the neighbors, etc. The more the listing agent knows about the house, the easier it is to sell.

02 Underestimating the cost of selling a house

Sellers often only consider the real estate agent's commission when calculating the costs of selling a home, without paying attention to other fees.

Cleaning and repairing your home before selling it may not seem like it will cost much, but when you add in transfer fees and additional costs, the combined cost may be more than you expected .

If you sell your house and have no place to live during the transition period, you also have to consider the rent. Even if the house hasn't been sold yet, you will need to pay two mortgages when you buy a new house. These costs and short-term financial pressures need to be taken into consideration.

03 Only consider the highest offer

When faced with buyers' offers, sellers would of course want to choose the highest offer, but blindly choosing the highest price may have certain risks. Buyers' offers often contain some restrictive clauses to protect buyers from unrestricted withdrawal from the transaction when encountering certain circumstances.

Especially for buyers with high loan risks, if they cannot successfully pass the loan approval and exit the transaction, it will also be a huge loss for the seller.

If the buyer with the highest offer is also a homeowner who is changing houses, he may wait until his own house is sold before completing the transaction with the seller. The waiting time in between is also disadvantageous to the seller. Therefore, when sellers look at offers, it is best to choose buyers with stable comprehensive conditions, such as buyers with high offers, all cash, and quick transactions, or buyers with no pressure to obtain loans.

04 The house photos on the house viewing website are not beautiful

Many buyers will first browse the house viewing website when they are looking for a house, and check out what the house looks like online. Sellers also need to upload photos of the house to the website. If the photos are good-looking, they will attract buyers' interest. The more beautiful the photos, the more buyers the house will attract.

Photos of a house are a critical factor in selling a house. Nowadays, people will first view the photos online. If the photos of a house are bad, many buyers will eliminate them directly after just one look.

Sellers must take beautiful display photos of their houses, and ask professional listing agents to give suggestions on improving the aesthetics of the house. You can also ask the real estate agent and team to help you take photos of the house . They understand better what kind of houses buyers like.

05 Neglecting layout and maintenance

Generally, buyers prefer houses that are clean and uncluttered, and a neat and uncluttered interior space appears larger visually. Usually, the decoration that needs to be completed before selling a house includes cleaning the whole house, painting old walls, renovating interior decoration, beautifying outdoor landscape, etc.

Upgrading the overall appearance significantly improves the house's appeal, effectively attracting buyers and bringing in more revenue.

According to previous Realtor data, houses that have been decorated overall sell 88% faster than houses that have not changed, and the average price is 20% higher! In addition to the basic decoration of the house, buyers also pay more attention to house maintenance.

If there are problems that need to be repaired by the buyer, the selling price will be lower. Therefore, if the seller wants to sell the house at a good price, he must repair the problems that exist in the house.

06 Buyers cannot view the property in time

After a house is listed, interested buyers will make appointments to view the house. They generally want to see the actual condition of the house as soon as possible. If the seller cannot agree on an early time with the buyer, the buyer may have to wait too long and may not consider it.

Sellers should respond to buyers in a timely manner during the house selling period, try to consider buyers' time as much as possible, and spend more time holding open houses on weekends. The more buyers come to see the house, the easier it will be to sell the house.

The above are common mistakes that sellers make when selling a house. Sellers often cannot consider all of these aspects, and the process requires sellers to invest a lot of time, so most sellers will choose a listing agent to help them sell their houses . When choosing a real estate agent, everyone should also pay more attention to screening.

Axis reminds everyone not to blindly choose an unreliable agent, which may not only affect the sale of the house but also cause unnecessary losses to yourself. Whether sellers or buyers, you must choose a reliable professional agent, a reliable real estate company with a team and high reputation, and buy and sell houses with peace of mind.

If you want to buy or change a house, please contact us! Axis Realty team has many top-notch listing agents and buyer agents, with rich experience in real estate transactions and a grasp of the various dynamics of the Bay Area housing market! We can help you quickly find the right buyer and sell at a higher price~

As a well-known first-class integrated real estate company in the Bay Area, Axis Realty has a strong professional background and rich experience, and has mastered various real estate-related information and industry trends. If you have any questions about selling or changing houses in the Bay Area, you can add Axis Assistant (WeChat: AxisRealtyTeam) at any time to learn more!