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Giving Your Home the Edge in a Highly Competitive Marketplace - 2007-10-20 |
There's no question that this is a tough time to be selling your house. Everyone acknowledges that there are more homes available for sale than there are buyers to buy them.
In addition, builders with months of unsold inventory are highly motivated to unload, and are making deals with buyers that are hard, if not impossible, for resale owners to match.
But if we recognize that every prospective home seller is facing the same marketplace, and that the task of selling your home is not insurmountable, then we are left asking the question: what will make my home more desirable than its competition?
For starters, know that Atlanta has a vibrant economy year-round, and that active home buyers are transferring into our community every day. The metro area is still in a positive job growth environment, and that means houses are still selling. Even though the volume of those home sales is less than it has been in recent years, it is still a large number of houses.
Furthermore, you don't have to compete with every other house for sale in the metro Atlanta area. In fact, you don't have to compete with the vast majority of homes being offered for sale in your county. The reality is that most home buyers shop for their next home based on location, and if your home meets the location test, it's almost automatically in the running.
But just because your home is considered does not mean you will receive an offer. I am convinced that most homes on the market today are either ignored altogether or used primarily as a negative comparable.
A negative comparable is a home used by the buyer to justify their decision to buy another house.
I once worked with a corporate relocation couple who had transferred in from Denver. She told me exactly what they wanted, and I prepared a tour of homes based on the wants and needs she had expressed. To their delight, they loved the first home I showed them in Dunwoody, and wanted to make an offer. But sobriety kicked in, and they felt they needed to see all 13 homes on my list before they were ready to make a knowledgeable decision.
They were right. The showing of every other house on my list was a complete waste of every seller's time and effort. My buyers had already made their decision, and needed only enough negative comparables to justify their choice.
Unfortunately, many of the homes in today's resale market are sitting on the market, being used to justify other, more attractive sales.
So what's wrong with the houses that don't sell? After 90 days of exposure to the market, today's seller needs to have a good long look at the following topics to expose weakness in the overall selling strategy:
* Is the home ready to be shown to the public? The house that sells today must sparkle and shine, it must ooze sensations of "clean" and "bright." In particular, the kitchen must have some "wow" factor, and the bathrooms must be, at the least, spotlessly sanitized. Most buyers in this market will not take on a home improvement project, even if you discount the price dramatically. If your home is in anything less than excellent condition, you are seriously handicapping yourself.
* Is the home being marketed properly? How will prospective buyers even be aware that your home is for sale? If you are depending on a rusty "for sale" sign in the yard, you are severely limiting your market. The majority of today's buyers begin their search on the Internet long before they intend to move, and you need a presence there. If this is not your strength, know that today's real estate professionals have, by necessity, become experts in high tech internet marketing techniques.
* Finally, the asking price must be right. But I submit that many home sellers make the mistake of neglecting the first two requirements, condition and marketing, and focus almost entirely on price as a means of bringing in an offer. And while price is important, it should be the last part of the puzzle you solve.
Here's why:
Until you have your home in excellent condition, most prospective purchasers will exclude it altogether from consideration. And unless buyers know that your home is available, they will never be able to consider it in the first place.
Therefore, price should be the last factor you bring into play when adjusting your strategy. The key to sales success is to be slightly better than your competition on a variety of features.
If everyone else in the neighborhood has laminate countertops, you should offer a solid surface kitchen. But if everyone else has corian, you should feature granite. If your competition has a nice deck off the back, you need to counter that advantage, perhaps with a new patio or installed barbeque grill.
The idea to grasp is that most home buyers are comparison shoppers, and the sooner you recognize the process they are using to find and then eliminate your home, the sooner you can address the specific features that need attention.
If you really want to sell your house, my advice is first embrace the internet as your new best friend. Then tour the homes in your neighborhood that are competing with yours, and find a way to make your home more attractive. Only then are you ready to look at pricing your home to meet and beat the competition.
NEXT WEEK: Pricing Your Home To Sell In Today's Market
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"EPA CERTIFIED RENOVATOR" TRAINING
Do You Work with Real Estate? You Must Be LEAD SAFE CERTIFIED as of April 22nd.
To all owners, realtors, investors, property managers, contractors, electricians, plumbers and painters. Do you ever engage in any level of renovation? If so, read this:
Any renovator, from owners to contractors, from plumbers to electricians to painters, who disturbs lead paint while working in a pre-1978 home, school or day care center, now must be Lead-Safe Certified. If you’re not, you can face tens of thousands of dollars in fines. Plus, you put the health of yourself, your workers and your customers at risk, which could result in lawsuits. One simple 8 hour class certifies you for five years. It’s that easy.
Since April 22, 2010, there are new Federal rules regarding how you perform any work that disturbs lead-based paint in homes, child-care facilities and schools built before 1978. You now must be EPA certified and follow specific work practices to prevent lead contamination.
Failure to follow the new rules can result in federal fines of up to $32,500 per day or up to 5 years in federal prison, or both. Don’t take a chance - it’s not worth it.
How To Become an EPA Certified Renovator:
In just one day, John Adams will teach you how to meet all EPA requirements and become an “EPA Certified Renovator.”
Don’t wait - register now! Click on “Seminars” and choose your day!
- Friday, September 10th at Suburban Plaza, 2643 North Decatur Road
and Church Street, Decatur , Lower Level, beneath Hancock Fabrics
8:30 A.M. to 5:30 P.M.
Total Course Cost: $295, includes exam and EPA-HUD 400 page manual
Space is limited to 20 participants.
Training services provided by Seagull Environmental Management Co, Inc.
Courses are approved for purposed of certification under Section 402 of TSCA for the Certified Renovator.
This course has been approved by the Georgia Real Estate Commission for 7 hours of Real Estate Continuing Education
For more information, call toll-free 888-373-0029
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