5 Expensive Mistakes Made by Home Sellers When Selling a Home

A home gets listed by an agent in a rather popular neighbourhood. A couple of properties down the street, there's already another home on the market with a different agency.

Yet, the difference between the marketing couldn't be further apart! It's like chalk and cheese, and it will be quite obvious which one will sell first!

Home sellers will do all the necessary research before buying a R20,000 television set, yet will hire the first real estate agent they run into?! Yet, the financial impact will be many times bigger than that of buying a TV!

So why aren't home sellers more prepared?

Could it be that they're making one of the following mistakes?

Avoid leaving a lot of money on the table by checking out these top five mistakes made by home sellers when selling a home:

No.1 - Not doing any research before listing a home for sale

While we could have a bigger list of mistakes made by home sellers, we could also cut this list down to just one main mistake!

All the following mistakes would probably not be big deals if this first one would be taken care of.

If more than 90% of home buyers start their home buying journey online, why isn't a home seller doing exactly the same when preparing to sell his house?

Whereas a recommendation from a family member or friend over the weekend braai might be a welcome start, please let's not get complacent and just hire that real estate agent 'on the spot'!

Obviously, a referral from your immediate circle will carry quite some weight, it's very important to do your own research!

After all, that particular real estate agent might have a certain area specialization or certain skills which aren't applicable to your unique situation.

Have you Googled the agent's name?

Looked into his references?

Perhaps a quick visit to his social media profiles might tell you about the person you're about to give 'control' of your family's most important (and expensive!) asset!

No.2 - Hiring a rookie real estate agent to be their listing agent

Selling a house is quite easy.

Getting top dollar for it is something completely different!

Do you honestly think that the rookie real estate agent will be able to perform as well as someone who's been doing it for many years/decades?

Besides the customized marketing plan needed to prepare and sell your home, experience and know-how of contracts will be vital in getting your property sold for the highest price possible!

Unfortunately for the rookie agent, only time will gap this shortfall.

Plenty times of missing buyer clues, legal issues, newbie marketing mistakes etc will eventually turn the rookie into an experienced agent.

So, why do home sellers do this to themselves?

No.3 - Not insisting on professional photographs

It always amazes us to see some of these property pictures!

If you've been given the honour (and responsibility!) to sell someone's home, and you're getting paid quite well for doing so, why skimp on photographs?!

Aren't you marketing someone's most expensive possession?

Then why aren't you doing your utmost in getting this 'product' (yes it is!) as presentable as possible?

Don't you want to show off this most amazing home (it will be for someone) to the public and aim to get as high of a response as possible?

Because that's exactly what will happen when you'll advertise the property with professional photos!

As a home seller, you should insist that your real estate agent uses the services of such (full time) photographers!

After all, it will affect your bottom line if you don't see any offers in the first 3-4 weeks of going live!

No.4 - Making the buyer viewing process complicated

Let's keep something in mind here: once your home listing goes live, you're entering a highly competitive market, regardless of whether it's a buyer's market or seller's market!

Your home won't be the only one on the market!

And the more difficult you make it for buyers to view your property, the fewer chances these buyers will actually come and see your home.

Do you really want to chase away your home buyer or are you a serious seller?

Sure, a buyer viewing might sometimes be more of an inconvenience than other times, but if it turns out to be The Buyer, it'll turn into quite the profitable inconvenience, wouldn't you say?

No.5 - Failing to hold their real estate agent accountable

Somehow, this one slips through the cracks quite a bit.

Serious home sellers who put their trust in the hands of a real estate agent to sell their property, only to realize weeks into the arrangement that he's forgotten about them, is unfortunately NOT an unusual occurrence!

Too many agents will list a property and only revert if there's interest.

Here you have home sellers who eagerly awaiting feedback, yet will be left in the dark for weeks/month on end before the agent gets back to them!

The minimum communication one should have ought to be on a weekly basis, regardless of whether there's been interest in the property or not, no?

And if the agent can't be bothered to even do that, you've got yourself the wrong agent! It's quite simple!

Not getting a basic level of (feedback) service should be escalated to the agent's management as soon as possible!

Do you think the agent will start giving you feedback now?

You betcha!

Closing thoughts

We seriously hope this short list of home seller mistakes will assist you in avoiding them yourself!

Make sure to research the necessary so you can get your home sold in the shortest period of time, for the highest amount of money, and least amount of stress.

And starting off with a properly composed marketing plan (and a correct market-related asking price from the get-go) will go a very long way in achieving exactly that!