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Selling Your House? Don’t Do These 7 Things!

When it’s time to sell your home, everyone wants to make to most money possible from their sale.

But whether you’re selling your home now or in the future, here are 7 things that you should never do!

1. Don’t List Your Home Before It’s Ready to Show

If you hurry to list your house in Raleigh before it has been made ready to show, it will not present well and it will not sell well. A little patience on the front end will speed up the sale and raise the sales price, too.

How we live in a home and how we present it to buyers when we want them to write a big check is never the same. I have a list of 10 basic things Raleigh home sellers should do to get their home sold on my website at lindacraft.com.

2. Don’t Over-Improve Your House

People buy a house within a neighborhood. If your house is so improved that it sticks out and does not fit in with the rest of the houses in the neighborhood, you are hurting your chances of selling and rarely do you get your investment back.

My clients often call me with ideas about adding on to their home, and the first thing I do is run comps to see if the neighborhood will support it.

3. Don’t Hide Anything

Covering up or failing to mention real problems doesn’t work. North Carolina disclosure rules are strict and you can be sued for non-disclosure of anything that was hidden from the buyer. If you know there are problems, fix them or disclose them.

However, the fix will usually cost a lot less than disclosing and asking a buyer to buy your problem. The home buyers usually will not take on an unknown expense, and if they do they will multiply the cost to cure by 3 times to protect themselves.

4. Don’t Paint with Personalized Colors

Neutral sells, and your favorite color to a buyer means they will have to spend their precious time and money to change it.

Buyers pay top dollar for move-in ready homes and want a big discount on the price if it is not.

5. Don’t Rush

It’s important to have all the information about your mortgage payoffs, pre-payment penalties, market trends and conditions for selling, and options for next home before you end up with a financial surprise with a high pay off or being sold with nowhere affordable to go.

6. Don’t Get Emotional

Your attachment to your home and your financial needs don’t really matter to buyers.

If you can’t set your emotions to the side your sale will not go as you would like it too. It is going to be extremely painful for you.

Remember, it’s your home full of memories but, to the buyer… it’s just a house that they have no emotional attachment to yet because it is not theirs. We have a fabulous article on our website titled “It is Mine and I Own It” about the psychology of real estate.

7. Don’t Hire Wrong

Relationships matter, but make your choice for business reasons. Experience and expertise will determine your financial selling success — not relationships.

Let Linda Craft & Team Help You Sell Your Home

It can seem very easy to slip into these “Do Nots” when you’re selling your Raleigh home. But we can help ensure that it doesn’t happen to you. Let us share our real estate knowledge with you and help you get the results you’re looking for when you’re selling your property. Contact Linda Craft & Team today to get started.

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