What Factors Does a Seller Control?

What leads to a successful sale for a Seller?  In short, working with the factors the Seller can control and working those factors to the Seller’s advantage:  Condition, Marketing, Pricing, and Ease of Showing are the main factors that the Seller controls.

Condition – The more attractive your place – the greater the chance of attracting buyers.  Challenging, is the best word to describe getting your home ready to sell. Ideally, you can move out.  Paint the entire inside and stage the house to look like a Crate & Barrel furniture showroom.  Sadly, myself included, that is not in the budget and not logistically possible for most Sellers.  Next best option is to have your Agent go through your home with you to identify items that should be repaired or improved prior to going to market. Your Agent should be a local expert that knows what the market considers important (and what really doesn’t matter) and can help you get the repairs done reasonably and painlessly to help you prepare your home to show at its best.

Marketing  – The better the marketing, the more attention the property will receive.  At DougMcNeillyHomes all our properties have a Comprehensive Marketing Plan regardless of price.  The most important elements are professional photographs, a virtual tour, and a customized social medial campaign.    These items should be offered at all price points in today’s market place by Real Estate Agents.  For vacant homes, strategies such as virtual staging should be a cost covered by the Agent.  Depending on the price point of the home, the Agent might share in the cost of physical staging of vacant homes.

Pricing – The more compelling the price – the more attention you will get and a greater chance of attracting buyers.  There are several factors that impact the selling price of a home.  Conditions in the local, regional, and national real estate markets impact price.  Unchangeable factors such as lot size, age and overall condition of the home, and square footage impact price.  Value added items such as property features and amenities impact price.  And, the listing and selling prices of comparable homes.  And, most important, the Seller’s level of interest, energy, and motivation in preparing the property for market.  Well priced homes generate immediate interest among buyers and agents.  And, an offer within 14 to 30 days (or sooner).  Which is exactly what you want!

Ease of Showing – Showings are typically scheduled in advance within a certain timeframe.  However, there are no strict guidelines on how much notice an agent provides; sometimes they will call the day before; sometimes one hour before.  When your home first hits the market, it is not atypical to have numerous showing requests that first week to ten days.  Can you turn down showings?  Of course, it’s your home.  However, understand how buyer agents work with their clients.  If that time slot is inconvenient for you, and you turn down the showing, chances are that the buyer will never see your home.  Try not to risk losing the potentially perfect buyer be declining a showing unnecessarily.

If you maximize all four, you maximize your chances of success.  The marketing launch is key to grabbing buyers already in the market. A key element of that is coming on market with a price that gets attention and excites Buyers.  When you are selling your home, you are entering a beauty contest and a price war.  Your Agent’s job is to help you win both!

Doug McNeilly is a REALTOR® with Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage in Wayland, Massachusetts.  He specializes in Wayland, Sudbury and the Greater Boston Metro West Area.  He can be reached at doug.mcneilly@nemoves.com or www.dougmcneillyhomes.com