Find the right agent at the beginning of the process. Ask the agents to do a comparative marketing analysis (CMA) and to list the marketing strategies they will employ while selling your home. These could include open houses (see below), or sending out mailings, such as flyers or postcards. You may also have to pay a little more in commission. Give a bonus to the agent who brings the buyer to the closing table. While a great agent isn't going to force a buyer to purchase a house just to get a cash bonus, he or she probably will include your house as an option as long as it meets the buyer's criteria. Other options include big gift certificates, family vacations, or, if you're trying to sell a very expensive house, you might consider giving away a fancy car. Let your neighbors know your house is for sale. Make sure to drop a complete listing sheet into your neighbors' mailboxes. If your neighbors like the neighborhood, they'll be more likely to recommend your house to friends and relatives who are shopping around for a new home. Want to goose your return? Offer a gift certificate to any neighbor who recommends the person who ultimately buys your house. Take advantage of technology. Make sure the agent you choose has a Web site (personal or company) that can accept multiple photos of your property. You can even set up your own Web site so that anyone searching the Web for property with your home's amenities or in the neighborhood will find it. Consider paying someone to takea 360-degree photo, as well as extra photos of the interior and exterior of the property. More than 85 percent of buyers start their search for a home on the Internet, which means you've got to "wow" them online or they'll never even look at your house in person. Give your landscape an upgrade. Spending $500 to have your yard professionally overhauled will pay off big-time now that summer has come. Have a professional landscaping company trim bushes and trees, manicure lawns, plant colorful flowers and de-weed the garden. Exterior rooms are popular, so consider buying new, matching lawn furniture and a movable fireplace pit to encourage buyers to think about spending their evenings under the starry skies in your backyard. This will help to give your home a good buzz throughout the neighborhood. Ask your agent to do evening and morning open houses. Everyone works. Everyone is busy all the time, and if you have kids, weekends can be a tough time to look for a home. In some parts of the country, early-morning "breakfast" open houses are becoming popular, as are evening "cocktail hour" open houses. Broker opens still work to get the word out in the brokerage community. You might try boosting attendance by giving away a $100 gift certificate at the broker's open (you can draw their business cards from a fish bowl). Make the most of a by-owner sale. FSBOs (those homes that are "for sale by owner") tend to do really well in seller's markets. It can be tougher in a buyer's market. Be sure your ads say you will cooperate with a buyer's agent -- that is, you will pay a half commission to the agent who brings the winning offer.
I recently shared more tips about successfully selling your home here. If you're looking for tips on how to successfully sell your current home to move up and buy another home, I shared those tips here. While you're reading all these tips, you may as well find out some of the biggest mistakes that home and condo sellers make.
Selling your home is one of the biggest decisions you will ever make. Having a little help along the way doesn't hurt.
-John Mudd
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