Making the big decision to sell your home can be one of the most exciting parts of your life. After all, it’s a huge transaction that will usher in a major change for you and your family. It’s easy to look at the selling process at a high level and think you have it all figured out. What could be so difficult about selling a home?

As it turns out, selling a home can be complicated, and trial and error is not a great strategy. It’s one of those things you want to get right the first time. As experienced real estate professionals, we’ve seen it all before and know firsthand how to guide clients towards making the best, most beneficial decisions.

If you’ve recently decided to sell your home, here are a few of the most common mistakes you might run into–and how to avoid them.

1. Not Undergoing A Home Evaluation

Receiving a professional home evaluation should be the very first step in every home seller’s journey.

When a real estate agent provides you with a professional home evaluation, they combine their years of real estate knowledge and experience along with an in-depth Comparative Market Analysis to determine an accurate estimate of a home’s current worth.

These estimates aren’t just pulled out of thin air—they are the result of diligent research and hard work, and are among the best methods for determining an accurate pricing strategy.

Although you might have a price in your head that you’d like to get for your home, it might not be realistic. Incorrect pricing strategies often result in lacklustre listing performance and eventually disappointing final sales. It’s better to start on the right foot with a professional home evaluation.

2. Skipping Staging

When it comes time to showcase your property—whether it’s through high-quality photo and video or in-person open houses—ensuring your home looks great is essential to its selling success. A key step in achieving that is through professional home staging.

While you might have a keen eye for design, the talents of professional stagers go beyond the superficial. Professional stagers work to create open, fluid spaces that strategically allow guests to navigate a home freely and without restriction.

Stagers also know how to stage homes as neutral spaces, allowing the most potential buyers to be able to picture themselves living in a home versus picturing themselves living in your home.

A good understanding of the real estate market is essential to a successful sale. Here are some informative posts that will help:

• How to Negotiate a Real Estate Contract
• Pre-Qualification vs Pre-Approval: What’s Better?
• 7 Amazing Benefits of Working With a Real Estate Agent

3. Ignoring Curb Appeal

Making sure the exterior of your home looks its best is just as important as staging the interior.

First impressions count for a lot more than sellers may realize. No matter how appealing a home might look inside, every buyer’s initial opinion is based on the exterior.

We always recommend sellers put a little time and effort into boosting their home’s curb appeal ahead of home showings. Simple tasks like weeding, minor landscaping, painting touch-ups—even laying down a new welcome mat—all go a long way in enhancing buyers’ first impressions.

4. Pricing Too High

Perhaps the most important part of a successful home sale is getting your pricing strategy correct—the first time. While some sellers have their hearts set on receiving a certain price for their home if they enter the market too high initially, they could risk their listing attracting little to no market interest right off the bat.

We can help you determine opening list prices based on several factors depending on recent market activity, local competition, and our professional home evaluations. While we may advise our clients to either list below, at, or above their home’s current market value, our pricing strategies are always intended to result in the highest possible sales price.

5. Using A Non-Local Agent

Hiring a local agent with lots of selling experience within your neighbourhood is essential.

When you hire an agent with a track record of successful sales in your community, you can feel confident you’ll be working with someone who truly understands how to sell a home in your local market.

From understanding buyer profiles to creating effective local marketing campaigns, even networking with residents and other agents in the area, hiring an agent with local insight and expertise almost always results in a much smoother, more lucrative home sale.

Are you thinking about selling your home? Our team of experienced real estate professionals can help you achieve the best results. Contact us here to start a conversation about your upcoming sale today!