Putting 5 Home-Selling Myths to Rest

Today let’s debunk five common home seller myths.

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Over the years, many myths about the home-selling process have cropped up in the marketplace. Today we’re going to address and debunk five of these most common misconceptions concerning sellers:

1. Open houses sell homes. Open houses can certainly help you sell your home, but it’s more likely that your house will successfully sell due to a scheduled showing. The people who attend showings have already been vetted and pre-approved, and they likely already know the area. Open houses are a great strategy to get people through the door, though, especially if you’re struggling with showings or have been on the market for a long time.

2. Upgrading any part of your home will raise its value. The reality is that some home upgrades are really just maintenance items, and taking care of them won’t actually improve the home’s value. They might make the buyer more willing to pull the trigger on the purchase, but they probably won’t affect how much they offer for the home. Reach out to us here at Atlas Premier Realty to learn more about which upgrades can boost your home’s value.

3. You can estimate the value of your home based on the sale price of a nearby home that sold more than a year ago. While it’s true that nearby home sales can have some relevance to your home’s price, a year-old sale isn’t something we’d want to be the basis for your asking price. Markets change seasonally and year over year; what was true of the market a year ago may no longer be applicable today. The more recent a home sale, the more relevant it is to your situation. Most appraisers only ever look back on six months’ worth of sales.

4. More marketing means higher quality buyers. In reality, the motivated buyers who are most likely to buy your home are already working with a real estate agent or are highly engaged in home searches on their own. Of course, a good real estate company will go above and beyond to expose your property to as many people as possible, but that doesn’t necessarily prove that more marketing equals more buyers willing to pay your price. You’ll still have to position the home properly in terms of price, condition, and location.

5. Your house will sell without needing to make improvements. This one depends on what expectations you have regarding your sale price. If your house needs a substantial amount of work, just know that in order to sell, your price has to reflect the home’s condition. If you want your home to sell for the most possible money, you might have to do some improvements.

Hopefully, this helped to give you a better understanding of what being a seller in our market is really like. If you have any additional questions, don’t hesitate to reach out to us. We’d love to hear from you.