Selling Your Utah Home in Sellers Market 2021 Top Mistakes

Selling Your Utah Home in Sellers Market 2021 - Top Mistakes
Melissa Ballman: Selling Your Utah Home in Sellers Market 2021 Top Mistakes

Sellers, you can still make big mistakes that will cost you, even in a seller’s market. So today that’s what I’m talking about.

Hi, this is Melissa Ballman and I’m a real estate agent here in the greater Salt Lake City area. So what that means, if you’re looking at making a real estate move, I’d love to connect with you. Shoot me a text, send me an email, do what you got to do, but get in touch with me. But first, today I’m talking about common mistakes sellers make in a crazy hot seller’s market. So when it’s a seller’s market, it’s easy to become complacent because you hear about how hot the market is, how much buyers are paying over the asking price, and so on and so forth. But being complacent is a big mistake for sellers that can cost you a ton of money.

So some may call it getting lazy for sellers. So what do I mean by that? Things like not having professional photography. I can’t tell you how many times right now I’m looking at the MLS and it blows my mind, the pictures that are on there. You have to think of selling your house like a first date almost. You need to put your best foot forward. That is the first impression that somebody is going to see of your house. And these dark pictures and reflections of people in the mirrors and in the shadows and just horrific pictures, don’t do it. Along that same line, not staging your home if it’s vacant and taking that time to make it more appealing to others. And I’m dropping a link in the description on a whole video I did about staging your home and what that means to buyers. So check that out too.

You want to work on your curb appeal. Don’t take for granted that it’s a seller’s market. Maybe put some fresh numbers on the front of your house so they look nice and clear. Maybe paint your front door, clean the rain gutters, trim up the bushes. Those are all things that they’re not huge improvements or huge investments, but the curb appeal matters when it comes time to selling. Now that includes the inside of your house. I have shown houses recently that I’m just appalled. There is laundry everywhere, you can see crumbs on the floor, hair, all kinds of stuff. Do a deep cleaning. Again, you have to put your best foot forward. Believe me, when buyers see homes inside in bad condition or even outside, it affects what they think the house is worth. So take time, declutter, deep clean, all the things that we tell you as agents to do, take the time to do.

Next, over-pricing your house. Look, we all want to sell to that unicorn buyer out there and get tons more than it’s worth. But right now we’re seeing a slight shift in the seller’s market. And that is, it’s still a seller’s market don’t worry, but buyers are not doing the crazy things they were at the beginning of 2021. So I’ve even seen quite a few price drops recently, like the last couple of days in Salt Lake County for homes. So when you overprice your house, what is going to happen is buyers are not dumb. They’re going to know it’s overpriced. They’re not going to flock to the house like they would with a right-priced home. And you’re going to reduce the number of offers to maybe one or none. And then the longer it sits on the market, the buyers are going to start wondering “What is wrong with this house?” And they’re going to lowball offer you.

Whereas if you price it right from the beginning, you’re more likely to have qualified buyers come through your house and give you good, solid offers. I hope you’re enjoying my video so far. If you haven’t already, make sure you subscribe to my YouTube channel and click the bell, that way you’re alerted each week when I drop a new video. And if you’re on Facebook, hop on over to our private community page called Salt Lake Life. And there we talk about all things living in the greater Salt Lake City area, and really Utah as a whole.

Next, thinking you’re going to save yourself by doing it on your own. Now I say this in two terms, not just doing a for sale by owner, but maybe you have a friend or you know somebody or whatever that will put it on the MLS and just charge you a tiny, tiny fee. But you still have to do the open houses. You still have to arrange all the showings. You still have to be there for inspections and all of that. What is your time worth and what are you taking away from your life in order to do that? Is it worth it? Because the thing that people don’t realize is, commissions are decided by you as a seller. So commissions are always negotiable. So don’t think that by doing it yourself, you’re saving X amount of money, that may not be the case. So have open communication and talk to various agents.

Which, comes up on one of the other mistakes that people make. And that is not interviewing agents. Look, we all know at least five agents in Utah, we have tons and tons of agents. But there are things that you need to interview. Don’t take for granted that “Oh, my neighbor is an agent. Or somebody I work with her sister is an agent.” Or whatever shoestring that there is. Make sure you go ahead, look up agents’ reviews on Google and other places and interview them. See what they have to offer. And if they’re the right fit for you.

So one of the questions you need to ask the agents that you’re interviewing is if they’re willing or experienced in having those difficult conversations or asking the difficult questions of the buyer’s agents that are presenting offers. Because there’s a lot of moving parts right now in this market. And check out my video I put down in the description about a seller losing $50,000 on selling their house because of this one mistake of… In my opinion, not hiring the right agent. You got to watch the video for that. But anyway, you have to have conversations as an agent with these buyers. Are they a cash buyer? Well, do they really have the cash? Are they an investment firm that’s just going to sell the contract, and it’s a silent buyer basically? If the buyer’s paying over the appraised value, where are the funds? Do they have them? There are all kinds of questions like that, that as a real estate agent, you need to be prepared to have with buyer’s agents.

And finally, not understanding the market and how to pull a comp. Look, your neighbor might sell their house down the street four doors down for $700,000. But maybe it’s not even a comparable property to yours. Just because it’s close to you doesn’t mean it’s a comparable. So you have to know and understand how an appraiser is going to look at a house. Because unless it’s a cash buyer, all homes have to be appraised for the bank, regardless of appraisal contingencies. And I’ll waive this and do that and that’s a whole nother story. So this kind of goes back to what I was saying before about not pricing your home correctly. And then it’s either going to sit on the market and you’re going to have low ball offers because people are going to start thinking that something’s wrong with your house because it hasn’t sold.

So you need to understand comps and days on market and how to pull all of that information to make your sale the most successful you can. And no offense, but getting on a public website that posts those things is not the best way to go about it because it’s inaccurate. We are a non-disclosure state, so what you see on those websites may not be accurate. It’s not reflecting if any concessions were paid or all kinds of different terms that can come with selling a house.

I hope you enjoyed my video today. If you have any questions, feel free to reach out to me. I’d love to connect with you, but as always make it a great day.
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