Introduction
What I said in the buyer's section also applies in the sellers section. I could overload you with all kinds of information, trends, tips, tricks, reports, etc etc. But every situation is different and requires a customized approach. Therefore, I will provide you with key information. Your next best step is give me a call.
General information.
Reasons to sell and market conditions can strongly vary and will impact the strategy on the factors involved. Let me scale reasons to sell from 0 (let's just give it a try aka unmotivated seller) to 1 (forced to sell aka motivated seller) and market conditions from 0 (very strong buyer's market) to 1 (very strong sellers market). Both will determine the strategy on time (how fast do you want to sell?), timing (when is the best time to sell) and money (how to get the best price - which improvements add more to property value than cost?).
About FSBO
I usually don't spend time and energy in approaching FSBO to try to list with me. The only exception is when I have a client that might be interested in the property FSBO. I rather save that time and energy to for buyers and sellers that are working with me. Some things to think about when you are going FSBO.
First: what is the reason to sell? Do you need to sell quick or do you have all the time in the world. There are always exceptions, but working with an agent will sell your house quicker. So if you scale 0.5 or more, you might want to hire an agent.
Second: what is the market? In a seller's market, go FSBO and you could have prospective buyers every day. In a buyer's market, it's going to be hard to get anyone over the floor at all. Scaling 0.5 or less, and you might want to have an agent work for you. How is Macon county scaling today (according to my honest opinion)? Decatur is having a strong buyer's market, scale 0.1. Smaller towns and non Decatur schools: depending on village, scaling 0.4 to 0.8
Third: trade off what you'll save on commission (usually the only incentive to even try FSBO) versus what it's going to cost. Are you going to hire someone for the paperwork? What are you going to spend on advertising? How much less will a buyer want to pay knowing you are selling FSBO? What is the value of your time?
Forth: consider other factors: are you easily available? Do you feel comfortable showing your house to a stranger? Will you be able to negotiate a good deal when face to face with a buyer?
I respect sellers that go FSBO. And in some occasions, it is even a wise thing to do. When you are not in a hurry and you like to show your house, you know about the paperwork, why wouldn't you? With people going online for house shopping, advertising might be as easy as putting your property on a FSBO website. Yet, 80% of FSBO end up using an agent. So before going FSBO, my advice: make your homework and don't spend money if you are not convinced you can do it.
Selling residential
You want to sell your property. What will you look at? 1. getting top dollar 2. sell as quick as possible.
1. The market is going to determine the value of your property. Sometimes you will have a buyer that likes your property so much he'd pay more than market value, but those would be exceptions. So what can you do to get the most out of your property? Really only two things: a. maximize curb appeal and b. make improvements that add more to the property value than the money you will spend on it.
a. Maximize curb appeal:
Inside: cleaning cleaning cleaning; go through the entire house and put everything you don’t need or that you don’t use a lot in boxes, including personal stuff like pictures, souvenirs etc. Get as much in boxes as you can. Avoid putting stuff in cabinets, closets or drawers. You might even want to remove some furniture. Don’t just put the boxes in the garage. The best place for the boxes is outside the house: store them with family or friends. You might be surprised how much stuff you have and make some extra money by having a garage sale!
Outside: Remove as much stuff as you can, clean the windows, sweep the front porch, and mow the yard.
b. Improvements that add more to property value than the cost:
You are going to sell your house. Your kitchen is outdated. Your bathroom has a blue tub. The rooms are painted green. The carpet has stains or even worse, they are purple. The furnace is old, and you haven’t mentioned woodwork, curtains and light fixtures yet. You have blue siding and old windows. No garage, no deck, no swimming pool. WHAT TO DO?
There is no standard answer to this question. Your property might be so outdated that you either have to remodel the entire house or put it on the market as ‘TLC needed’. Remodeling would only be an option if you can do most of the work yourself. If not, limit yourself to painting and some inexpensive updates. Target those buyers that want to buy a house at discount price and fix it up. Don’t take a road in between.
But what if the house is in decent condition but needs some work? The one improvement you NEED to do is painting. You don’t need to do anything of course, but painting will add more to the market value than the cost. Paint the entire house if needed. Use a bright, light, neutral color. Next, take a look at lights and curtains. If they are old and dark, that might be a next interesting update but don’t use anything too fancy. The aim should be: brighten up the house and give it a more modern look. Another inexpensive and interesting improvement to consider is woodwork, especially if you have different colors of wood or if some trims are missing. Go for light colored wood. Brighten it up. Your property looks different and you didn’t spend hardly any money. What about carpeting? Some people will say: re-carpet when the carpet is dark or when it has stains. I say: don’t re-carpet, there is better way to deal with this.
So we painted, have tackled light fixtures, window treatments, woodwork, and carpeting. BTW, if you ever had a leak that caused damage, fix the damage. You don’t want any buyer to think there is still a leaking issue. And if you have leaks, fix them. Water is the number one cause for property problems. Termites, molds, structural problems are all due to water. Rotted wood? Replace! Buy a moisture meter and check for high moisture levels. Find out the problem and fix it!
What’s left? Structural items like electrical, plumbing, roof, A/C, furnace, windows, siding, water heater, room structure; aesthetic items like baths, kitchen; add on items like a porch, pool, shed.
Don’t do any structural work if you cannot do it yourself or know someone that can do it for you for a bargain price. The reason is obvious: what you will pay will be the maximum any buyer will pay. But if that buyer does know how to do it, it’s like paying him for the work he’ll be doing.
Aesthetic: money spent on kitchen and baths will usually add that amount or more to the selling price as long as you do it standard and preferably if you can do it yourself. Don’t install luxury amenities like cherry cabinets, wine cellars, whirlpools. Some buyers might think these are great extras, others will consider it nice to have’s. Try to avoid a complete remodeling project. Painting the kitchen cabinets and putting new handles and countertop will most likely change the look of your kitchen. Shower curtain, new sink, new showerhead and your bathroom will look totally different. Kitchen and bathroom cabinets with adhesive paper with flowers? Please...tear it off!
Add on: don’t add on. Whether it’s a garage, porch, swimming pool, shed: stay away from it.
2. You have worked on curb appeal and done high return improvements. I will determine the market value. The next step: sell your house as quick as possible. How? a Advertising and b pricing.
a Advertising: see the section 'working with me' to find out what I will do to advertise your property! However, the best advertising in the world cannot sell your house for more than the market value. There is something about pricing to be said
b Pricing. Price your home right from the start. Overpricing will discourage buyers and help sell the competition. Your house won't sell and it will be on the market for a while. Buyers will notice the days on the market and will either be concerned or take this into account to make low offers. And what about underpricing? This would only be a good strategy when you are in a real hurry to sell. There might be times when you get different bids and end up selling for more than listing price, but still the best thing to do: list at fair market value.
Selling residential, the scaling and strategy.
Reasons to sell from 0 to 1 will be translated in pricing above market value to pricing under market value
Market condition from 0 to 1 will determine your strategy: in a strong buyer's market, put your house for sale first and then buy another house. In a strong sellers market, go and buy a house and then put your house on the market. Try to avoid contingencies but then again, don't end up selling a vacant house and paying two mortgage payments. Strategy is key.
Selling commercial & investment properties
When it comes to selling commercial and investment properties, things get a little more complicated and both buyer and seller will typically work with a lawyer. Give me a call for customized attention. Some general remarks: any potential buyer will exactly know what he wants to do and will make a financial analysis, inspection, due diligence. The most important when you want to sell commercial or investment property: sell it when you are still operating it (resp. operating the business or having tenants). Don't wait untill you close your business to sell it. You will lose all the goodwill and you will lose money by the second the property does not sell.
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