5 Home Selling Regrets and How to Avoid Them

What are some of the biggest regrets that homeowners have when selling a house? Today I'm discussing the five most common regrets I see, and how you can avoid them.
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Today I wanted to talk about the biggest real-life regrets that home sellers have.

1. Not preparing the home before going on the market. When we as Realtors get in the picture, we're excited to get the home on the market and get going to sell the home as quickly as possible to maximize the dollar for the seller. Sometimes, though, Realtors aren't the best at helping sellers pump the brakes and realize that the home isn't ready for the market. In the last few years, we've found that as buyers scroll through homes online, if the home doesn't have pictures that are lit well and professionally done, they become disinterested, even if it's the deal of the century. Having the home look right and present well online is crucial, so you have to do some back end work.
2. Trying to sell without an agent. There are so many different ways I could prove that, with the biggest being when it hits your pocket as a seller. You don't net as much money as you could by hiring an agent.




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When dealing with multiple offers, don't just look at the dollar amount.

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3. Skipping the staging. Like I mentioned with photos, staging is crucial. Thanks to HGTV, we all expect homes to look like model homes as buyers when we look online. Getting your home as close to that as possible will help maximize your dollar.  
4. Jumping at the first offer. The first offer can sometimes come from an over-reactive buyer. Many times, these buyers aren't prepared or qualified to buy a home. They aren't as knowledgeable, so as quickly as they over-offer on your house, they can back out and walk away, too. Having an experienced agent to guide you through the offers is important.
5. Picking a buyer based on money only. We've been dealing with multiple offers a lot this summer in the Salt Lake City area. When you have multiple offers, you tend to want to only look at the highest dollar net. The highest net offer isn't always your strongest buyer, however, and I have seen a lot more deals fall through this year due to flaky and unqualified buyers compared to recent years. You want to vet those offers and the qualifications of the buyer.

Hopefully this topic was helpful for you. If you have any more questions, I'd love to sit down and chat with you. Give me a call or send me an email and let's continue this conversation soon!