Seven Sins of Selling

It has been an extreme seller’s market in Florida the last couple of years, low rates, supply and demand, and bidding wars pushed property prices sky high. But, change is coming.

Rising rates, inflation, and consumers worried about a recession are causing the market to cool down and also seeing many buyers taking a break. That has caused inventory to start to rise, and homes spending a touch more time on the market, even  in Central Florida. When the market was on fire home sellers believed they can sell for practically any price and in any condition, and many times they could, but maybe not so much anymore. Those lofty expectations are overblown, and that many of the habits they’ve become accustomed to in a hot seller’s market could be downright deadly for a home sale today.

Don’t fall into the trap of sabotaging your own sale by knowing and avoiding these 7 sins of selling:

1. Greed – A homes value is what a buyer is willing to pay for it, and most times that is derived from the sold prices of comparable homes, your home is not “one in a million”.
2. Lazy – You need to make a little effort to help the property show well. Clean, put away clothes, make sure light bulbs work, etc.
3. Envy – Just because the home down the street sold for “X” amount, does need mean yours will. You need to take into account timing, condition, size, location, and other factors. It is extremely difficult to undersell a properly priced home in our market, but you can definitely overprice your home and have it become a “stale” listing and then eventually bringing less than even what it probably should have if priced correctly from the start.
4. Pride – Many sellers may think their home is absolutely perfect, but it may not be for everyone. Listen to your Realtor that may offer some home prepping advice, they may know a little more about what buyers may like then you do.
5. Gluttony – Many times the best offer on a listing is one of the first, but even when some sellers receive 5, 10, even 15 offers, they sometimes want to wait and see if they get more and higher. Many times by the time the seller realizes most of the offers were indeed already at the top of what the market was willing to pay, many of those buyers may have moved on already and the seller very well have could have missed out on the best offer on the table.
6. Wrath – Emotions can be a big player when selling a home, and anger does not do anyone good. Keep your emotions in check and do not get angry and dismiss an offer because of a simple concession request such as closing cost contributions, it still may end up being your best offer.
7. Lust – Try not to fall in love with another home before you actually sell your own. We see this many times, and it usually ends up with a seller leaving money on the table. I always recommend we get a sellers current home on the market and under contract before we even start to view any homes in person.