There are homeowners who would really prefer to leave their current residence or home before they come out in the market and put it up for sale. They have their varied reasons, and many of them make sense. But homeowners also know that there are quite a number of difficulties and challenges when you decide to sell a vacant house. They know only too well, for instance, that it could be a hit or miss for the fair price as they’d also be waiting for the money which they need to settle the mortgage on their new home.
There are common scenarios in selling vacant homes which you should avoid. If you’re looking for some tips on the best way to sell your house, read on because this article will discuss some of the most common mistakes in selling vacant houses.
- Ignoring Damage Before You Start Selling
One of the mistakes that you should avoid when you’re planning to sell your vacant house is to ignore any damage that the home may have sustained. Damage in a house will certainly have a negative impact on the price that it could fetch. If the damage was there before you left, then you should strive to have it repaired before you come out in the market. If it happens eventually after you leave but prior to the sale, it’s still your responsibility. This is particularly important if your vacant house sits in a neighborhood which is prone to flooding. If a hurricane caused damage recently, you should seriously consider checking your vacant house for any possible damage.
Damage to your property will have a negative impact on both the market valuation of your home. Buyers who look at your home would also tend to give you a lower offer when they see the damage. Even if they see it after you’ve closed on a price, they’ll most likely ask for deductions equivalent to the cost needed to repair the damage. - Not Hiring A Caretaker
It’s common for some homeowners to think they can leave town and their home without any caretaker who can look after it when they’re gone.
Your listing agent, if you hired one, could surely handle at least the showing and the preliminary conversations and negotiation. But that’s all.
A caretaker can look after the home and visit it every now and then. This becomes particularly important if the homeowner has already moved out-of-state or maybe even to another country. The caretaker could make sure that the place is cleaned every now and then, that the utility bills are paid and updated, that the home insurance is paid, whether the most recent natural disasters have caused any damage, and whether anyone has attempted to break in. - Not Sprucing Up Your Home
Another common mistake when homeowners sell their vacant home is that they don’t spruce up their home before starting to sell. If you need sell vacant house, it should be spic and span.
Hence, you should totally not skip sprucing up your vacant house for sale. Keep in mind that buyers still make decisions and offer prices. A gloomy look might shave off a few tens of thousands of dollars from the price offers that you’ll get. You might not even get an offer at all.
You don’t have to do fix the house up every time a potential buyer comes for an appointment. You can set regular schedules to do the cleaning and sprucing up, but don’t do away with them altogether. A clean and tidy home would still create a more positive impression on prospective buyers, regardless of the excuse that the home has been vacant for quite some time. It might also command a higher price from those who want to buy it. - Setting A Very High Price
Homeowners can be very emotional and attached to their homes, especially if it’s their first home and if they invested quite a sum of money. Homeowners would tend to set relatively high prices for their homes because of their own personal views of how much their home is really worth. But, sometimes, too much attachment to one’s own home can have a negative impact on the selling process. It could cloud the homeowner’s objective estimate of how much their home should really be valued at.
Here are some of the personal and emotional factors that could lead a homeowner to commit the mistake of setting a very high price for their home.
• The homeowner bought it at a relatively high price, so it should fetch so much more than that.
• Over the years, the homeowner has done quite a number of upgrades, remodels, and renovations. This should be accurately factored into the selling price, of course.
• The homeowner has quite a vast number of memories of the times they spent in the home for sale.
Don’t make the mistake of setting a selling price for your home which is too high for those who are expected to show up during the staging or open house. - Going South During Winter To Sell
Some homeowners have multiple residences. There are homeowners who live in the northern states during the summer months and would go to the southern states during winter. There are those who take advantage of the time that they’d be spending in their winter residence to come out in the market to sell their summer residence, while they’re in another state. Although they might still have some of their stuff in the home for sale, it would be vacant as they wouldn’t be there.
But winter, generally, isn’t a very good time to sell. Most real estate market analysts and a great number of seasoned real estate brokers and agents say that December tends to be a slow season for real estate assets and inventory. There are many possible reasons for this, but perhaps among those reasons is that people are busy with numerous social engagements during this time of the year.
When they’re not attending parties, people would most likely be staying at home because the snow and chilling weather prevents them from going to the places they would like to visit. This would most likely mean that there won’t be as many prospective buyers hunting for good property deals. This lowers the demand for inventory and would most likely dampen the price offers even for the best homes. - Skimping On Photos
Another thing that you should avoid when you’re looking to sell your vacant house is skimping on photos advertising your house online. You should seriously consider hiring a professional photographer who can really get the best shots for your property. Keep in mind that your home pictures are the first things which prospective buyers are going to see when they search for properties. Whenever an individual is looking to purchase a permanent home, they’re going to have to scour through hundreds and possibly thousands of pictures on numerous listings.
This can only mean that they’ll only have a few seconds to a couple of minutes at most to spend looking at pictures, and they’re only going to stop when they see pictures which catch their attention. Your photos will stand out from the thousands of others if you use high-quality pictures of your home. Besides, your pictures should give those viewing a good and accurate picture of the different features of your home.
Here are a few tips on what to do when taking pictures of your house:
• Pictures should be taken during the day when there’s a lot of natural light available
• Your pictures should capture the best features of your home
• Consider using wide-angle lenses so you can show the entire width of rooms
• Consider hiring a professional photographer who can do it really well
• Refrain from using snapshots taken from mobile phone cameras
• You might also add a 360-degree view which would give your page visitors a better idea of how the rooms feel like - Not Telling Prospective Buyers Major Problems
When you’re selling your house vacant vs living in, you should disclose everything about your property when talking to a prospective buyer. If there are any issues or conditions which might have an impact on the next owner of your home, you should be forthcoming about this and tell the buyer upfront.
If the neighborhood is prone to crime or there are issues with documents and legalities pertinent to your house like unpaid taxes, you should be frank and honest about this. This would also help avoid any potential misunderstanding, lest you be accused of misrepresentation. Once prospective buyers feel that you’re not disclosing information, you could lose the deal.
Conclusion
It’s not entirely impossible to sell a vacant home. But doing the wrong things when you’re selling your vacant home could still have a negative impact on your chances of getting a good price for your property. This article discussed some of the mistakes that you should avoid when you’re planning on selling your vacant house.