For first-time sellers in Northern Virginia, selling a home can be a stressful and emotionally challenging endeavor full of many tough twists and turns. It’s easy to get overwhelmed by the process and make mistakes while you’re trying to make the sale. So today, let’s take a look at some of the most common mistakes people make when selling their homes, and how you can avoid them!

  • Neglecting to Hire an Agent
  • Getting Too Emotional
  • Setting the Wrong Price for Your Northern Virginia Home
  • Lack of Listing Photos
  • Not Staging Your Northern Virginia Home
  • Improper Insurance
  • Selling to Unqualified Buyers

Neglecting to Hire an Agent

The Northern Virginia real estate market is constantly shifting, so you’ll want an experienced agent to help guide you through the process and get the most for your home. A good agent has your best interests at heart and will help you set a fair and competitive selling price for your home. An agent can also help tone down the more stressful parts of the process by dealing with potential buyers and eliminating those who are just “lookers,” or people who aren’t really interested in buying a home.

Getting Too Emotional

Understandably, many people have a hard time keeping their emotions in check when it comes time to say goodbye to their home. It’s important to remember that you should think of yourself as a business person or salesperson rather than a homeowner. If you can look at the transaction as a purely financial process, you can distance yourself from the emotions of selling and reduce the overall stress that comes with selling a home.

Setting the Wrong Price For Your Northern Virginia Home

The most common mistake sellers make when they try to sell without an agent is overpricing. Agents use a comparative marketing analysis to help find a price for your home based on what similar homes in the area are going for. From there, they may use strategic price points to make your home more attractive to buyers. Don’t worry if your home is set at a slightly lower price, as this may attract multiple offers, bidding the price to fair market value while buyers compete with each other. And if you sell with Reynolds EmpowerHome Team, Your Price is Our Promise®. We will get you 100 percent of your asking price, or we will pay the difference. Click HERE to learn more.

Lack of Listing Photos

The best thing you can do to market your home to potential buyers is to have professional photos of your home. With the way buyers use the internet, photos will be the first thing that grabs their attention, and a lack of photos of your home will make it harder for buyers to imagine themselves living there. Photos should be crisp and clear, showcasing your home’s best attributes, so you’ll want to look into hiring a professional home photographer in the Northern Virginia area to help you with this part of the process.

Not Staging Your Northern Virginia Home

Did you know that staged homes earn 6.9% more money than non-staged homes and sell 50% faster? When potential buyers visit your home, you want to make sure your home looks its best, so take some time to polish your home’s interior. You can do a lot to improve your home’s appeal by addressing subtle issues like fixing any paint chips and switching out any burnt-out bulbs, but you can also make some larger changes as well. If you have furniture in your house, you should arrange it in a way that accentuates the best features of your home. Remember: you will never get a second chance to make a first impression, so don’t underestimate the importance of staging!

Improper Insurance

As a seller, it’s important to make sure you are insured in case a viewer has an accident at your home and tries to sue you for the damages. Treat obvious hazards to your property and take steps to mitigate them before anyone gets hurt. If there’s snow or ice on your driveway, take the time to have it cleared before anyone visits your home!

Selling to Unqualified Buyers

Whenever you sell your home to someone, it’s good to make sure they’re pre-approved or have proof of funds before you hand over the keys to your largest asset. Otherwise, you run the risk of finding yourself in a tough bind and losing money. Luckily, Reynolds EmpowerHome Team has a state-of-the-art database of over 15,179 pre-approved Buyers in Waiting in the Northern Virginia area. When you list with us, we will leverage our extensive database to get you top-dollar for your home, selling FASTER and FOR MORE

If you are considering selling your home there is no one better than Reynolds EmpowerHome Team. We can help you sell faster while getting top dollar for your home!! Selling a home can be stressful, especially when your home sits on the market. We sell our listings 3 times faster and, on average, for more than when you work with another team by leveraging our database of OVER 15,179 qualified buyers in our Buyers in Waiting database! 

Did you know that only 48% of homes that went on the market last year sold the first time with the first agent they hired? Most sellers last year had to call a 2nd or 3rd agent to get the job done, or even worse, not sell at all. The agent you hire the first time matters! Reynolds EmpowerHome Team sells 98% of our listings the first time, so when you hire us, your home is more likely to sell fast & for top dollar! To find out what we can do for you, Text or Call us NOW at 571-464-8883!

Your Home Sold for 100% of the Asking Price or We Will Pay You the Difference!* Click HERE for more details.