When faced with the task of selling their home, the savvy homeowner will check local market conditions first before making any moves. If there’s a buyer’s market for homes, she will usually wait things out until demand exceeds supply.
Of course, this isn’t a realistic option for everyone. It’ll be tricky, but you can still sell your home in a buyer’s market and still turn a nice profit.
1. Incentivize the Purchase
In a buyer’s market, most people looking at homes sincerely believe that there’s probably a better deal than your home out there. If you want them to seriously consider your property, you can entice them with an incentive, which can come in the form of covering closing costs, adding free appliances and furniture, or even an exclusive discount if they close within a specific time frame.
2. Have Your Home Inspected Beforehand
Getting a home inspection before listing your home can work wonders. The cost of an inspection is usually shouldered by the buyer, but having this taken care of yourself can be an additional (and impressive) selling point. It’s a show of good faith and tells buyers that this is a property they can move in tomorrow with no problems whatsoever.
3. Take Awesome Photos/Videos of Your Home
In a buyer’s market, presentation is everything. With more buyers turning to the Internet as the first place to look for homes, it’s safe to assume that their first impression of your home will come from an image, perhaps even a video.
Either way, be sure to take good photos or videos of the property. If you aren’t particularly artistically inclined, consider getting a professional photographer to take the pictures for you. You can even take this a step further and have your home staged and decorated before a photoshoot.
4. Make the Most of Every Marketing Channel
Marketing is your friend in a buyer’s market. You will want to use every means you have to put your “product” out there and make it attractive to potential buyers.
In these tough times, you can’t depend on open houses and the MLS alone. Look into social networking sites, many of which now have sections for online classifieds that won’t cost you a dime to put up.
Consider reading up on and practicing other forms of online marketing and e-blasts. While a lot of this online stuff can get pretty exciting, don’t forget the traditional methods like listing in your local paper’s classifieds section.
5. Get Your Pricing Right
Let’s face it, while you can still make a nice profit from your home sale in a buyer’s market, your margin will probably be thinner than what you expect. Have a real estate agent run a comparative market analysis, which will involve looking at the prces of homes that recently sold in your neighborhood. This will ensure that you price your home as competitively as possible.
If none of these measures are practical to you right now, however, you can still sell your home as-is to an investor. At Blue Hen Homebuyers. we buy all kinds of homes, regardless of their age or condition. Call our offices today at 910-802-2222 to learn more about how we can help you.