Why Selling Your Home For The Highest Price Possible Takes More Than Just Throwing It On The MLS
Want to get the very most money for your home in this hot sellers’ market?
Most people don’t realize there is much more to selling a home than taking a few photos and throwing it on the MLS, especially if you want the very most for it in this hot sellers market.
This is why I created my series, “Get the Most for Your House Even In a Hot Seller’s Market” - to help you and anyone you know maximize the profits from your biggest investment and not get “caught up in what other people are doing.”
Over the next few weeks, I’m sharing my four steps to getting the most money possible when selling your home, even when a home can sell itself right now.
This is a must-read series, even if you aren’t selling a home anytime soon.
This is week three in the series, and today you’ll learn why selling your home for the highest price possible takes more than just throwing it on the MLS.
Especially these days in this hot sellers’ market, many sellers think that all it takes to sell their home is to take a few photos and throw it up on the MLS (or maybe even skip the MLS all together).
Sure, that CAN get a house sold, but definitely not for the most money possible and isn’t that the goal, especially right now?
I’ve developed a 16-point selling system I call my Formula For A Successful Sale™.
Why bother with 16 things to get a home sold when it could sell without any of these? Because my definition of a successful sale isn’t just getting a property sold. For me, it means getting my clients the very most money possible with the least amount of stress to them.
To do that it takes a lot more than just taking some photos and putting it up on the MLS. Doing that is like leaving money on the table, even when you factor in paying a commission.
So here’s what my Formula For A Successful Sale™ looks like:
• Prepping your home: This topic deserves an entire article, it’s that important! But, prepping doesn’t have to be time consuming, stressful or expensive. Read all about how to prep your home for sale, even if it could sell in a day here.
• Proper pricing: Pricing, especially in this hot sellers market, is both an art and science. Homes are selling for more than the “comps” would indicate, so pricing your home for a little more than what your neighbor’s sold for isn’t enough. Plus, every home is slightly different, even if they look similar from the outside. There are certain “markers” that are best to price at to attract the most buyers. Pricing even a $1,000 above one of these magical “markers” can ruin the sale.
• Professionally Measured Square Footage: Most properties have incorrect square footage listing in the tax record. Why? Because most people don't want to report to the city that their home is larger than they are being taxed on it, or they don’t really know what their square footage is to repot anyway. Most of the time, the tax square footage is much lower than the actual square footage. When I list a home, I pay extra to have the square footage professionally measure so that we can use the larger square footage in our marketing AND it also helps with the appraisal part of the process once you go under contract, helping the property sell AND appraise for top dollar. You need BOTH to get the most money possible for your home.
• Floor Plans: Buyers LOVE having floor plans as a take-away so they can measure their furniture when they get home and see where it fits in each room. This really helps them visualize their life and their stuff in your home. Once they can see how their life would work in your home, they are more likely to make a strong offer
• Professional photography - I personally meet with the photographer to make sure we are getting exactly what we should (and shouldn’t) in the photos. As they say, a picture is worth a thousand words and I would say it’s worth a whole lot more! These days, the photos have to be PERFECT in order to bring buyers to your home. They are THE things that will help scrolling buyers stop in their tracks and want to come see your home. We’ve got to nail the photos.
• 3-D Tours: In addition to just plain photos, these days buyers also want to be able to “walk-through” a home without having to physically walk-through. Sometimes it’s because they aren’t living in the area currently and want to make their decision to buy a home without physically going to it, other times, they just want to see every crevasse in the house that sometimes are hidden by photos that are perfectly angled. Providing a 3-D tour builds trust with buyers because they feel like they can see every part of your home, not just want one dimensional photos provide.
• Virtual tour link for the MLS - In addition to uploading photos and the 3-D tour to the MLS, I also create a virtual tour link as well. It serves as your home’s own personal website while it’s on the market.
• Listing link on my website - This marketing tool is one of my favorites! The MLS only lets us do so much and say so much. There are rules like how many characters we have to use and what we have to include or not include. I like to market my listings beyond just the MLS and so I create a page on my website just for your listing where I can bring it life more than I ever could on the MLS. I use this link to market it to buyers outside the MLS—think Facebook ads, Facebook groups, Instagram, NextDoor and anywhere else that you or I could post the link to reach your potential buyers. It really brings homes to life and helps us answer why they should buy YOUR home vs. any others.
• Brochure—This is becoming less important as people use their phones instead of paper to remember what a home looks like, but I still like to do them because every little thing helps. Sometimes the winning buyer asks for one after we are under contract just to keep as a memento!
• What We’ll Miss Most: Buyers LOVE this marketing piece. This is something we’ll work on together, but the whole point is for YOU, the personal who has loved living in this home, shares all the wonderful things about what makes this home, in this location so special. It helps buyers really begin to visualize what life in your home will be like that isn't already obvious—things beyond what they can see. Here’s an example of a recent What We’ll Miss Most so you can see how powerful and impactful this one marketing piece can be.
• Lender Sheets: Most buyers and even agents, don’t know what the monthly payment and cash requirement is to buy a home. I work with my lender to provided financing examples for the most likely buyers so they know exactly what their monthly payments and cash requirements would be to buy your home. Most of the time, it's a lot less daunting when they see the numbers in black and white, which, makes them even more interested in making an offer on your home.
• Open Houses - Believe it or not, open houses don’t sell a home. Serious buyers have agents and want to schedule a private showing to view a home so they can take their time and not be distracted by all other people who are there during the open house. Even though I know that open houses don’t sell homes, I use them as a way to get direct feedback from buyers to bring back to you. It’s amazing what we can learn directly from buyers and how honest they will be with their feedback. This information is crucial as we consider when to agree to an offer and which offer to take. The other reason I do open houses, is because, if entered into the MLS correctly, it gives your home another “ping” on the apps. Many buyers will search for open houses and when your home is included in the results, it’s just another reminder to buyers that your home is worth seeing.
• Facebook Ads - You never know where you’ll find your perfect buyer. Sometimes they aren’t actively looking for a home. So, instead of just throwing it on the MLS and hoping they see it, I actively go out looking for THEM. Facebook ads is a way to find buyers who maybe took a break from looking or just were distracted with other things and aren't on the MLS to see your listing.
• The Numbers/Metrics: I love numbers! I can tell how likely your home is to sell, how quickly and sometimes even how many offers we can expect just from looking at all the data. When I list a home, I have specific days and times that I sync up with you to report back on the data. There are certain times that first week you are on the market that the data really matters and can help us make decisions like should we take that offer that has come in right away or should we wait for after the weekend and set a deadline to review all offers at once. The number will give us the information we need to help you make the right decision, so I track them daily once we go live on the market.
• The perfect TIME and day to list your home: Speaking of going live…did you know there is a perfect day of the week and even time of the day to list a home? There is! This one is my listing secret so I’m going to keep it under wraps until closer to when you are ready to list your home. ;)
• Location articles, maps: In our area, we are getting a lot of buyers from out of town. Part of their decision to buy any home is knowing about the location. So, for those buyers that might not be aware of what makes the location of your home so special, I have print outs of articles explaining what’s around the area or what’s coming in, and maps so they can see where your home is in relation to things that will be important to them from parks to their commute. Whatever makes your home’s location great, I make sure there is information the buyers can see while they are touring the home and print out enough so they can take-away any of the material and read on their own. Rather than ME convince them why the location is so good, I rely on third parties explaining what makes your home’s location so desirable, which makes them trust the information provided more than if I tell them.
All of the above what I cover as part of my services and I handle all the logistics for everything I mention above—from coordinating schedules to meeting people at your home to making sure everything runs smoothly every step of the way.
My definition of a successful sale isn’t just getting a property sold. For me, it means getting my clients the very most money possible with the least amount of stress to them. To do that it takes a lot more than just taking some photos and putting it up on the MLS. Sure, you could do that, but you’d be leaving money on the table, even when you factor in paying a commission.
THIS is what it takes to get the very most for your home, no matter how great the market is.
If you or anyone you know is thinking about selling their home, I’d love to put my formula for a successful sale to work and let it do it’s magic.
P.S. If you are thinking of skipping the MLS entirely and selling off market, stay tuned for week six of this series, for my article called, “Is Selling Off-Market A Good Idea?” Spoiler alert—sometimes, YES! Lean when and how to do it and still get the very most for your home.
