Is Your Home “Sellable”?

 Love Selling Your Home Series – Week 2This is the second article in my series called, Love Selling Your Home: Minimize Your Stress, Maximize Your Profit, Dwell Residential’s step-by-step guide to selling your home “right” even in today’s robust market. Our series takes you through the entire home-selling process -- from finding a real estate agent to settlement day. Look for a new, informative article each week, right here!You’re ready to sell your home, but how do you know if buyers will love it or not? In real estate we call it the “sale-ability” factor of a home. This comes into play when you compare your home to others that have sold recently in your neighborhood, and need to price your home before you decide to list it. You’ll need to consider some key factors when making that pricing decision to ensure your home truly is comparable and sellable.No one wants the home they’re selling to sit for weeks or months, and then have no choice but to take it off the market. It becomes a tainted home and can scare away buyers who wonder, “What’s wrong with it?” To avoid this scenario, you should first carefully review your home to see if it’s sellable. And if not, decide what you’ll need to do to make it more attractive to buyers.Here are the key factors that can impact the sale and price of your home -- some you can control and change, some you can’t.Condition

• A home that is not well-maintained or has outdated features is usually not appealing to many buyers, who would rather pay for a more move-in-ready type of home. Look around your neighborhood and compare your home to others that have sold recently. If most had updated kitchens and bathrooms and features yours does not, then your home is not on the same playing field when it comes to price. However, if yours has a finished basement and most don’t, then that’s a plus for your home.
• Some conditions go way beyond outdated features and lack of care, some homes may have severe water problems in the basement that need to be disclosed to buyers. Same if you face other more serious problems with termites, radon, mold, and foundation/structural problems. You will need to disclose these conditions, consider fixing them, or drop the price to reflect any repairs needed.
• Homes with awkward layouts, especially in kitchens, tend to turn buyers away. How about your backyard that’s basically a hill, or the twenty steps to your front door? Homeowners who’ve lived in a home for a while tend to get used to certain "negative" features that even they didn’t like when they first moved in. So look at your home with fresh eyes and accept the reality of its features or layout.

Next week, our series will cover more of the specifics of what you can to do make your home shine for buyers, including what projects are worth the time and money to help your home sell for more money.Location

• Most sellers know that location, location, location can be a selling point. Certain neighborhoods are hot and, on the flip side, certain neighborhoods are just not as desirable. What’s yours right now? Your agent can give you an idea of the current housing market of your particular neighborhood.
• You can't change the location of your home so it’s a bigger challenge if you live near certain things that are just not attractive to buyers. Are you too close to a school or a fire station? Do you live on a busy street or busy corner lot? Is your home near power lines? What about a commercial district that is more industrial than hip?
• If you live in a cul-de-sac or have an amazing view, that's a big plus for your home and will offset any negatives it may have with buyers.

Timing

• The timing of your home’s listing can affect both the price and length of time it takes to sell. Usually springtime is at the height of the selling season with lots of very interested buyers. However, that also means your home will face more competition from other listings. This is when you need to truly know how your home stands up to the competition around it.
• Although there is less competition from other listings around the holidays and in the winter, most buyers take a break from their home-buying search at this time. Typically, homes that are listed from Thanksgiving to New Year’s often sit longer and sell for less. Even the same house relisted during the spring market sells more quickly and for a higher price.

Condo Rules and Regulations

• If you live in a condo, then you're dealing with a whole other set off issues when determining the "sale-ability" factor of your home. First and foremost is the financial health of your condo community. Does it have enough reserves or is it strapped for money? Lenders want to see at least 10% of the yearly budget going to a reserve account. If this is not the case, they simply will refuse a loan in the building even though YOU might be financially qualified for that price point.
• Other factors to consider: Have there been any special assessments recently? Is the association keeping up with repairs and maintenance? No buyer wants to get trapped with a condo association that is not well run. Remember, each buyer will review those very important condo documents to get the complete picture!
• One sign that a condo community is stable is that the owner occupancy rate is high, and units are not investor-owned or rented as much. Having a high owner-occupancy rate is one of the requirements for a condo community to be FHA-approved and to meet Fannie Mae requirements.
• Another ratio that is often overlooked is whether one entity or person owns more than 10% of the units. Again, if this one tiny ratio is out of whack, the lenders will refuse to lend a buyer funds to buy any unit in your building. This lowers the pool of buyers that could buy your home, therefore reducing your price compared to the building next door.

Stay tuned for next week’s article in my series Love Selling Your Home. It will help you prepare your home so that buyers will love it. Want to receive this article -- Easy Fix Ups to Make Your Home Shine -- automatically? Easy, just enter your name and email, and it will be delivered right to your inbox.