7 Mistakes Home Sellers Make That Cost Them Money
(We know #6 is especially tempting…)
Let’s be honest: Putting your home on the market can be intensely stressful. There’s emotional upheaval. There’s time pressure. There’s the stress of getting the place ready for showings and the ongoing hassle of keeping it that way.
And then, of course, there’s the money part. You want to get every penny of what your home’s worth—and not a dime less. We happen to believe that’s a perfectly reasonable expectation, and we’ve helped hundreds of homeowners get there.
To sell your home for the most money (and in the shortest amount of time!), avoid these seven common mistakes.
Mistake #1: Hiring a Discount Agent
Allow us to pull back the curtain, here: Real estate agents make a living by earning commissions, a percentage of each transaction we manage. As you may know, sellers pay the commission (not buyers), and it can feel frustratingly pricey. So, looking to save a little money, some sellers turn to a discount agent—someone who’s willing to work for a low, flat fee.
We totally get why that seems like a great option. The problem is, discount agents have no incentive to get you what you deserve for your home. Zero. They earn the same amount no matter what happens, so… why would they work hard for you? And even if they’re still willing to work their tails off, they lack the resources to properly market your home. There’s no profit margin for professional photos and staging, for example, and it’s unlikely they’ve invested in negotiation courses and other professional development.
In short? You get what you pay for, and if you go with a discount agent, they’ll undoubtedly do the least amount of work possible. (They’re not bad people; it’s just human nature!)
Mistake #2: Using Poor Quality Photos
We simply can’t overstate the importance of using high-quality photos in your home listing. According to research, nine out of 10 buyers search online for their next home, and 87% of those folks say photos are among the most useful features of realtor websites.
How does that translate to time and money? We’re so glad you asked:
Homes listed with professional real estate photos sell 32% faster than all other homes.
On average, homes listed with only one photo stay on the market for 70 days; homes with 20 photos sell in less than half the time.
Compared to homes listed with amateur photos, professionally photographed homes listed between $200K and $1M brought in $3-11K more, relative to their list price.
To be clear, it’s not just the quality of the camera that matters; it’s the know-how of the person behind the camera that makes the difference. Please don’t trust your real estate photos to your cousin’s girlfriend’s brother’s 15-year-old nephew who has a “nice camera.”
Mistake #3: Deciding Not to Stage
Staging a home simply means visually preparing it, so it looks irresistible in photos and walk-throughs.
If you’ll be staying in your home while it’s on the market, staging may involve cleaning (and more cleaning and cleaning some more), packing away personal items like photographs and momentos, adding some homey features like candles and throw pillows, and rearranging furniture to make spaces look roomier. If you’ll have already moved out, a professional stager will set you up with their own collection of instagram-worthy furnishings and decor.
We know what you’re thinking: But is staging worth the hassle? Definitely. Research shows staged homes sell faster and for more money, compared to non-staged homes.
By the way: When you sell your home with Dwell Denver, there’s no “worth it” to worry about. We absorb all marketing expenses: cleaning, photos, staging… the whole works. You’re paying us to sell your home, and we intend to earn every dime.
Mistake #4: Overpricing Your Home + Underestimating the Competition
You might think that because the Denver market is super-competitive, you can get away with pricing your home super-high. Aaaaand you’d be wrong. Buyers around here will absolutely wait you out; they’ve been beat up for years in this market, and they’re just not going to put up with it anymore.
That doesn’t mean you have to settle for an unfairly low price, of course! It only means it’s important to right-size your expectations and approach your listing with a willingness to negotiate.
The truth is, we all tend to overvalue what we own. We’ll help you take the emotion out of your pricing decision so you can start thinking about it from the buyer’s perspective. The result? The exact right listing price… and, quite often, a bidding war. Cha-ching!
Mistake #5: Winging It
Your home is likely your single largest investment, and a “let’s just list it and test the market” approach is not going to get you the return you deserve. Instead, you’ll want to be strategic—investing a bit of time and energy into preparing your home to list, so you can get the most money possible as quickly as possible.
At Dwell Denver, we help you determine exactly what needs to be done, and then we take as much of that work off your shoulders as possible. For example, if we decide a curb appeal glow-up is in order, and you don’t already have a trusted landscaper, we’ll bring in one of our partners. If we notice something that might cause a blip on your home inspection, we can recommend contractors who’ll take good care of you. We’ll even manage the process if you’d like!
Mistake #6: Using an iBuyer
As we’ve established, selling a home can be nauseatingly complex and stressful. For that reason, some homeowners are shifting away from the traditional real estate model and toward the iBuyer experience.
What’s an iBuyer? Long-story-short, they use an automated valuation model (AVM) to determine what your home is worth, they buy it from you for cash, and you get to decide when to move out—for a fee, of course. We know it sounds appealing: no showings, no stress, no hassle… just the certainty of a cash offer and a convenient closing date.
However—you knew there was a however, right?—according to a MarketWatch report, iBuyers’ offers:
would net their customers, on average, 11% less than owners who choose to sell their homes on the open market, when fees and other costs are considered, translating to tens of thousands of dollars lost. The findings also revealed considerably more uncertainty around the transactions—the scope of inspections, for instance—than the iBuyer model purports to offer consumers who are looking for ease.
As with most things in life, if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.
Mistake #7: Limiting Showings
If you’re still living in your home while you’re trying to sell it, there’s no question showings are a pain in the arse. But if your showing window is limited—say Wednesdays between 1 and 3 pm—your home won’t get enough exposure and/or you’ll annoy qualified buyers.
Let’s face it, when we see something we’re interested in, we want to see it right now. The good news is you’d like to sell your place right now, too. Win-win. In short, be open to every opportunity to show your home. Yes, it’s a headache. But you’ll sell your home faster and for more money.
Selling a Home Doesn’t Have to be So Stressful
We know you want to be 100000% certain about your real estate decisions, which means you need an agent you can trust to help you navigate the process. At Dwell Denver, we create customized seller plans so you’ll feel confident and in control every step of the way.
Get started by booking your complimentary discovery meeting today.
