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Douglas Trudeau , Assoc. Broker
Prudential Foothills Real Estate
64 N. Harrison Road, Suite 160
Tucson , AZ 85748
Mobile: 520-954-2209
Contact Me

Home Selling Strategies

In a market where buyer confidence is slowly returning it is important to have a strategy if you expect to sell sooner than later. The Tucson real estate market is still reeling, but, not as much as Phoenix, Stockton CA or other areas. Most home sellers, even in the Tucson Real Estate Market, like to set a price and hold. Losing opportunity and eventually selling for much less than they could have gotten. You’ve heard it before, Proper Prior Planning Prevents Poor Performance. Having a strategy (prior planning) can make a difference on whether a home sells (prevents) or does not sell (poor performance).

First, make sure the home is ready to sell. If you have a short sale and there is an unwilling tenant who just moved in under a one year contract, chances are there will be an up hill battle from the beginning. Waiting to paint or spruce up the home after it has been listed can be as bad. The home must be 100% ready to show, ready for inspections, and ready to sell.

Second, know the market. Guessing at what to do or what price to sell for is a recipe for disaster. Sam Walton knew his competition like the back of his hand. Look at Wal -Mart today. Harley Davidson thought they were King of The Road in the late 1950’s and overlooked Honda. They are still recovering 50 years later. Learn from the failures of others, don’t repeat them.

Have “good” pictures ready before the listing is entered into the MLS. Quality of pictures can make a big difference. Most buyers will find your home within 72 hours. They want to see what it looks like NOW, not tomorrow. “No Photo Available,” is not an option. Work with your Realtor on when it will be entered into the MLS, and when pictures are put in. Timing can be critical.

Price right. Start out with a good price based on what buyers are telling you, not on what you want to make. Remember, most buyers will find your home on the Internet within 72 hours. The highest percentage of home buyers will be considering or discarding your home within 24 hours. If they like the pictures and the price, you have their attention. Pricing is hard in a Buyers Market. Many home sellers make the mistake of pricing their home based on what others are asking down the street, not on what like homes sold for. I tell clients, “Why do you want to price your homes based on what has not sold rather than what has?” If homes are selling in your neighborhood, that’s a consideration to anticipate some leverage. If homes are not selling in your area, you better have a great deal to get buyers to even look at your home. Let alone sell it.

One strategy I have been using with clients is to drop the price by $5,000 every week until we see attention increase or even start. Then hold for a while. If activity isn’t where we need it, the following week another $5,000, and so on. I had one clients try this on a short sale and explained our strategy to the bank. Saying, “Look, if there is interest and we can get a higher price we will. However, with one out of every ten home selling the odds are against us. So we’ll systematically drop the price until we get the attention we need.” It sold, and the bank got more than they originally said they would accept. Another client is using the same strategy for four weeks now. A decrease of $20,000. Internet hits have increased slightly, showing have not. Buyers haven’t told us yet that they are willing to take action. So we are still trying. This is an experienced seller whom I have worked with on numerous occasions. He has stopped guessing and is paying close attention to what buyers are/are not saying. Silence can be the loudest voice heard.

Before you put your home on the market ask yourself some serious questions. What’s my motivation? What will the market bear, not what do I want? How long do I want my life interrupted?

This entry was posted on Thursday, May 29th, 2008 at 12:08 pm and is filed under Tucson Real Estate. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

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