Pro Tips for First Time Home Sellers

• Big Bucks, No Whammies •

When you sell your very own house for the first time you might start to daydream and wonder, “How much will I get? How fast will it sell?” And what will the next house be like? It makes sense because your first sale represents your first potential profit in real estate – and it may be a big profit. So let’s talk about how to sell fast and how to sell high with a real estate expert.

We all know about first time Buyers, yet we don’t talk as often about first time Sellers and in many ways they’re in the same boat because it’s a huge transaction. They have never done it before. So when someone comes to us and says, “I want to sell my house and it’s the first time I’ve ever done it,” what’s the first step? Today, we’re talking about first time Sellers. That’s right, the first time you sell your house and the first time you stand to make some serious money in real estate.

Learn from a local San Diego REALTOR® and Seller’s real estate expert about how to hit the maximum price in the minimum time. Also, home staging – can it really get you a faster sale for more money? Plus, the surging significance of something Buyers really want: move-in ready condition. Should you put that in your listing? All that and much more is straight ahead on first-time Sellers.

Show Trends & Tell Stories

Anytime a first-time home Seller contacts us and has an interest in selling their home, first, we make an appointment with you to tour your property together. You’ll point out any highlights, upgrades, and any issues you’re aware of since purchasing the property or in recent years so that we can note those on the listing.

After our tour, we’ll huddle up and talk about all things home sale. This includes your goals and timeline as we gameplan a strategy for the mechanics of your move. Where are you going? When do you want to be moved into the next house? Will you also need to buy a new home? Would this home sale be contingent upon you finding a new home? Are you moving out of town? Do you need a referral to another area?

Consider everything related to moving out of the property and into a new place. The meeting takes about an hour.

Prep Your Property Beforehand

You should get your home ready for sale by following a full checklist of action items. These include chores like fresh paint, carpet cleaning, or other home maintenance tasks. This list helps you tackle little things throughout the property to ensure it’s camera-ready and makes a stunning debut on launch day.

Get all of those details in line so Buyers are impressed right from the curb. We can also recommend any professional home service providers you need to help do the heavy lifting along the way.

Plan to Fetch Premium Pricing

Does your home need to be perfect to fetch a premium price in today’s housing market? Not necessarily. Most San Diego neighborhoods are still in a Seller’s market, where we have very little inventory of homes for sale and really high Buyer demand.

Certain parts of your property may be too expensive to change or would take far too long to install. Or maybe there are specific repairs you’re unable to do, and that’s okay. We’ll work with what we have and price it accordingly. Just list your house for sale on the market quickly, at an attractive price, and make adjustments to fine-tune your asking price depending on how its condition scales compared to the other recently sold homes nearby.

Remember: Prices Are Normalizing

More homes are coming on the market and now nearly one out of 10 Sellers in San Diego are cutting their asking price. And that number is notable because the percentage of listings that have cut their list price from the original list price is now up to 7.2% of the market in San Diego. The supply of homes for sale also continues to improve from a year ago, up more than 44 percent. This jump in available listings means Buyers have more options to choose from, while Sellers will need to be strategic on how to shake up prices down the line.

That’s a fairly high number revealing slower demand due to higher interest rates. Historical data shows there are now significantly more Sellers with price cuts, still sitting on the market, than in any July of the last decade. While some neighborhoods have remained very competitive this year, expect to see more price cuts on overpriced homes until interest rates decrease.

Follow the Comps Pricing Pattern

When it comes to the other crucial factor besides condition, which is pricing it right, you know we don’t just pull a random number out of thin air. We do a lot of homework looking at the data to tell you all about the latest comparables, which we usually refer to as “comps” for short. Before our meeting, prior to us even touring inside the property together, we pull the most recent sold comps to get a ballpark idea on the pricing.

What that means is we look at properties, typically going back within six months, and then search within a quarter mile of your house to select any properties that are comparable in size, condition, age, all of those things within the same neighborhood. If lot sizes in your neighborhood are large, we might go out half a mile or even a mile. We’ll even search a little bit further back in time when we don’t have many recent sales to work with and calculate graduated appreciation if it’s all we have to go on, especially in neighborhoods where turnover has been super low.

Before visiting your house, all of those details give us an idea of what ballpark price range we’re aiming for. Then based on the property’s condition, we also include factors like the lifespan of utility systems (HVAC, plumbing, electrical, etc.) and the quality of big-ticket items (like your roof or solar) plus any updates you’ve done since buying the place, then we make adjustments accordingly based on the comparables and fine-tune the price range when we meet.

Scope Offer Trends In Your Market

Next, ask yourself: When listings sell around your market, are most of them selling at or above the asking price – or not so much?

In reality, it depends. Most of them, if they’re in a multiple Offer situation where there’s more than one Offer on the property, yes – they are selling at or over asking price. Most of those Buyers will submit Offers at the asking price or even above list price. Other times, you might only get one Offer where there’s some negotiating room though maybe you expected to get multiple Offers. With only one Offer, you might be more eager to accept it or send a Counteroffer back that gets you closer to the price & terms you really want.

It varies for each listing, but if you’re in a multiple Offer situation, more times than not – most of those properties are selling at or above asking price.

Appreciate Home Price Appreciation

If you’ve owned your house for a few years now, then you’ve probably smacked your forehead and thought, “Wow this house could sell for THAT much?” Most Sellers we meet with have that reaction, especially right now, because that’s just the trend of where the re-sale housing market is at in San Diego.

Most Sellers right now, especially first-time Sellers, have this surprised reaction because that’s just the trend of where our market has gone when most of the properties have increased in value. And even when you price a property and you think it’s an appropriate price or even sometimes maybe a little high, sometimes you’ll be surprised at what a Buyer is willing to pay because at the end of the day, a property is worth what a Buyer is willing to pay. And in a market like this,  that price point could go above the asking price we decide on at the time of listing.

Factor In Buying Your Next House

Considering that most Sellers go on to buy another house, are you also working to find a trusted Lender who can help you in your next purchase?

One of the first questions we ask our Sellers, whether they are first-time or repeat home Sellers, is “Are you buying another property? And if so, is that purchase be contingent upon you selling your current home first?” That way we’ll know, ahead of time, how our timeline is going to look. Plus, also talk to your Lender about what a realistic price range would look like on the buy-side based on your estimated proceeds from the sale. In addition to that, we would also want to know what you could net from your current home sale.

Estimate Your Net Profits from Selling

Often times, the net proceeds amount plays into how much you’re willing to spend on a new home. We put together what’s called a Seller Net Sheet that lists what price you’re getting for the house and every single thing that can chip away from that amount.

Every time that we have a listing, we create the Seller’s Net Sheet and that essentially spells out every cost you’re going to have associated with the sale – based on approximate estimates. These values aren’t the exact official figures you get from escrow prior to closing, the Seller’s Net Sheet is a ballpark estimate of what you could expect. We create the first one based on the asking price we decide on at the time of listing. Then once we get an Offer, we’ll adjust it if that number has changed for a rough idea of your potential proceeds.

It lays out your closing costs like title & escrow fees, transfer fees, commissions, plus pro-rated taxes in there to give a you ballpark idea of what those costs could be.

The Net Sheet calculates how much money you may profit from the sale of your property. It really gives you an estimate right out the gate. Our Seller Net Sheet is usually pretty close, to the nearest thousand dollars. They are on point, for the most part, about what you could pocket at the end of the day. Especially if you plan to purchase another property in their move, it gives you a better idea of how much money you might make from the sale of your current home.

Stay Sharp As Offers Roll In

Picture this: In a competitive market, you have a beautiful home that’s priced right when it’s first listed and the Offers start pouring in. How many Offers would you typically get if it’s a really nice house in your neighborhood?

Truth is, right now we are seeing a range. We have some properties that are beautiful move-in ready homes. They’re priced correctly. Other times, you’ll just get that one Offer that comes in quickly and the Sellers decide they can work with it. They don’t want to wait any longer, might choose to not wait for other Offers, and just move forward with that one. Then you have other properties where you might get five Offers. You could have 10-12 Offers to present on a super hot home.

It can take some time to find a Goldilocks Buyer for very unique properties, while others will sit for weeks when priced incorrectly. There could be any range of different possibilities.

The Bottom Line: You’re the Boss

We simply help Sellers decide which Offer might be the best fit for you. At the end of the day, the Seller is the decision maker. You’re the boss. Each decision has to come from the Seller on what price and terms you want for your home sale.

Sellers all prefer different things. Many of your decisions will be based on the price and how much money you will pocket at the end of the day. But sometimes, for example, we’ll meet a Seller who would rather not deal with a home inspection. And if there’s an Offer where the Buyer has chosen to waive the home inspection, those Sellers might prefer to work with that Buyer.

Say you have an Offer where the Buyer has chosen to waive the appraisal contingency or cover a gap. If the appraisal were to come in short, this might be more appealing for you as that particular Seller. We also have many Sellers who just want a higher amount to earn more money and it’s very important to their goals & timeline.

The reasons vary from person to person, but it always depends on you as a Seller and your needs. When you receive multiple Offers on your listing, we meet to discuss each Offer with all of the terms and let you decide what is most appealing to you.