Putting together a recipe to create multiple offers
What should you do to increase the odds of receiving competing offers on your listing? Selling a home is a lot like making a salad. There is a fair amount of preparation and presentation, but the end result is a blend of tasty ingredients yielding sheer satisfaction.
The following is a short list of such ingredients leading to an increased probability of obtaining multiple offers.
1. Choose your “salad bowl” wisely
Just like the bowl that holds all of the salad ingredients together, the optimal real estate agent is critical to putting together a successful portfolio of property-sales ingredients. Again, as has been discussed on a multitude of occasions, selecting the best agent to market your property should be a painstaking process that includes pre-determined questions. It is not always in your best interest to use your relative or family friend, if that person is not well versed in the particulars of your specific home type or location. Hurt feelings can most likely be repaired. Bad financial decisions made due to inadequate information and/or expertise may take far longer to overcome. Require references and check them closely.
2. Carefully select your ingredients
Most assuredly, a highly competent agent will make your sale a success. However, does it not make sense to do some homework yourself? Do research on the Internet to uncover a multitude of free sources to add valuable information to your personal database. You may not be able to obtain specific data points like nearby comps for similar properties sold, but can certainly peruse the newspaper and other local sources to build a spreadsheet of prices for similar sold properties, comparing square footage, lot size, age of residence, location and other included amenities. Then, have a candid discussion with your agent to set an appropriate sales price.
3. Do not forget the importance of prep
You may have done your homework selecting an agent and building an impressive information database to support a specific sales price, but do not neglect the obvious. A clean home, not matter what its age, complimented by impressive curb appeal, will invite far more offers than a “fixer upper” in need of obvious repair that appears neglected. As has been said countless time before, spend a little time – and required money – to fix the small things that make a big impression. Big repairs should also be considered, and if elected not to be fixed following frank discussion with your agent, be honestly disclosed and reflected in a “reduced” property sales price.
4. Presenting the dish
Increase your overall odds of obtaining multiple offers by being actively involved in the marketing of your property. Of course your agent should have a host of suggestions and options to get the word out – in addition to the coveted MLS listing. Your job is to carefully consider each presented or suggested marketing option, analyzing the cost vs. payoff and the overall benefit of the option. On your end, you can certainly also talk up your listing, making family, friends, colleagues and acquaintances aware of the availability. The more you help advertise by word of mouth, the less you should have to spend on traditional marketing.