6 Blunders That Are Killing Your Home Sale

When you're selling your home, it may feel like everyone you know turns into an expert. Everybody wants to offer their tips for a smooth sale, but not every piece of advice will be worth following. In fact, sometimes bad advice causes sellers to commit some of the most common mistakes of selling, from skipping important prep steps to picking the wrong price. You can't sell a home before reading the six blunders that are killing your home sale.

1. Too Much Stuff, Not Enough Space
   While you may love all of the stuff in your home, buyers are looking for more of a blank canvas when they come to visit. Since you're moving out of the home anyway, now is the perfect time to start packing, clearing out clutter, cleaning surfaces, and organizing storage spaces. Donate goods you no longer need, host a yard sale, or rent a storage unit to help you clear out as much clutter as possible.
2. Strong, Suspicious Scents
   If your home smells like a wet dog — or any kind of pet, really — then it's certainly a good idea to clean and freshen up the scent. However, it's also a problem to go too far in the other direction and overload the olfactory senses of buyers with pleasant scents. If buyers smell too much of a good thing, they may think the home has something to hide.
3. Dark and Dreary
   Selling your home is so much easier when buyers can clearly see all that it has to offer, so a dark, dreary home is definitely a misstep when you're trying to sell. Fortunately, this one's easy to address. Open up curtains and blinds to let natural light flow inside, and make sure that the home has bright, vibrant interior lighting. You don't want any dark corners, so let the light shine bright.
4. The Price Is... Not Right
   All of the work that you've put into preparing the home won't mean much if the price you pick turns buyers off before they can ever get serious. Some sellers pick an above-market price so there's "room to negotiate," but that won't help if the price scares buyers off from negotiating in the first place. Work with your real estate agent to review prices for comparable homes, and pick a price that will get your home sold while still accomplishing your financial goals.
5. Who Needs a Real Estate Agent?
   Everyone! While it may be tempting to go for sale by owner (FSBO) to save on commissions, you won't be saving much if anything by going without a real estate agent. In addition to helping market, price, and prepare the home, your real estate agent is the ideal person to help you avoid the most common mistakes of home selling.
6. Unwilling to Negotiate
   ​​​​​​​It's normal for some emotion to creep into the process when selling your home, but it's important to avoid letting feelings get in the way of productive negotiations. If a buyer opens with a reasonable offer, then it's more than worth negotiating to see if you can find a deal that works for everyone. If you're unwilling to negotiate, then it will be difficult to accomplish your goals.

Avoiding these six common home-selling mistakes will make it much easier to attract the right buyer and sell your home. 

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