If you're trying to sell your house in the current extreme buyers' market, sometimes your days feel like this:
Buyers are bargain shopping in the extreme. They know sellers are at a disadvantage in this market.
Here's some advice for handling those nail-biting weeks (months?) that you're on the market for sale. It's by no means a complete list; checkout the Related Posts for more.
A Few Ideas for Handling Seller's Stress
- Take up yoga, tai-chi or meditation
- If your Realtor isn't giving you a weekly or every-other-week update, ask for one
- Ignore your neighbors' asking prices; concentrate on nearby sold prices
- Enlist the entire family in keeping the house clean for showings
- Foster your pets out with family, friends and/or neighbors (pets are one of the quickest ways to decrease the value of your home)
- Invest $20 in a new, cushy outside door mat
- Slap a fresh coat of paint on everything, especially baseboards and door frames
- To present the appearance of a clean house in under 5 minutes: wipe down counters, appliance fronts and mirrors with diluted Pine Sol or Windex
- Remove 1/3 of everything in every closet in the house
- Do the same with every bookcase
- Take everything off the kitchen fridge. Buyers aren't considering buying your five year old's macaroni craft project so they don't need to see it.
- Hide your personal papers, bills, and so forth from the office/desk area (it's nobody else's business)
- Take down family photos from every wall and dresser top
- Remove the prescriptions from the medicine cabinet and the "marital aides" from the bedroom (people WILL look)
- Counter every offer you receive, even the ones that make you want to scream profanities at the buyer (and see below about Handling Low Ball Offers)
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