In addition to preparing your home for sale, there is another thing sellers can do to get ready for when that first offer comes in. Come from a place of reason not emotion when it comes to pricing the home and responding to that first offer:
Most people love their homes. It’s where they’ve lived, loved, laughed, created happy memories, raised their family. But when it comes time to sell, it’s important that they distance themselves from those emotions. Failing to do so can wind up costing money in the end.
This is a really important part of your Realtors job — to bring objectivity into what is an extremely emotion-filled transaction.
First, it’s crucial that the price is based not on what the owner “feels” the home is worth, but rather on what is going on in the local market. Overpricing the home from the start often leads to longer time on the market and ultimately a lower sale price.
Similarly, some sellers want to reject an early offer, “hoping” that a better offer will come in. If the home is priced right, an educated buyer, that is, someone who’s been looking for a while, will know it. Homes that are new to the market get the most activity in the first two weeks. If an offer comes in during that time, it is unlikely that a higher offer will come in later.
It’s also important that sellers do not take personal offense at an offer. Sometimes the initial, emotional reaction may be to reject an offer because it is too low. But its the Realtors job to remind the seller that it’s not personal, and that a counter-offer, rather than a rejection, is more productive for reaching their ultimate goal – the sale of their home.
While selling a home is, in the end, a business transaction, it is also an extremely emotional process. It requires a careful balancing of the emotions and objectivity.
Realtor.com
