Before Selling Your Home — Research!

Before you attempt to sell your home, and even before you list the home for sale, you need to do some homework. If you rush into the selling process without understanding the market you're in, you are more likely to make mistakes along the way. Here's what you should know before selling your home or even listing it.

How to Research the Market

Regardless of whether or not you use a real estate agent when selling, there are certain things you need to know in order to succeed. So whether your agent does the initial market research, or you do it for yourself, here are some things you need to dig up:

1. The number of recent home sales in your area. This will give you a general idea of how hot or cool the market is.
2. The selling price (not the asking price) of comparable homes that have been sold in your area recently. Realtors refer to these as comparable sales or "comps." This will help you determine your own asking price before selling your home.
3. The average number of days it took the above-mentioned homes to sell. This is often referred to with the acronym DOM, short for days on market.
4. What the competition is doing to sell their homes (curb appeal, staging, open houses, etc.).

Clearly, these are not the only things you need to know before you list your home and begin promoting it. These are just some of the most important factors. Having a good grasp on these items before selling your home will make the process much smoother. You'll be more likely to price the property right, and you'll know what to expect in terms of competition and buyer action (or inaction).

Get Your Mind Right Before Selling

Many sellers make a common mistake when pricing their home for the market. Instead of using the home's current market value to determine the price, they will set the price according to what the home is worth to them. But your emotional attachment to your house does not translate into real value.

So to avoid this common mistake — and to avoid pricing the home to high for the market — you must get this concept straight in your mind. Then you must do the necessary research, as mentioned above.

So before selling your home, or even listing it for sale, you must learn to view in the eyes of a buyer. You must distance yourself from the connection you feel to the house and view it objectively. This will help you with every aspect of the selling process, from pricing to staging and beyond. And speaking of the asking price, that's the next tutorial in line:

Next topic: Pricing your home for the market

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