You have prepared to sell your Newport Beach home to sell, and you have addressed deferred maintenance, made necessary repairs, you are thinking like a buyer, you have selected your Newport Beach Realtor, and this post will be addressing managing your listing. This is the last post in the series of preparing your Newport Beach home to sell, and the next series will be on the process and steps of selling your home.
Important considerations include the following:
- Put away valuables and prescription drugs. Don’t keep them in a drawer, sometimes prospects open drawers. This is for your own safety. Put away jewelry and valuables in a locked and private location.
- I mentioned in the first post, remove personal photographs. Prospects and even Real Estate agents get distracted and look at personal photos. You want your home to be as generic as possible. I have had showings when the Real Estate agent walked around and looked at every single personal photograph in the property.
- Keep home organized and clean during listing period – including beds made, dishes done, counters clean, etc. You never know when you are going to have a showing. Also, be sure to keep your yard clean, especially if you have a pet.
- Regarding showings, are you going to require an appointment to view the property? That is a discussion for you and your Real Estate agent. Keep in mind easy access to the property is preferred, however if you have children, pets that need to be managed, perhaps consider a couple of hours notice.
- Don’t stay in the house when the Agent comes to show your house. Buyers generally do not feel comfortable if the owner’s are in the house. If you have a dog, then take it for a walk so that the potential buyers feel comfortable spending time in the home.
- Are you going to require your Real Estate agent to be there for all showings? Every homeowner is different. I can argue both sides of this – by having the listing agent in the property then they can describe amenities and neighborhood as well if someone is from out of area. However, sometimes a buyer prefers to only have their agent with them as they tour the property.
- Consider the use of an electronic lock box. First of all they can be programmed to only allow it to operate during certain hours (which is something I do). The benefit of lock boxes is that it is easy access, the agent has to be a member of the board to utilize the lock boxes (as opposed to combo lock boxes), and lastly the lock box records everyone who enters the property and the listing agent can see their name, email, and contact information. I utilize this to contact the agent for feedback so I can pass it along to the seller/owner.
- Is your Agent going to hold Broker Preview or open houses? This is something that I do recommend and think it is beneficial as it allows the agents to come through the property who may have a buyer for your property.
- Are you going to allow open houses? Again a discussion for you and your real estate agent. Open houses typically do not sell homes, however it does happen.
One last comment, if you do not get a lot of action during the first two weeks that your property is listed for sale, then you need to consider the price. You may be above the market.
If I can answer any questions about preparing your home to sell, please contact me.
Read the entire series here on preparing your home to sell.
Addressing Deferred Maintenance
Getting Top Dollar
Think Like a Buyer
Selecting Your Realtor
Managing Your Listing
