Selling Real Estate

How much does experience matter when selling your home? According to a recent article in the Wall Street Journal, about 12% of the price of your home. In other words, experienced agents sell homes for an average of 12% more than rookie agents. The figure is based on a study by Bennie Waller, professor of finance and real estate at Longwood University in Farmville, Va. A "rookie" was defined as an agent with less than 2 years experience.  From the article: "The more experience you have, the more likely you are to sell the properties that you list, the more likely you are to sell it at a higher price and the less time it stays on the market," Prof. Waller says. Prof. Waller became interested in quantifying experience when he noticed an increasing number of agents who chose not to renew their licenses after two years. Real estate has "very, very, very low barriers to entry," he says. But brokers then face a steep learning curve and many struggle to reach a level of expertise that is profitable, he adds. Two-thirds of properties listed by veteran agents sold, while only half of properties listed by rookies did. That 12% works out to about $25,000 for an average home.  If your home value is above average, obviously that 12% can amount to much more money. Unless that amount of money doesn't matter to you, then it would certainly behoove you to consider your real estate agent's experience when selling your home. If you're considering selling, have an experienced agent complete an Comparative Market Analysis to determine how much your home is worth by ...

In our experience selling homes, we often find that a person's perception of their home's value often differs from the reality of the marketplace. There are number of reasons for this, from psychological factors to simple misconceptions about market value. In this article we will discuss these issues as well as how best to determine an accurate selling price.

Home Seller's Top 7 Pricing Mistakes:

 
1.) Not being objective

One of the first explanations of the disconnect between real and perceived value is simply human nature. Outside of family, friends and pets, our home is quite possibly the most difficult thing in our lives to be objective about. We likely have more emotional connection to our home than only other inanimate object. Sure, some guys might claim it would be their car, truck, motorcycle, boat or flat-screen HDTV. But when you factor in the monetary investment that the home represents, that usually bumps the home into the number one position in importance. When looking at our own homes we tend to play up the positives and overlook the negatives. When looking at other people's homes, whether they be recently sold comparables, competing homes on the market, or homes one is considering purchasing, we tend to do the opposite. The goal is to try to view your home through the eyes of a prospective buyer. This is very difficult to do, so it's best to just look at the cold hard facts, i.e. the numbers. But what numbers? Where do you get them? How are they derived? We'll get more into that later.

2.) Depending on online home valuations

Previously we wrote about online home valuations, and how misleading they can be. They can be fun to play with, but they're simply not accurate. They can be off 25-30% or more, easily skewing the real value by hundreds of thousands of dollars in some cases. They're brain-dead number-crunching computers that don't know the Intown Atlanta market. You can...