How to Sell a Home in a Shifting Market
Selling your home can be challenging, daunting, and time-consuming, even though the selling market is booming. But what if you are trying to sell your property in the middle of a crazy market shift? It can be pretty scary. After the pandemic, the tables have turned! Now, it is not as easy to list a home and get prospective buyers ready with cash as it was three to four years ago. Buyers are now more calculative in their decisions making and a plethora of different services and contract contingencies have made it even harder to sell a home in this shifting market.
If you are thinking about selling your home in 2023, you need to better prepare yourself and learn about market dynamics before you jump into the puddle. Currently, we are talking about the transition from a strong seller’s market to a buyer’s market, where of course, buyers have the upper hand. I am not saying which type of market is good or bad, I am just listing out some ways in this article that can help you navigate through the market extremes and optimize your position as a property seller.
I have another blog where I have talked about a bulletproof home selling process, featuring ExpressOffers. I am emphasizing a similar process here but keeping a market shift in mind. As a market shift occurs, sellers need to have proper strategies in place to move forward in their home selling process. Here’s a breakdown of how you can sell your property in a shifting market.
Make up Your Mind
Selling your home in a shifting market isn’t easy. You need to sit down, balance the pros and cons of selling your property in the current situation, and then decide what you need to do. I have mentioned in my home selling process that sellers should always brainstorm a little before listing their property for good. You can always wait and see how the market shifts in a few years and decide to list your home. I am telling you from my experience that real estate markets never remain steady. Just after the pandemic, we saw houses getting sold at crazy high prices. It was like the real estate market was at an all-time high, but we are now facing a reverse situation merely a few years later.
If you are not in a rush, I will recommend you to take some time before making up your mind and consider other alternatives like renting or expanding.
2. Pick a Certified Realtor
It never hurts to consult a certified local realtor to help you navigate through the situation. A good realtor has a full proof plan to sell your house no matter what the market. They also aren’t running from large iBuying companies that may potentially help their seller clients due to a scarcity mindset. Learn 4 Reasons This Realtor is Embracing iBuying.
Confirming the abilities of a real estate agent before you decide to start your home selling process is very important. Your agent can make or break deals for you, so choose wisely! I offer experience with expertise. So, call on me if you need any help in moving your home selling process forward.
In this current shifting market, I suggest you go for certified ExpressOffers realtors. We know how to connect sellers with potential iBuyers and extract a good cash offer for your home. Here are 5 reasons why ExpressOffers is the best cash offer platform.
3. Know the Data
A Good realtor will try to manage your expectations through statistics and data. They will know the current market condition and will try to strategize your home selling plan accordingly.
You need to understand one thing, realtors will say that they love your home but keep in mind that their love doesn’t set the price for your home, full-proof data and current market conditions do. You need to dig all the statistics around current market dynamics, sales, prices, and comparables to set an effective selling strategy for your home. A deep dive into the local real estate data will also tell you what kind of market you are dealing with (buyer’s, seller’s, or balanced). Your agent should be able to introduce you to all the local data, so you can better position your property in the market.
If you are working alone without a real estate agent, this guide on how to sell your home by yourself without a realtor will help you!
4. Get A Cash Offer
Your agent will have access to tons of data, as will you through companies such as Zillow, Redfin but those companies do not buy homes. Getting an offer is the best way to know and understand the actual value of your home. While many of those entities will give you an assumptive value, they are unwilling to purchase the home for said value or have crushed their businesses by doing so.
If you’re working with a certified expressoffers agent, they will help you compare your offer to some assumptions based on market data. You will be given the opportunity to consider your net proceeds as it also relates to your time, convenience & your total capital contribution. Check out 6 Reasons Homeowners Should Start Their Sales Process With ExpressOffers (Before Listing)
5. Arrange Home Inspection
As I have also mentioned in my 14-step guide to selling a home, arranging a proper home inspection before the listing is highly important. And it is even more important when you are trying to sell in a robust buyer’s market. Let me tell you why. When in a seller’s market, buyers are more eager to make an offer and ignore other contingencies like home inspections so they can win the bidding war. When the market is high in demand, there is often more than one prospective buyer for a single property. This is not the case when you are dealing with a buyer’s market. Prospective buyers will likely demand a home inspection, and it can make the selling process even more challenging.
So, if you are trying to sell in a shifting market, make sure your agent conducts a pre-listing home inspection to save you some trouble in the later stages. A pre-inspection will reveal any hidden flaws in your property that might hinder the selling process. If the issues with your property are discovered earlier, you can get them fixed or price your home accordingly. Here are some reasons why you should get a pre-listing home inspection.
6. Price your Home According to the Market Conditions
You need to carefully choose a pricing strategy when the market is shifting. Analyze what market you are currently in and then price your home accordingly so your sale doesn’t break apart. If you have hired a certified realtor, he will know the market dynamics already and help you choose the right pricing strategy. But if you are working alone, you will need to do some research, meet with people, and look through data to figure out what the market is like in your area.
If you are in a seller’s market, it will be easier to price your home. You can even go higher than the recent sales. But you can’t utilize this strategy when the market is balanced or down. Pricing your home higher than the recent sales can be a big mistake especially if you are in a crazy buyer’s market. In a balanced market, you should always place a market competitive price on your home. And in a buyer’s market, you should analyze where the market is going and the price ahead of that.
Remember, no matter what market you are in, your goal is to get the maximum price for your property.
7. Prep Your Home
Preparing your home before listing and getting it in the best possible condition is highly crucial to getting suitable offers. Especially in the declining market, you need to make your home more attractive to potential buyers. Gone are the days when agents used to snap two or three bad-quality pictures of a home and throw them on the listing services. Now you need staging, de-cluttering, and refurbishing to attract buyers.
As an agent, I know how important this step is. It requires proper planning and a budget to showcase a home in the best possible light. When you are hiring a real estate agent, make sure to ask what they can do to prepare your home. Often, agents know how to stage a home better than anyone. They know what attracts buyers and they will prep your home accordingly.
This step often includes repairing, painting, de-cluttering, and staging. A pre-inspection is also necessary before this stage because most sales do not move forward after a home inspection. So, get it done in advance to save yourself from disappointment.
8. Make Your Listing Look Good
Most buyers hunt online for homes before they start visiting. You need to make your listing appear as attractive as possible to grab the buyer’s attention online. If you are dealing with a buyer’s market, this means there are more houses to sell and far fewer buyers hunting for homes. With hundreds of listings per postcode, it can become increasingly difficult to attract buyers if you aren’t marketing your home properly. Buyers can easily check your home off their lists if it doesn’t appear attractive enough.
Therefore, I advise you to spend some time finding the right listing strategy so your property stands out among others. Consult an expert realtor who knows how to work in a shifting real estate market. A certified realtor will make your listing appear more attractive to buyers online. You can also ask your local agent for tips if you are working by yourself.
9. Know a Good Offer When it Comes
When you start getting offers, I advise you to be considerate and don’t dismiss offers just because they appear low. The thing with selling your home in a shifting market is you do not usually have an upper hand, so you need to be open to all the offers that come through. If you have a realtor, he will probably advise you to consider each and every offer and go into negotiations even if the offers seem low. Ask your realtor to negotiate with the party and see if you can make things work.
Even if the offer you receive is below your ideal offer, see how bigger the gap is and then decide accordingly. If your agent is good at negotiating, you can make even a very average offer work in your favor. But don’t reject an offer blindly. I have seen sellers declining offers of 1.6 million dollars and then selling their properties merely weeks later for 1.2 million dollars. So, value what you have in hand! This is a key to selling your home in a shifting real estate market.
10. Get Ready to Negotiate
As I mentioned earlier, good negotiation is the key to getting a good price for your home. A few years ago, it was easier to get the quoted price for your home. However, buyers have become more cautious in recent years, and negotiation is something that has become inevitable. Therefore, you need to have a good real estate agent by your side if you wish to move forward with your home selling process. A good agent will give you valuable advice along with his services to help you navigate the sale.
Don’t ever be offended by an offer and don’t think that you will lose a prospective buyer if you counter. A buyer makes an offer only when he is interested. So, put your negotiation skills to use to achieve the best outcome.
11. Close the Deal
The last step in your home selling process will be closing. You need to approach this step very carefully, especially in a shifting market. Your agent will take care of the legal formalities for you, but you need to be aware of all the contract contingencies to prepare yourself for the worst.
Bottom Line
While selling your home in a shifting market, it is important to be flexible and patient. Analyze the market carefully before making any decision and price your home according to the market conditions. This will help you crack an effective deal without any discrepancies. You can also involve a realtor to make your selling process go smoother. If you like any help, require more information, or want to discuss the market dynamics in your area, visit here or call me at (704)-486-9938.