FIVE SECRETS THAT SELLERS NEED TO KNOW

1. You must get your home in prime condition.
“Buyers have higher expectations than ever because they’re spending so much for the house and don’t have extra money,” Shotwell says. “Everyone is busy, and no one has time to fix up a place.”
Lilian Jorgenson, an agent with Long & Foster in McLean, agrees: “Sometimes sellers may feel their home is better and should sell for more than their neighbors, but they’re not always willing to fix it to the condition today’s buyers want.”
She recently helped some buyers negotiate for repairs and a lower price on a home that needed work. “I knew the house couldn’t be insured with an old roof, so we negotiated to have it replaced,” Jorgenson says.

2. Without staging, a house won’t sell for the best possible price.
“A naked home will lower the value, because every defect and dated feature ishighlighted and the spaces shrink. Staging will modernize a home without the full cost of a remodel,” says James Nellis, CEO of the Nellis Group and a licensed real-estate salesperson with eXp Realty. Another reason he says staging matters? “Today’s buyers have lost their ability to visualize and spatially see themselves living in the home.” Staging, he says, typically runs $3,000 to $5,000 but can yield seller bids of at least$15,000 to $25,000 more.

3. There’s disagreement about whether to pad a home’s asking price or undercut it.

“Sellers need to cut out wishful thinking and get realistic,” Burr says. “Instead of adding 5 percent to their price, they need to list at a reasonable price and hope for more buyers.” Burr doesn’t recommend purposefully underpricing to generate a bidding war, but some other agents do.
“When we price a home lower than what we think it’s worth, this always generates multiple offers and drives the price higher,” says John Ippolito, an agent with Redfin in Frederick. “It works like an auction to gain momentum for the sale. Psychologically,the fact that others are interested in the same home validates people’s interest.” Ippolito recommends pricing a property about $30,000 under the estimated sales price. Pricing any lower than that may generate multiple offers, but some may not hit the seller’s desired price. If a property lingers on the market, auction pricing is an option. “We had a three-acre property in Montgomery County that wasn’t selling, so we strategically launched it at$500,000, even though we knew it was worth about $600,000,” says Nellis. “We said we would accept offers on a certain date and wouldn’t take less than $500,000. It sold for $580,000.”

4. To help avoid having a contract fall through and having to relist a house, ask a potential buyer for a larger deposit, or even request that it be made nonrefundable.
“Sellers can negotiate a nonrefundable deposit to make sure buyers don’t walk away from the contract and to avoid the black eye of a house that goes back on the market,”Nellis says.

5. Pre-listing marketing can help generate a bidding war.
“Agents can leverage the ‘coming soon’ marketing tool to generate interest,” Nellissays. “You can’t physically show the property to buyers, but you can encourage more people to visit the first day it’s on the market.”