How to Sell Your Home for the Best Price

It starts with choosing a competent real estate agent from the thousands of licensed real estate agents in Baltimore that will be straight with you. People have all kinds of interesting ideas about what will sell their home for the most money. Unfortunately many of those ideas and the strategies they then use end up netting them LESS money.

You can avoid that unwanted result by working with the right person. That person will do three simple things, and possibly a fourth, at the VERY BEGINNING of your relationship: 

1. Research your home and the sales in your neighborhood before they come meet with you.
2. Walk through your home with you and listen to what you have to say about it, including what you think it is worth.
3. Check to make sure everyone is on the same page regarding the pricing schedule and the marketing plan for your home.
4. If there is not a meeting of the minds, the right person will walk away.

That’s right. They will not ask you to sign the listing agreement. Instead, they will let you know they do not think they are the right agent for you.

Does that sound crazy to you? Let me tell you why it’s not – which brings us to the question of why sellers get upset with their agents.

The Biggest Problem Sellers Have With Their Agents

Home sellers usually become angry with their agents if the selling price is not in line with the market they’re in at the time. The scenario usually goes like this. The sellers want 800K for their home. The agent knows, short of a miracle (which, by the way, occasionally DOES happen!) that 800K price tag is out of line with what buyers are going to offer. Remember, one of the buyer’s agent’s jobs is to pull all the listings that have sold in your neighborhood for the past year or so and show them to the buyers so they can compare.

The agent knows, short of a miracle (which, by the way, occasionally DOES happen!) that 800K price tag is out of line with what buyers are going to offer. Remember, one of the buyer’s agent’s jobs is to pull all the listings that have sold in your neighborhood for the past year or so and show them to the buyers so they can compare.

The seller’s agent should have shown you those same listings. That way you can see that short of that miracle the price the buyer’s will expect to buy is closer to 700K. And that is a problem for everyone concerned – if you want to sell your home in a timely fashion.

Why Pricing a Home Too High is a Problem for All Parties Involved

• The buyers who would buy your home didn’t qualify to buy a home over 750K, so even though your neighborhood may be their top choice – your home will most likely never get on their radar.
• Your home will be compared unfavorably to other homes at the 800K price point by buyers who are qualified at the 800K price.
• Most homes that sell quickly do so within the first couple of months; if you wait a couple of months to align your price with the marketplace it is most likely your home will be sitting on the market for a lot longer than it would have.

Whose Fault is it When Homes Don’t Sell

In the final analysis, agents are in large part responsible when homes do not sell – if they haven’t interacted with their seller clients in a professional manner.

This includes bringing all the comparable and neighborhood information to the seller(s) and going over that information with them. It includes listening to the seller(s) to hear if there is any hidden value in the home that has been overlooked. It also assumes all the data and counsel have been given in the spirit of minimizing days on the market and maximizing seller return on investment.

Sometimes, the seller(s) cannot take off their homeowner hat and are unable to accept the reality of what their house is worth in the market they are in. In that case, there is little even a top-selling real estate agent can do.  Sadly, that group tends to blame everyone (loudly) but themselves for not getting the results they want and/or need.

Some agents walk away from unrealistic sellers at the beginning. Others will stay and accept the seller’s blame as part of their marketing costs. That is, and this is really the down and dirty insider truth, they know they will most likely receive a return in some way on account of a sign with their name and number on it being in front of the house, and the listing being on the multiple list service of the area.

It All Comes Down to Choosing the Right Agent

Choosing the best agent for you from all the real estate agents in Baltimore will go a long way towards selling your home at the best price. Whether you use Baltimore Better Homes matchmaking services to sell your unique luxury home or find your agent in another way make your choice someone you feel respects and listens to you, and that you are able equally to listen and respect them.