Coast to coast, a much higher percentage of listings are selling, selling fast and selling at or above the asking price than they have during any spring in recent memory. The days when every home on the market got multiple offers are still a thing of the past. By and large, the listings I see receiving multiple offers and selling for over asking on today’s market have the following ingredients:
1. Pristine and staged. The homes that I’ve seen get multiple offers in my own market are immaculately clean and the furnishings are well put together. Sellers have often spent months in advance cleaning, de-cluttering, organizing, primping and otherwise sprucing their homes for sale with the intention of blowing the competition out of the water. I’d urge a seller who wants to have a competitive property for sale to explore whether there’s some level of staging service or even staging advice that is worth the investment, before dismissing it as too expensive
2. Low prices. The homes that get multiple offers are not priced at the top of their markets. In fact, the asking price is specifically aimed to be slightly below what is believed to be the true fair market value of the property at the time it is listed. Why? What seems like it might be risky is actually a time-proven strategy for increasing the number of buyers who come to view the property. The math is simple — it takes more showings to drive more offers. Once these value hunters are at the house and fall in love with it, they often become willing to offer more than the asking price if they need to secure it in the face of competing offers, knowing that it was priced well to start with.
Ample exposure to the market. Professional photography is the most important marketing tool when listing a property. With almost 90%of home buyers starting their search on the internet the pictures are the first impression (we know how important first impressions can be) and draw potential buyers to view the house in person. Have your REALTOR create an aggressive online marketing campaign that is tailored for maximum internet exposure and to your propertys target market. It is important that your home is not only listed on all the major websites such as Realtor.com and the MLS, but also any niche websites that may appeal to buyers specifically looking for a property look yours.
4. Showable on demand. Hard-to-show homes just don’t sell when there’s lots of competition. If a particular listing requires too much notice (i.e., 48 hours) or too many callbacks for appointment-setting, they’re very likely just to turn to one of the other dozens of homes that are easy to show. Anything that diminishes the chances your home will be shown diminishes the chances your home will sell quickly and receive multiple offers. If the property is vacant, putting a lock box on for buyers agents to have easy access and show at their convenience should be considered as well.
Once you have an offer or multiple offers qualifying the buyer both financially by checking proof of funds and requiring a pre-approval loan letter and gaging how emotionally invested they are in your property is critical to ensure they will close escrow.