How to Sell your Boise Home for the highest price and net the most

If you are waiting to sell because you think home prices are going to go up soon you should think again.  Pending home sales fell in July 2011.  AGAIN.  Month over month and year over year are consistently falling. 

If you have a $1,000 home loan payment and are in the first few years of your finance term most of your Payment is going to interest.  You are not gaining equity.  Add your taxes and insurance and you are most likely paying more than $1,000 per month. 

If you are paying on a 30 year fixed loan at 5% interest you are paying close to $1500 per month plus taxes and insurance.

If you sell 10 months from now you need to get $15,000 more for your home than today to break even.  Considering that home prices are falling your chance of coming out ahead are not very good.

So you interview 3 Realtors.  One insists that they can get more money for your home.  The others show you recently sold homes similar to yours in your area.  But one slick agent insists that they can get more because you are looking at short sales and foreclosures.  And your's isn't.  Well guess what!  Buyers don't care!  Short sale homes are generally lived in and well kept.

Foreclosures are often cleaned up, painted and look very good. The days of the missing sinks and holes in the wall are gone. And to make it worse for you, many bank owned homes are priced low and actually sell for more than the asking price because they have learned that if they under price they get multiple offers.  Lots of buyers want to look only at bank owned and foreclosures so you might even be at a disadvantage if yours isn't listed as a distressed sale.

If you HAVE to move because of a job change or you are running out of money, or if you are moving up or sideways, you are probably going to lose by over-pricing your home.

Remember this:  Realtors in general are having a tough time.  Those not very experienced in short sales often lose them to foreclosure.   Make any Real estate agent show you all of the most recent (last three to for months) of homes that have sold similar to yours AND similar ones for sale.  Use this search to look for homes like yours.  But these aren't sold.  Look at DOM (days on the market). 

We do not patronize and try to get listings buy promising or "selling" that we can get more for your house.  You don't get more by pricing high and negotiating down.  What you do is this:  Less people look at your home.  If you get an offer you get low offers.  But usually you just don't get them.  Then the agent says "we need to drop the price."  You are on the market longer and you look weaker.  You get more desperate.  You have spent more on payments and now you need more to break even.

Price your home right!  Price it to sell and you will sell it!  You can rent for less if you have to rent for a while, while you are looking for your next home.  Pocket the savings for your down payment and come out ahead!  Don't be fooled.  Look at the statistics. 

Don't let an agent show you just some listings.  Look at all the sales in your subdivision and immediate area that are similar to yours.  Have your agent actually show you some homes for sale like yours.  I don't mean just the listing; get inside.  Look at them like you are a buyer.  Go by the sold price, not the for sale price.  Look at the days of the market on the ones for sale.  Look at the history of their price drops.  Pick an honest agent.  Pick the one willing to lose your listing who will not over price it just to get a sign in the yard.

Why do agents overprice?  Because they get to advertise.  They get buyers through their listings.  But they don't sell YOUR house.  They sell another well priced house to them.  Very few homes are sold by the listing agent these days.  It is an internet market.  There are hundreds of Realtors sending new listings to buyers.

Most of your showings are going to be the first couple weeks of your first being listed.  Be priced right and sell it soon.  Don't have your listing showing it has been on the market for 120 days!  It makes you look like a weak seller.

Call Jon Gosche at 208-870-2115 and I will have one of my selling agents meet you and give you a straight honest analysis and tell you what you need to do with your home to make it present well, and sell.   Be the seller, not the sold!