What Factors You Can Control

Actually, the single best thing you can do to sell your home for the most money is when you buy it. At that time you lock in location, home style, and amenities. If you’ve chosen well, taken good care of your home, and tastefully decorated it, then you’ll get top dollar for your area.
When you look at the stark reality of home buying, you’ll find that buying a bargain house in a not-so-good area can end up biting you when you sell.
Homes buy and sell every day, regardless of a buyer’s or seller’s market. The best maintained homes in good areas always sell quickly for top dollar. You might compare home sales to a pyramid. In a hot seller’s market, the top 30 percent go quickly. As you go down the pyramid, the other 70 percent sells, but time on the market grows the further down you go. If the seller’s market persists, even properties on the bottom sell because there’s nothing else to buy. The San Francisco real estate market is a classic example.
The top 10 percent of the pyramid is almost immune to the buyer-seller market cycle. These are the homes buyers look at and exclaim, ‘‘This is it!’’ Emotions take over and price becomes secondary. Not all are high-end homes; they’re found in all price ranges. But, they’re the best within their price range, and that’s where you want to position your home.
For example, a home was put up for sale during a buyer’s market when homes were averaging 70 days on the market. It was a 40-year old frame cottage, but it had been upgraded and was priced in the beginning homebuyer range. The owners had decorated the home in coordinating colors that tied all the rooms together. The house’s exterior and detached double garage had matching vinyl siding. A new roof, along with a meticulously maintained yard, gave the home great curb appeal.
The home was priced about $8,000 over comparable homes that had sold recently. But, from the moment the sign went up, calls poured in followed by a full price offer a few days later. The buyers didn’t question the price; they felt lucky to have found their dream home in an area they wanted.
So what set this home apart from the competition? Obviously, it wasn’t price, although, many sign callers were looking in a price range of $15,000–$20,000 less. This is normal, because hope springs eternal in the minds of bargain hunters. They have to find out—they have to call.
The offers you get and the price you end up going with are dependant on the type of buyers you attract. If you attract mainly investors and bargain hunters, it’s going to be painful. If you attract serious home buyers who are looking for their dream home and buy on emotion, you’re going to get good offers.
What set this home apart was, first, the area. It sits on a dead-end street of well-maintained homes. Second, the decorating was well thought out. Kitchen cabinets were refinished, and walls were freshly painted with wallpaper trim and molding that matched the cabinets. New vinyl floors and countertops in coordinating colors made the kitchen an inviting place to be.