Selling Guide - Listing a Home

In an ideal world, in this trend of a seller's market, you and your broker would put your home for sale on a Thursday.  Then you'd immediately promote and provide private showings.  You'll hold open houses all day on Saturday and Sunday.  Your broker will communicate with serious buyers through Monday, keeping you updated on important developments.  By Tuesday, you will review all the offers by a certain time on Tuesday, accepting an offer that night or Wednesday. That's the ideal way of listing a home. 

However, we all know that the world is not always ideal.  Your property might stay on the market longer because of its unique price range requiring a more specific qualified buyer.  Your property could stay on the market because of unforeseen influential events outside of anyone's control, like a holiday, or a big sporting event. Your property could also be affected by being overpriced for its condition and failure to meet the specific demands of the buyers at that time.  Having a communicative, experienced, and alert agent will help you to navigate unforeseen changes and recommend strategies and solutions based on legitimate sources and experiences.  

Here are some signs your broker is marketing your property well: 

• they have introduced themselves to your neighbors. 
• they have planned a special event in or around your home.
• they have created unique and compelling online content to promote your home and you can easily access it yourself.
• you are receiving a great deal of feedback from buyers and their agents during the listing of your home. 
• your property is heavily booked with private showings.
• your agent is highly communicative with you

Thus, if none of the above takes place, you can suspect that your home is not reaching willing and able buyers.  If, after five or six days of your home being on the market, you suspect the marketing isn't working, that is a great time to have a serious discussion with your agent about what to do next.  You may need to plan a price reduction, course correct negative feedback from agents and their buyers, and/or modify your marketing plan.  Worst case scenario is that you may need to pull your home off the market to make a serious adjustment or wait until a better time in your specific market.  Again, you may just find your property took a little longer than others to sell, but you were able to do so without a price reduction or major modification. That's why having an adaptable agent like John P. Sharp is so important to your success when considering real estate services.