Make no mistake: selling your home is a lot of work. Usually it’s more work than people anticipate it will be, as a matter of fact. And even if you are the most prepared person in the world, there are some hard realizations you will face as you go through the home sale process. Here are five.
1. My Taste =/= Everyone Else’s.
Most likely you have invested a significant amount of time in making your home look beautiful. Your choice of paint, flooring, and decor may be what makes your home yours, but when it’s time to sell a house, it’s also time to remove “you” (the seller) from the equation. If you have favored bold colors and dramatic decorating choices over the years, prepare for your realtor to tell you it needs to be toned down. Neutral decor is the standard for a house on the market, since it appeals to the widest range of buyers and allows them to picture themselves in your house. It can be a rough truth to embrace, but sometimes your style needs to go.
2. Time to Step Out. Yes, Again.
Having a house on the market is a trying time for the owner. You have to constantly keep the home clean and tidy for showings at any time of day, which, if you have children, is a task nigh on impossible. And then there’s the fact that you have to be prepared to step out of your house at any time for last-minute showings. Just comes home from work? Relaxing after cutting the grass and doing chores on Sunday? Doesn’t matter. If you are serious about selling your home, you need to cooperate with your real estate agent and those representing potential buyers.
3. My House Doesn’t Feel Like Home.
This is a point that follows the previous “truth.” You may have thought that your house was going to be your home right up until the moment at closing that you handed over the keys, but the truth is that the separation process starts long before that. It begins with systematically removing all personal traces of you from your home as you “stage” it for sale, and continues as you submit to buyer after buyer traipsing through your home to inspect every aspect of it. It’s likely that you will feel displaced and uncomfortable by this process. If you have kept everything in good shape and offered a fair asking price, however, hopefully the home will sell quickly and the process will be over soon.
4. You Call THAT an Offer?!
As long as there have been sale transactions between humans, there have been buyers insulting sellers with lowball offers. Tempted as you may be to counter with the full asking price and refuse to budge, keep in mind that this is the nature of the game. Don’t take very low offers personally. Choose either to counter or to decline, but don’t harbor negative feelings towards a potential buyer or their agent. It’s just business.
5. This Is Never Going to End.
It’s a red-hot seller’s market in many areas of the country right now, but that doesn’t guarantee that every house is going to be under contract within three days in every neighborhood. If the selling process is taking longer than you expected, don’t lose faith. Let your agent be your guide and help you determine if you should maybe lower the price or even take the house off the market for a while and try again when conditions are more favorable.
