If there are fewer homes for sale these days in Seat­tle land, per­haps there are still a few too many. Those sell­ers who are test­ing the mar­ket just to see “what they can get” should wait for bet­ter days. If you don’t have to sell now, don’t.

But what if you have to sell?
First, be clear about one thing: it’s not what you need to sell your home for but what some­body else will pay for it. Sec­ond, make it the most attrac­tive home in the neighborhood.

Don’t D-I-Y (Do-It-Yourself).
In a declin­ing mar­ket that favors buy­ers you need all the help you can get. Get an agent and get a good one. Inter­view a few on the phone and describe your sit­u­a­tion. Ask for two refer­rals from recent clients and call them. Then ask two or three agents to come to your home and present their plans to sell your home. If you have a hard time decid­ing between two agents based on their qual­i­fi­ca­tions and plans pick the one you like bet­ter. You’ll be spend­ing some time together.

You and your agent are a team.
Regard­less how good your agent is, your input and coop­er­a­tion are essen­tial. Don’t hide any­thing from your agent. If you dis­agree, speak up.

Do your home­work.
What other homes are for sale in your neigh­bor­hood? How long have they been on the mar­ket? Have your agent show you the homes for sale. Look at the com­pet­ing homes as if you were a buyer. Then go home with that mindset.

Check the record.
What is pub­licly known about your home? Check the county records. If the data is wrong cor­rect it. Your lat­est room addi­tion is not there? Still say­ing sep­tic tank when you’ve con­nected to pub­lic sewer line?  You can cor­rect this online via a request to the county.  Also, check and see what Zillow.com “thinks” your home is worth. You may dis­agree but that’s what the pub­lic sees.

Make lists.
There is noth­ing your agent should not know about your home. When some­one calls and asks about the age of the water heater or the near­est day­care cen­ter the answer should never be “I don’t know” and rarely “let me check.” Make lists about the home top to bot­tom and by time line of own­er­ship. Col­lect all receipts for repairs and improve­ments. Make lists about the neigh­bor­hood facil­i­ties. Know dri­ving dis­tances to every­day con­ve­niences and the near­est bus stop. Book­mark all related websites.

Clean up.
Pre­pare the place as if you where going to invite a poten­tial buyer tomor­row. Don’t just clean but make it spot­less. Touch up, repair, paint, air out. Get rid of the clut­ter, includ­ing in clos­ets. Rent a stor­age place for every­thing you can’t part with (yet). Move or remove fur­ni­ture when there’s a chance to bump into it. (Do the “pen­guin walk” test, sway­ing side to side.) If you have a pet plan ahead of how best to make yor dog or cat “invis­i­ble” to vis­it­ing agents and buyers.

Be patient.
Don’t put your home on the mar­ket before you and your agent are ready to sell. A first bad impres­sion is hard to correct.

Know what your agent sees and does.
Once your home is listed for sale have your agent show you in print or online what­ever and wherevever your home appears as being for sale. Print a copy and check it for mis­takes. Remem­ber, you are a team. Make sug­ges­tions for improv­ing the pre­sen­ta­tion. There’s a dif­fer­ence in what other agents can see and what the pub­lic sees about your home. You need to see both.

Ask to see the stats.
There is an agent hit counter on the MLS and sites like Zillow.com and Trulia.com let you know how many peo­ple have viewed your home online. Same is true for your home’s spe­cial web­site that your agent has created.

“Google” your home.
Pre­tend you live on the East Coast or abroad and you are look­ing for a home like the one you have to sell. For­give your agent if it doesn’t show up on page one for “Seat­tle homes” but ask him why it doesn’t show up for a more spe­cific neigh­bor­hood term like, for exam­ple, “Red­mond homes near Microsoft.”

Pre­pare to drop the price.
You’ve agreed with your agent on the ini­tial list­ing price. That price is real­is­tic and reflects your moti­va­tion to sell (which only you and your agent should know). You should have agreed at the same time on the next lower price and the rea­sons and tim­ing for low­er­ing the price. Have your agent pre­pare at the out­set “Seller Net Pro­ceeds Esti­mates” for sev­eral price points.

Leave the lights on.
Make it easy to see your home. Be ready to leave on a moments (30 min­utes) notice. Leave the lights on and per­haps the radio on at low vol­ume (you are not try­ing to cover up exter­nal noise). Make sure there are enough fly­ers inside and out­side. If there’s some­thing note­wor­thy direc­tional or fea­ture cards on the walls should guide the vis­i­tor  — “Bonus Room above Garage” or “Brand New Furnace”.

Bur wait, there’s more!
Yes, there always is. This is not an exhaus­tive list by any means but it should get you start think­ing and check­ing in case you have to sell now. One final thought: stay pos­i­tive; don’t let the neg­a­tive news get you down. If you believe in prayer, do pray. Remem­ber, you may have to sell, but there are also buy­ers who have to buy.

Tags: choosing an agent, find your home on the web, Have to sell, prepare to sell home, public property records, seattle home sellers, seller net proceeds

This entry was posted on Sunday, November 30th, 2008 at 9:07 pm and is filed under Sellers Corner. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.