According to the latest reports, Nashville ranks fourth among the Top Ten Best Housing Markets across the country. Nashville’s job growth rate, strong population, overall low unemployment rate and home prices that average more than 15% below market value, makes Nashville an ideal market to invest in and live. Here are a few facts to consider in order to quickly sell your Nashville home and for top dollar:
Take Your Real Estate Agent’s Advice
Many sellers don’t want to listen to the expert advice of their real estate agent. Unless your home is in perfect move-in condition, don’t expect your agent to get the price you’re hoping for. This includes addressing little things like drawers that stick, chipped backyard fences and loose doorknobs. Even just one ‘turn-off’, could result in a buyer simply walking away. Do the necessary work for the buyers, so they don’t have to.
Today’s home selling process can be overwhelming and frustrating. Understand the importance of a few key factors that you must address first before you can successfully sell your home.
Here are five of the biggest turn-offs that could quite literally make a buyer walk away:
- Overpriced based on the market
- Too much clutter
- Dirty and smelly
- Outdated decor
- Needs maintenance
Your Home is Overpriced
If you failed to listen to the expert advice of your agent and insisted on pricing your home higher than what they recommended, expect to receive negative feedback from potential homebuyers – or worse, no feedback period. Generally, overpriced homes lead to few showings and therefore, no offers either.
Clutter
Too many of your personal items and decor such as family pictures and collectible items makes your home appear smaller as well as making it more difficult for potential buyers to imagine living there. Too much furniture is also confusing. Remember, less is more when it comes to selling your home.
Unpleasant Smells and Uncleanliness
Unpleasant smells can originate from a variety of sources such as pets, water damage, musty air, and dirt. Give the buyer a pleasant first impression by eliminating any offensive odors. Stale cigarette smoke and litter box odors are notorious turn-offs for homebuyers. Cleanliness is a huge factor in the home selling market. So, make the windows shine, shampoo carpets and everything in between. The bottom line – eradicate smells.
Outdated Decor
The reason buyers are looking at your home rather than purchasing a new one is because of location and cost. Dirty, scuffed walls and chipped paint looks extremely shabby and unkempt. Basically, it says you don’t care. Fixing the walls and painting them in a fresh neutral color palette is a great, inexpensive way to instantly update the entire space. Quite often, giving your home a fresh coat of paint will result in a quicker sale and typically for more money.
Attention to Maintenance
Deferred maintenance is a nice way to say you’ve neglected your home. If you’ve failed to do simple things like fix a leaky tap or change out burnt light bulbs, buyers will suspect that you’ve neglected the bigger aspects of home maintenance as well.
Other Issues
In addition to the five key reasons mentioned, here are five more issues that buyers will notice and cause them to quickly lose interest in your home.
- Old, tacky wallpaper
- Popcorn ceilings
- Outdated appliances
- Poor curb appeal
- Being followed by the seller while viewing the home
The key to selling your home quickly and for top dollar will depend on how well you listen and follow through on the critical advice of your real estate agent. Listen to them when they stress how important it is to properly stage your home and address any landscape issues. Following their advice could literally mean the difference between selling, or not selling your home. For more information on selling your Nashville home, please don’t hesitate to contact us!
