Oh I’m Selling This Spring!

If you want to sell your home this spring, prepare for pent-up buyer demand. Spring might be an even livelier home-selling season this year because homebuyers want to act before interest rates or home prices rise. But don’t be fooled, the Acadiana housing market—although strong—isn’t as robust as it has been in years past, so price your house to sell.

With an ample supply of more affordable properties for sale, overpriced homes are at a huge disadvantage. The experts consistently state the three main factors in selling almost any property is the Location, Condition and Price. Since you’re locked into the location, if either of the other two conditions aren’t good, your home may not sell, or, if it does, you could  be forced to lower the price considerably.  

Consider these tips to help sell your home more quickly and for more money this spring. 

Clutter will kill you: Absolutely no known home buyer cares about or wants to see your collections—be it fine wine, baseball cards, clothes, LSU propaganda or anything else. If a buyer has to step around it, walk over it or can’t see the back of the room because of it, sell it, put it in storage or be prepared to lower your price.

Smells like a deal breaker: Statistics show the average American lives in a home for 7 to 10 years. That’s a lot of time to stink up a place. You’re immune to your home’s unique smells, because they’re yours. But do yourself a favor—phone a friend—or better yet, call a good real estate professional for an honest assessment of how well your personal palace smells.

Fix the Mickey Mouse Stuff: One of the fastest ways to be forced to lower the price of a home is to have a potential buyer do a simple inspection of key components while walking through the house, only to find it riddled with different maintenance items and just plain broken stuff. From dirty A/C filters and ceiling fans to stuck doors, bad light switches and windows that don’t open, it’s amazing how property owners consistently lose thousands of dollars during the sales process on maintenance items that would have only cost a few hundred dollars to fix upfront.