Why You Should (and Shouldn't) Sell Your Home in 2024_5

Of course, sellers want top dollar for their property. And agents know this when they come to pitch. It can be very easy for a seller to hire the agent who promises the highest price, but this can come with wasted days on the market and subsequent disappointment when the agent who promised it all cannot deliver.

When interviewing prospective agents, speak to a few highly recommended by trusted sources. Take a day or two, look at your comps (comparable properties), and then be realistic about your home’s attributes and shortcomings. How does your home compare and contrast? The agents pitching your business might be too forgiving of glaring problems in your home or minimizing the attributes that your property has that others don’t.

“It can be a big mistake to go with the agent who tells a seller what they want to hear,” says Hertzberg. “It’s easy to get caught up in flattery and unrealistic numbers rather than steadfast and true honesty: ‘Here is the number we can attain, but here are the parameters.’ When you speak to your doctor or lawyer, you want the truth so you can act accordingly. With your home, it’s the same thing.”

Mistake #2: Overlooking the importance of staging and repairs

With the proliferation of “before and after” design shows and the popularity of model homes in new developments, buyers have become accustomed to seeing decorated and staged turnkey properties.

If a home in the resale market looks very lived-in or maintains too much of the seller’s personality, buyers today often struggle to imagine what it might look like as their own. Thus, home staging has become commonplace. Buyers are looking for a fresh start, and a new home represents a new chapter in their lives. Sellers need to entice these buyers with what could be, especially if the home currently looks tired or in noticeable disrepair.

“People get used to where they are, and they don’t notice that it’s dated and doesn’t look fresh,” says Hertzberg. “They don’t notice that their garden is dead. They get used to it.”

The importance of decluttering can’t be stressed enough. But it can be an overwhelming conversation, especially for collectors or maximalists. You’re moving, and you need to pack it all up at some point anyway. Decluttering is a great first step in the inevitability of packing.

“Decluttering is a process, and it’s taxing,” says Hertzberg. “But buyers are seeing your home for the first time, and that ‘hello’ should be ‘hello, welcome, and stay for a while.’ Not ‘hello and goodbye.’ ”

Repair work that might consist of easy fixes should also be undertaken before listing. Some of these issues may come up during the inspection period, and it will be less costly for a seller to handle these upfront themselves versus at the buyer's behest.

“Not heeding an agent’s advice with repair work and staging can leave money on the table,” says Iglar. "Minor repair work and staging can return as much as five times what’s invested. Sellers often aren’t willing to spend the money, and they miss out.”

Sellers are also often surprised to learn that some expensive renovation choices may not be desirable to buyers. “Many sellers make the mistake of assuming that expensive custom features that they've added to their home will increase their home value similar to the cost,” says Bruen. But “buyers may not like these features and may see them as costly to remove or maintain, reducing the perceived value of the home.”

Mistake #3: Not checking for open or missing permits on your current property

Another important and often less obvious task is to ensure that all work permits are closed, as these can delay or hamper a deal in the later stages. Closing out a permit can often take several weeks or even longer, derailing a deal.

“Sellers often don't check for missing or open permits before they list their home,” says Bruen. “Then, a week before closing, the municipality denies their application for a certificate of occupancy because of an open permit from years prior. Addressing this can take time that will cause the closing to be delayed. They can prevent this by filing an OPRA (Open Public Records Act) request with their municipal building department to get a list of all past permit applications for their home.”