Ten Simple Steps You Can Take to Ensure Your Home Sells at Top Dollar

1. Emotional appeal.

Make sure your home looks, feels and smells its best. You're competing with hundreds of other homes for sale. Buyers buy on emotion… let your home be the cleanest, freshest and cheeriest, and you'll have a much faster sale… at a higher price.

2. Don't Just Show It...Show It Off!

If your home is logically a good value, but a buyer doesn't feel warm and emotionally attracted to the home, it will not sell. Buyers buy on emotion, not logic. You'll want lots of people to say or think, "Wow! This is nice! I would like to live here!"

3. Lots of light.

For maximum effect, turn every light on, even on a sunny day. Open all window shades. Clean your draperies and curtains. Make sure your windows are spotlessly clean. Let the sun in and keep those lights on. Leaving all your lights on for two hours costs only 23 cents, and makes your home look larger and more spacious.

4. Agent open houses.

You can't expect to sell a house quickly at the top price unless you get lots of buyers inside to see it. There are more than 1,000 homes competing with yours for attention. Your home must be exposed to buyers regularly and repeatedly to get a fast sale at the full price. Regular Agent Open Houses will allow the agents with qualified buyers a chance to preview your home.

5. Constant Exposure.

Your home won't sell unless buyers know about it. To get top dollar, be sure to have your home repeatedly exposed to qualified, ready-to-buy buyers. Some s charge you a discount commission, then don't advertise your home. This is a mistake. The $500 or $1,000 you save in commission is more than offset by a sale price of $4,000 or $10,000 less than what you would have received if your home had been properly marketed. Remember, buyers won't know about your home unless you or your agent have a marketing plan to ensure that your home is brought to the attention of home buyers.

6. Non-traditional advertising.

83% of buyers looking for a home in the $150,000 to $200,000 price range are first-time home buyers. Many first-time home buyers don't even know they can afford a home. They don't know that owning a home costs less than renting. They think that they need 20% for a down payment, plus closing costs! If your home is in the first-time homebuyer price range, a substantial portion of your marketing dollars should be aimed directly at first-time homebuyers. This means advertising and marketing in areas other than the "Homes for Sale" classifieds or Sunday Open Houses in the Kitchener Waterloo Record or Real Estate News.

7. Education.

First-time homebuyers are more likely to pay top dollar for your home if your home is in the first-time homebuyer price range, make sure that your marketing program shows first-time buyers the benefits of home ownership and how affordable your home is. Design a marketing plan to get first-time home buyers to see the inside of your home.

8. Multiple signs.

Many first-time home buyers don't even see traditional "for sale" signs. They don't even realize that they can afford a nice home! The strategy of an additional sign in the yard shatters the "advertising protection armor" that every consumer wears. After 3 years of testing the "ugly yellow signs", The Hammer Team has proven that a second bright yellow sign, hand lettered, will result in more inquiries, more showings, a quicker sale and often a higher price for your home.

9. Aggressive Target Marketing.

Lots of buyers will buy your home for less than it's worth. The secret in getting top dollar is to find a buyer who is perfectly "matched" to your home. Right now, there are at least ten buyers who would love to own your home, can afford it, and would pay a fair asking price...if only they knew about it! Some of these buyers may not even be thinking of buying yet, but if they knew about your home would love it! It takes a lot more than just a sign in the yard and an ad in the paper to market a home effectively. Aggressive target marketing will find those buyers!

10. Create Urgency.

The Rule of Full Price states that if a buyer feels the asking price is fair, and has sufficient sense of urgency, he will pay the full asking price. Example: When we are holding an "Open Showing", there is a specific SHORT time in which many buyers are invited to view your home. This is NOT an Open House! As several buyers watch others wander throughout a home, which they themselves are very interested in, there is a sense of urgency created. "What if the other buyer writes an offer first!" "If I wait too long, I may not have a chance!" Prospective buyers feel an "auction effect" because of other buyers showing interest in your home at the same time. I have found the more buyers I can show your home to, at the very same time, the greater the sense of urgency. The auction effect causes people to become more excited and enthused about your home, thereby creating a sense of competition and urgency which results in sales with full price or more!

As a free service, I am happy to prepare a Right Price Analysis for your home. This comes to you free of charge and obligation. I'll show you the most cost effective places to advertise. I'll show you how to get top dollar for your home and the types of strategies I use to market, for my clients. I'll actually prepare ads for you to see the difference in the results!

Why do I do this? Because, I've found that helping people like you market their homes for no obligation brings me even more business. When I help you, you will tell your friends and associates about me. That brings more business to me than I could ever attain by "selling". It's all part of my personal philosophy of "helping", rather than "selling." I believe and have experienced, that the more people I help, the more business comes my way. So, please feel free to call me without any obligation or commitment. You can call me at (519) 570-4447 and ask for Carol Hammer, Broker

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