From dismissing the first offer to skipping professional photos, these three missteps quietly cost Phoenix sellers time and money.
Selling a home in Phoenix comes with a long list of decisions, and it’s easy to trip over a few of them without even realizing it. There are a lot of mistakes sellers can make, so I want to touch on a few that come up most often. Get these right, and you put yourself in a much stronger spot before your home ever hits the market.
Don’t dismiss the first offer. Often when a home hits the market, especially in this market, sellers want to sit back and wait until they’ve collected multiple offers before responding to anything. I understand the instinct, but it’s not uncommon for that very first offer to be the best one you get. Buyers who move quickly are usually the most motivated and the most serious, and brushing them off in the hope that something better comes along can leave you chasing a stronger offer that never shows up. Give that first one a real look before you decide to wait. If you’re weighing what a good offer actually looks like, it helps to understand the difference between list price and sales price so you can judge each offer on its real terms.
Clear out the clutter and personal items. The second mistake is not decluttering, or depersonalizing, as I like to say. It’s important to remove your personal items from the home, the family photos, the collections, the things that make the space feel like yours. Those touches can quietly sway a buyer’s thoughts about the house one way or the other, and pull their attention away from the home itself. When you clear them out, buyers can see the bones of the house and get a real feel for the space, which is exactly what you want them picturing themselves in. A little effort here goes a long way toward how buyers respond, and it ties directly into how to impress buyers during showings.
“The first offer isn’t the one to brush off; it’s often the best one you’ll get.”
Always bring in professional photography. The last one is skipping professional photography. It’s important that your Realtor brings in a professional photographer to shoot the home, because for most buyers the photos are the very first impression they get, long before they ever set foot inside. Quality images are what pull people in and get them through the door, and professional listing photos consistently help homes sell faster and for more. Phone snapshots or a rushed camera job send the opposite message before a buyer has even considered your house. It’s one of the simplest things to get right, and one of the most costly to get wrong.
These are only a few of the mistakes I see, but they’re some of the ones that make the biggest difference. If you’d like to know more about what to expect when selling your home, or you’re weighing a move and have questions, I’m always glad to talk it through. Whether you’re thinking about selling or even buying, give me a call at 602-501-9352, email me at sam@thebrokery.com, or visit samlevyhomes.com. I’d love to help you put a plan together.
