What to Consider When Selling Your House:
Why are you selling?
Consider whether your reasons for selling are good ones. If you hastily put your home on the market in order to buy a bigger one or a home in a trendy area or style, you may be making a major mistake. If your next, more expensive home stretches you too far financially, you may end up in financial trouble.
If you need to relocate for your job, or when you have a major life change, moving may be necessary. Even so, you should weigh the pros and cons of keeping your property versus selling.
Can you afford the next home?
It's really important to be honest with yourself about what you can afford. Based on your income and downpayment, a mortgage lender can tell you the maximum you can spend. They can’t tell you what you can afford to spend and still manage your other financial and personal goals including saving for retirement - that part is up to you.
What is your current house worth?
This is where you need advice from an agent experienced in the market where your house is. They will be the most knowledgeable about current sale prices for comparable properties and sales trends in your area. Pricing your home property is key to selling it as quickly as possible and for the most money. The longer a home sits on the market, the more potential buyers become wary of it - often assuming something is wrong with it.
Is your house properly prepared?
This is another area where your real estate agent will help you. They will suggest tasks like deep cleaning, catching up on maintenance and minor upgrades that will help your home sell. They can also arrange for staging to help your home to appeal to a wide number of buyers and to maximize its best features.
Why Professional Photos?
When you're selling your home, it's important to take advantage of all the tools at your disposal to get it in the best possible shape. One such tool is professional photography. Here are the reasons why you should consider using a pro photographer to capture your home's listing photos.
PROFESSIONAL IMAGES ATTRACT MORE BUYERS
Better quality images in your listing will attract more attention to your home. Studies have shown that professional real estate photography can increase the number of clicks on a listing by more than 100%. Since approximately 97% of home buyers use the internet in their search, this is a huge benefit.
SELL YOUR HOME FASTER
Homes that are listed using professional images tend to sell faster. Studies have shown that professional real estate photography can help a listing sell around 50% faster than homes without professional photography. Homes without professional photos and videos get overlooked and sit on the market for longer.
INCREASED APPEAL
The images used to represent your listing can have a major impact on potential buyers. Using a professional real estate photographer gets your listing more attention and makes the home seem more appealing. Buyers will unconsciously assign a higher value to listings with great photos than with listings with bad photos.
COMPREHENSIVE
Real estate photographers know how to use photos and video to give a complete picture of your property. This is increasingly important in our current times where the majority of home buyers review listings online before deciding whether or not to see properties in person.
"Bridget was an absolute pleasure to work with. She helped me with the sale of my first home and she exceeded all expectations. She is extremely knowledgeable, diligent, thoughtful and personable. Her advice was sage and work ethic was exemplary. She is extremely professional yet still manages to make you feel like a family member. I would recommend Bridget in a heartbeat to anyone looking for a realtor in the Chatham-Kent area."
-Sarah B.
"Working with Bridget was an absolute delight. She is very knowledgeable and professional. She treats her clients like family including the four legged ones. Our dog is usually timid and shy but with Bridget he liked her right away. Bridget listened to what we were looking for in a new home and found exactly that. We also never felt any pressure when she was selling our larger home. We definitely recommend Bridget!"
-Bev P.