So in today's market, there are a few very common mistakes that I see sellers make. And I think a lot of it has to do with believing that we're in such a hot market that anything sells where that might have been true. Back in the spring, we are seeing quite a few homes sit on the market, or often not sell at all. To help illustrate this point. Let's take a look at what's happened in the market just in the last seven days.

If you take a look, you'll notice that we had 525 new listings and 489 sales, we also had 160 price decreases, and 150 cancellations. Don't get me wrong, we're still in a very hot seller's market with very low inventory. But there are a few things that you can do to help your home sell fast and for top dollar. Stay tuned, I'll give you nine tips on how to do so.

1. Knowing why you're selling and keeping it to yourself. The reason why you're selling can affect everything from deciding what prices set it at and how much time or money you're going to spend in getting your home ready for sale. Different goals dictate different strategies. However, never reveal your true motivation to anybody because this could be used against you on the negotiation table. When asked, simply say that your housing needs have changed. Setting a price too high in this market can often be a lot more dangerous than setting a price too low. Remember that buyers are going to be looking at many different homes before deciding you want to make sure that your stand out. If you set a price too high and you sit on the market, new buyers coming in are going to think about what's wrong with the house.

3. Do more homework. In fact, your agent should actually do this for you. Not only should you look at what has sold in the last six months, but you should look at what is currently on the market because that is going to be your main competition. And that's certainly how prospective buyers are going to evaluate your home.

4. Finding a good realtor who actually represents your needs. Like people, not all realtors are the same. And studies show that actually, almost 75% of homeowners would not go back to use the same agent that they use to sell their home. This level of dissatisfaction is hugely alarming and boils down to a few different things. The main thing is being poor communication over-promising under-delivering an overall lack of professionalism.

5. Maximizing your home's potential in the eyes of the buyer. Every year marketing companies spend billions of dollars on products on packaging. And it would be foolish not to consider this when selling your home will certain things about your home you're not going to be able to change like the location or the floorplan layout, you can definitely spend some time to make sure that the buyers experience there gives them the wow factor. Make sure you declutter the house completely and scrub it from top to bottom. Buying a house is an emotional experience and you want to create a homely feel for any prospective buyers. First impressions are everything, and buyers need to love the house as soon as they walk up right from the street.

6. Make it as easy as possible for prospective buyers to get information about your home. You may be surprised to know that traditional methods of selling your home like open houses are not actually what gets your home sold. less than 1% of homes are actually sold at the open house. Prospective buyers are going to want to know as much as possible about the home not what was just listed on the MLS page online, you're going to want to include feature C's and attachments giving as much information about the property as you can to the buyers, you have to make sure you choose an agent who's going to pick up the phone and help answer any questions that buyers have. A good indicator of this is does the agent pick up the phone when you call? And I don't know if I'm allowed or supposed to be saying something like this. But it's one of my biggest pet peeves about purple bricks. Whenever my buyers have a question about the property, there's no one that I can call to ask for the information, I have to send the company an email and hope that I get a response in the next couple of days.

7. Know your buyer. Just like your buyers are trying to find out everything that they can about your home, you need to try and find out everything you can about the buyer. Find out what the buyer's motivation is when it comes to the sale price of the home. A lot of it's going to depend is what's discussed on the negotiation table. Just like I said to keep your motivations to yourself. You want to find out as much as you can about the buyer's motivations. So you can use that to your advantage when negotiating the best deal for you.

8. Making sure the contract gets completed. Smart sellers know to disclose everything they can about the property to potential buyers when we're dealing with a conditional offer a home inspection they're gonna find out anyway and cancel the deal if you're hiding something. And if you're dealing with a firm offer and they don't do a home inspection, they can still find out after closing, giving you some legal trouble. Another thing to consider when dealing with a contract that is firm, meaning no conditions is making sure that the buyer is financially capable to purchase the property is becoming more and more common, where buyers are making firm offers without a financial condition, only to find out on the closing day that they're unable to buy the property causing a lot of headaches for the seller. As you can imagine, if you sold your home and already bought another and then come to find out that the buyer of your home can't close on the property. This can cause a lot of headaches and cost you a lot of money out of your pocket.

9. Don't move out until you sell your home. Studies have shown that it's more difficult to sell a vacant home because the property may seem forgotten, or just unappealing to the buyer. Like we said before, this is an emotional experience for the buyer. And it needs to feel like a home. As well, if the property is already vacant, the buyer knows that you need to sell the home and they're going to use that against you on the negotiation table.

Alright, guys, I hope you found these tips helpful. But obviously, there's a lot more that goes into selling a home. So any questions that you guys have, you can always call me directly.