Every seller wants a quick sale and the best price, while market conditions play a role in how fast homes sell, there are certain steps sellers can take to help.

Fixing up your home for sale need not be an expensive proposition. Most homes need de-cluttering. Buyers need to see a home in order to form an attachment to it. If it's crammed with personal possessions, or over-furnished, it's hard for buyers to imagine themselves living there. Clutter is distracting. Too much furniture makes a home appear smaller than it is.

Paint and elbow grease go a long way to putting a home in showing shape. Use neutral colors when painting or changing floor coverings. The home should be as spotless as possible, including the windows.

FIRST-TIME TIP:
Make your home easy to show. Agents like to show listings that are priced right, that are in good condition and that are easy to show. The more a listing is shown, the faster it sells. Usually the quicker the sale, the higher the price.

A lock box or key box makes a home easy for agents to show. It can also make life easier on the seller. Agents call for appointments, then they let themselves into the listing using the key in the lock box. The sellers don't have to wait around for agents to show up and agents have easy access to the property. If a lock box is not feasible, have your agent set up a showing procedure that makes it easy for agents to show the property.

It's best for sellers to leave during showings. When sellers are home during showings, the buyers may cut their visit short. They probably won't look in closets. No negative comments will be made about the property for fear of offending the sellers. And yet, it's best if buyers air their objections to a listing while they're at the property so that these issues can be resolved.

THE CLOSING:
In order for buyers to come to a decision to buy a home, they usually need to pick the property apart first. This won't happen in the seller's presence.

Does staging work?

Staging can involve minimal effort on the part of a seller. Merely rearranging furniture can show a house off to advantage. For some sellers, however, staging a home for sale is a major production. It might include hiring a fix-up-for-sale decorator and renting a house full of furniture, complete with house plants and decorative art work.

Homes that are staged for sale tend to sell faster, and for a higher price, compared to listings that have not been staged. Staged homes are more appealing. You may find more demand and possibly multiple buyers for a well-staged home.

A local homeowner learned the hard way what a difference staging a home for sale can make. She listed her home for sale last year with an agent who told her to do nothing to get her home ready for sale. The agent insisted that it was a waste of time to fix a house up for sale because the buyers would surely want to redecorate to suit their own tastes.

After months on the market without even a nibble from an interested buyer, the home was withdrawn from the market. The owner then consulted a different agent. This agent detailed all the cosmetic improvements that needed to be done in order to sell the home.

The home was re-listed after all the suggested improvements were completed. It sold with multiple offers the first week it was on the market--the second time. It also sold for more than the list price.

FIRST-TIME TIP:
Fresh flowers are a nice touch inside. Outside, use flowering plants at the front entry for added color, and to show off the yard. Don't forget to paint the front door so that it looks fresh and inviting.

Buyers like homes that are cheerful and bright. Open curtains and drapes, unless the outlooks are poor. Buy inexpensive window coverings that let light through if the windows have an unsightly outlook, or if they look directly onto neighbors.

Leave lights on when the home is shown, even when the sun is shining. Add lighting to rooms that are dark, or increase the wattage of light bulbs, if the fixtures will allow it.

Make sure that the heating or cooling system is set at a comfortable temperature. A frigid house is uninviting, and so is one that's too hot on a sweltering day.

Small staging efforts can make a big difference. Buy a new shower curtain to replace the old one that's mildewed; change out-dated cabinet pulls in your kitchen or bathrooms.

Outdoor living is important to most buyers. Stage your yard, patio or deck with outdoor furniture. The outdoors then becomes an extension of the living area. This adds value in the buyers' mind.

An unused cubby-hole can be turned into usable space with a little staging. An extra large walk-in closet can become a computer room. A sun room can be transformed into a den or home office.

When you sell a home, you're selling a fantasy. Even though the buyers won't live in your home the way it looks in its staged-for-sale condition, they'll be attracted to it because it presents a lifestyle they aspire to.

THE CLOSING:
Buyers pay for homes that look livable and inviting, even though the furnishings will be moved out with the sellers.

Why should sellers be absent during showing?

If only there were a way to sell your home without letting all those people come through. Unfortunately, the reality is that homes must be shown in order to be sold. Also, few buyers commit to purchasing a home without first spending some time there. Some buyers need to spend a lot of time in a home before they decide to buy it.

Most experienced agents recommend that sellers vacate their home when it's shown to prospective buyers. This is usually inconvenient for sellers, but there are reasons why it's best for sellers to be gone when their home is shown. Ambivalence, or the approach-avoidance syndrome, is a major theme in many home buying sagas.

Before deciding to buy a home, buyers often must go through the process of picking the place apart. They need to look in every closet, nook and cranny. They need to discover everything they don't like about a home before they can make a decision to go ahead and buy it. Most buyers won't scrutinize a home in the presence of the sellers. Buyers are often too embarrassed to look inside closets if the sellers are home. They may hate your green carpet, but they'll smile and tell you how much they love your place if you are there.

Accomplished agents can help buyers get past their objections to a home. But to do this agents need to have the opportunity to analyze the home with the buyers in private--outside of the seller's ear-shot. Green carpet can be changed. It may even cover beautiful hardwood floors.

It's natural for sellers to want to know what buyers think about their home. You probably won't get a straight answer from the buyers themselves. Nor is it appropriate to call the buyers' agent and ask him or her for feedback.

Your own agent should follow-up on each and every showing of your home and report back to you with feedback from the buyers. Often useful information can be gleaned from your agent's follow-ups. You may discover a common complaint, and it may be something that you can remedy. For example, if every buyer that looks at your home likes it but can't stand the green carpet, you have the option of changing the carpet if the home isn't selling.

Not all agents routinely follow-up on showings and report back to their sellers. Let your agent know that this is something you expect as part of your marketing plan. Also, don't blame your agent if the reports are not 100 percent positive.

FIRST TIME TIP:
Some sellers never leave when their home is shown. This may be due to the sellers' natural curiosity, or perhaps their agent didn't counsel them properly. If you are going back to see a home you're interested in, and the sellers have always been home, have your agent request that the sellers leave this time. This will give you the opportunity to evaluate the home without being inhibited by the sellers' presence.

THE CLOSING:
Sellers who can't leave during a showing should make themselves scarce. Sit in the garden, or hide-out in your home office, or go to the yard. Greet the buyers courteously, then disappear. Under no circumstances should you follow the buyers around your home, hovering while they look.

How long should a seller wait to hear offers?

After all the preparation, your home is finally on the market. Agents are calling to set up showings for their buyers. Your agent has scheduled a broker's open house for real estate agents. A public open house is planned for the weekend.

The day after your property hits the multiple listing, your agent calls to tell you that the first buyers who saw your home want to buy it. They have written an offer and their agent wants to present it to you as soon as possible. This good news may leave you feeling both excited and apprehensive.Of course you wanted to sell in a reasonable time. But did you ask too little for your home? What if you miss out on thousands of dollars by selling too quickly to the first buyer who comes along? What should you do?

Your first inclination might be to tell your agent you don't want to hear any offers for a week or so. This would give other agents the opportunity to show your home to other potential buyers. Maybe you'll even get multiple offers if you delay for awhile.

This strategy might work if the buyers are willing to wait. It could also backfire on you if the buyers get annoyed and withdraw their offer.

FIRST-TIME TIP:
Your timetable for offer presentations should be dictated by local custom and market conditions. When real estate is practiced against local custom, this can cause agents and their buyers to become suspicious. Negative feelings of any sort can be detrimental to a successful negotiation. You and your agent should establish a procedure for offer presentations that will be fair and equitable to all parties involved.

The most commonly-practiced custom is to listen to offers as they are written. Unless buyers and their agents are told that offers won't be heard until a certain date, the assumption will be made that the sellers will hear an offer as soon as possible.

In active real estate markets, especially if prices are rising rapidly, it may be in the seller's best interest to wait to hear offers until after the broker's open house. Or a specific date may be set to hear offers.

In some areas, offers aren't heard until after the first public open house. This procedure enables the sellers to get the highest price possible for their home. It's almost impossible to sell a home for less than market value if it's exposed to the market before it's sold. A home that's priced below market will often generate more than one offer. Multiple offers can result in a property selling for more than the asking price.

Of course, there's no guarantee that if you wait to hear offers, the offers will appear. The property must be in demand and it must be priced at or below market value to generate the excitement level that can result in multiple bids.

THE CLOSING:
If you do elect to wait a period of time before entertaining offers, make sure that your agent informs other agents that this is the plan. It's best to make your plan known when the property is first exposed to the agents--at the broker's open house. This allows agents to tell their buyers, before they write an offer, how offers will be handled. It minimizes the risk of buyers withdrawing offers because they're offended.

Please feel free to call me at anytime with any questions regarding the above, it's my job to make sure that you get the highest price in the best possible timeframe.

Aziz Habibzada
(510) 209-9827