It’s easy, right? Selling your home in Vermont in a seller’s market? I mean, that’s why they call it a seller’s market?!
Sell Your Home In Vermont For The Best Price, Best Terms, and Highest Certainty of Closing
Well, it’s one thing to sell it, and it’s another thing to sell it for the best price, with the best terms, the highest certainty that the sale will actually close, and with the least stress.
So, for the rest of this article, when you see “sell your house in a seller’s market”, remember to add in your head “at the best price, with the best terms, with the highest certainty that the sale will actually sell, and with the least stress.”
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Price it right.
Honestly, this has been a challenge sometimes in this fast-changing market. It’s really important to price correctly, based on data. Yes, facts are our friends. Look really carefully at what has sold, and make sure that really reliable comparable sales are used. Proper, thoughtful, unbiased adjustments need to be made.
If you price your house right, you’re in a position to get lots of showings, and multiple offers. As a seller, it’s WAY better to get two offers than one.
Most buyers (even cash buyers) are using some version of an appraisal contingency. So, even if you get that magical out of state buyer who has nothing but cash for their Vermont dream home, they’re still probably going to have an appraisal. So that crazy high price…isn’t going to happen. Because appraisers use data. Facts are their friends too. We really should have the same friends.
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Don’t slack off.
Get your house in tip top condition. Or at least, the best condition it’s going to be in. Your goal is to completely overwhelm buyers, buyer agents, inspectors, and appraisers. And the half-renovated bathroom isn’t going to overwhelm anyone. Just finish it.
Along those same lines, tackle the punch list that your Realtor gives you. Why do you care about a stupid GFCI outlet in the kitchen or an outdated smoke detector? It’s not because we, as Realtors, get off on that stuff. It’s because lenders and appraisers and the state care. Pony up a few hundred dollars and knock off all the loose ends, and all the details. That makes for much smoother sailing. Do you really want to be negotiating a week before closing about who’s going to put in a new outlet? Really? You should be packing and moving. (achem…less stress).
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Negotiate like a pro to sell your home in Vermont.
High prices are good for sellers. But there’s more to selling a house than price. This isn’t toothpaste or hummus where you maybe mostly care about the price. Dates, contingencies, nuances with contingencies, deposits, etc. There’s much more that goes into negotiations and contracts now than just a few years ago. We recently had three offers on a listing, and all three had a different appraisal contingency. The differences could have resulted in thousands of dollars. There’s very rarely one offer that just blows the others away. There’s give and take, but if you’re thoughtful, you’ll get the offer that’s the best for you.
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Clean breaks.
When you move out, you’ve got to move all your stuff out, and clean the house. If you don’t…you may be setting yourself up a delay in closing (stress!), having some of your funds withheld (stress!), or having to coordinate movers and cleaners at the last minute (stress!). So, make a clean break. Get it emptied and cleaned. It’s much less stressful on you, and it lets you cleanly say goodbye.
Plus, as urgency and stress increases, things cost more to fix. Hiring a cleaner for three weeks out might cost $30 an hour. Calling someone the day of a closing and asking them to rearrange their schedule opens you up nicely for the “premium” rate.
There you go. Four things you can do to sell your house (did you say the rest? In your head at least?) in a sellers market.