7 Mistakes You Must Avoid When Listing Your Home

Listing with a family member, friend, or a part-time agent. Make sure you list with a seasoned expert who knows the ins and outs of the market and knows how to get your home sold with keen negotiating skills.

Overpricing your home. You want to be aggressive with your price, but you also want to make sure you’re doing so within reason and the comparable properties out there support what you’re doing. We’ve got a great market with great prices—as good as they were in 2007, which was the peak of our market—but you also need to be realistic.

Not making sure your home is ready to sell. Walk around the outside and fulfill the general maintenance items that need to be done prior to listing your house.

Not removing any clutter. Make sure you remove any pictures, there’s nothing sitting on the floor, and most of your countertops are clear. Prospective buyers should be able to feel themselves in your home instead of seeing how you live in it.

Not making sure there are no signs of pets. We all love our pets, but they can be a distraction during showings. Consider the safety of your pet(s) and anyone coming into your home, and keep in mind the showing experience as a whole for buyers.

Not having your home accessible for showings. When you’re ready to list, your home needs to be accessible for showings. Don’t mandate a 24-hour notice before any showings—just keep your home in good shape and keep any notices down to an hour or two at max. Sometimes people need to look quickly to find the right home.

Not leaving your home during showings. This is one some people struggle with. Your presence can be uncomfortable for a buyer who’s trying to see your home with their agent and trying to imagine themselves in it. Sure, you have all the information about your home and you’re probably the best person to sell it. However, buyers often feel intimidated or unable to express themselves to their agent when seeing a home with the seller present so you’d actually be doing yourself a disservice. Find a place to head out during showings and let the buyer take a look at your home in private. Any questions they have can always be answered later.