Selling a home requires a lot of you. Keeping your home clean while living in it, frequent or last-minute showings, and not having a perfect timeline insight can all lead to feelings of stress and even negativity.
It might have been love at first sight years ago, but the time has come when you realize you need to break up with your current home and move on to something better. How do you make a clean break and focus your time and energy on your new love — the house of your dreams? Very often people list their home for sale expecting a quick sale at the asking price, thinking buyers will immediately fall in love with it because they love it so much. But the reality is usually very different. Buyers see all the flaws, the price keeps getting negotiated down, and/or the house sits on the market unsold far longer than the seller expected. Then disappointment and all those negative feelings set in. With some preparation, though, you can stay positive when selling your house in Seattle even if it takes a little longer than you’d like.
Fall Out of Love
Falling out of love with your current home? Selling a house can be an overwhelming process. The reality: not everyone will love your home as much as you do. So the first step you can take to stay positive when selling your house is to fall out of love with it – or at least try to view it with a critical, realistic eye. Otherwise, you’re likely headed for disappointment.
A good move toward this end is to remove all your personal items to help you transition mentally from owner to seller. The idea is to achieve some distance from your home so that it becomes a house you’re selling. If your attachment to it remains too strong, it could cloud your judgment during negotiations or at other critical points.
Get Involved
One of the most overwhelming parts of selling a home is the lack of control you have over the process. You don’t get a say in who decides to come by for a showing or when an offer gets made. But what you do have control over is how much effort you put into optimizing your home for a quick sale. One of the best ways not to stay positive when selling your house in Shoreline, WA is just to sit back, let your agent do everything, and wait for buyers to come flocking and waving money. Yes, your agent is a knowledgeable professional, but you have a part to play as well. Besides, staying actively engaged, just doing something, always helps in maintaining a positive attitude.
Be Reasonable on Price
Stay positive throughout the home selling process by keeping your eye on the prize. You put your home on the market for a reason, and every showing, offer, and back and forth with a buyer’s agent is getting you one step closer to that goal. This is related to our first suggestion to help you stay positive when selling your house in Shoreline, WA (falling out of love with your house). You may think your home is worth every bit of your asking price and that the price is worth holding out for, but a lot of buyers won’t see it that way. So you have to do some research and be reasonable.
In reality, your house is worth only what buyers are willing to pay for it. And to get a good idea of what that is, you’ll need to look at similar homes in the area that have sold recently. A little research here will keep you from pricing unreasonably high and so causing your house to sit unsold for months and months.
Strive for the “Homey” Feel
Once you’ve decided to sell, you’ll need to emotionally prepare for the selling process. Putting your house on the market opens it up to scrutiny. Buyers and realtors will provide feedback after showings. One of the best ways to stay positive when selling your house in Seattle is simply to rest in the knowledge that you’ve done everything right. When you have, a sale fairly soon is almost inevitable. But you do have to make sure you give your house a”homey” feel so buyers can envision it as their own home.
A good way to proceed is to visit some of your local competing open houses and see what they are doing right. In general, though, you need to make sure the curb appeal is up to snuff, that the kitchen is cheery and inviting, and that you’ve removed everything that personalizes the living room. The idea is to create an emotional response in buyers that will translate into an offer.
It’s easy to fall into the trap of the common “delusions” when you’re trying to sell a home. But most of these delusions can be dispelled, and you can stay positive when selling your house in Shoreline WA, with some mental and physical preparation. Of course, the best way to stay positive is to know you’re in good professional hands.
Selling a house isn’t known for being a stress-free experience, but millions of people have done it before you and millions of people will do it after you. Take it for what it is: a few days, weeks, or months of disruption, followed by relief. You’ll make it through, and when you do, you’ll see that it was all worth it.
