Aloha, friends! Are you considering selling your house in Hawaii? If so, you’ll want to watch out for the following mistakes homeowners sometimes make when selling their houses! Let’s dig in…..
Have you ever sold a house (or condo, townhouse, etc.)? If so, you might recognize some of the following all-too-common mistakes. We work with home sellers quite often who wish they would have done things differently from the get-go. Keep reading to learn more about some of the most common mistakes homeowners make when selling a house in Hawaii, and what you can do to avoid following in their footsteps.
Pricing It Incorrectly
When you need to sell a house in Hawaii, one of the most important things you can do is price it right from the very beginning. We often see homeowners and their agents listing their property (or asking via FSBO) at a price too high for the current market. Even if your home is beautifully renovated, there’s still a market value for it, and you don’t want to be going above that or you’ll watch your property sit without an offer month after month after month — all while draining expenses from your pocket like mortgage costs, insurance, taxes, etc. What happens next is that your agent needs to systematically lower the price which gives the impression that there may be something wrong with the house — don’t fall into that trap. Be realistic about your home’s market value; if you’re working with agent, demand that they show you the comps to support their suggested listing price….. especially before you sign a listing agreement with them that you can’t back out of when they don’t perform.
Not Exploring Their Selling Options
Many people believe that in order to successfully sell their house, a Hawaii real estate agent will need to be involved. However, this is not always the case. For some homeowners, selling directly to a buyer such as Oahu Home Buyers will end up saving them time and money overall. When a house needs work or needs to be sold in a limited amount of time, a direct sale will often be the best choice. Without repairs, commissions, or waiting to close, you will be able to save both time and money on the sale of your Hawaii house.
Paying Too Much To Sell
Selling a house in Hawaii will always come with some costs when hiring an agent – they do work for a living, after all. There are typically repairs (either the agent will want you to do them to help the listing or the buyer will request them during their inspection period), upgrades, professional cleaning, and staging that will need to be done before the house is even listed. These expenses are out of your pocket, without any guarantee of a return. Be careful not to spend too much money making repairs on a house you don’t want; it’s not your job to win a magazine contest – it’s to help get the house sold. However, when you sell your house directly to Oahu Home Buyers, there are not any costs either before or after the sale. This means you will able to avoid all cleaning and repair costs, in addition to agent commissions and fees. More so, we’ll even pick up your traditional closing costs as well.
Not Understanding Their Buyers
When you decide it’s time to sell your house, you need to have a good idea of who you’re selling to. A good practice is to actually visualize them walking in through your front door. Who’s buying in the area? Are they typically families? Students? Retirees? While a sale is a sale, by knowing which demographics are the most prominent in your area, you’ll be able to increase your odds of finding a buyer faster. If you own a house that needs a little work or isn’t competitive with others on the MLS, working with an investor could very well be the best way for you to sell since we won’t scoff at deferred maintenance like a typical market buyer will. Investors such as Oahu Home Buyers love buying fixer-upper houses that we can renovate and make beautiful again. We always make fair offers no matter why you are choosing to sell your house in the Hawaii area!
Not Properly Staging
When you list your house on the MLS in Hawaii, you’ll need to get it ready for potential buyers who walk in through your front door (or peruse the listing photos ahead of time). A good rule of thumb is to remove all personal items so people viewing your home don’t feel as if they’re intruding — clean slate is the name of the game. All clutter should be removed as well as clunky furniture or pieces that don’t serve a purpose or look out of place.
Many homeowners avoid staging or simply shove all their stuff in a closet and call it a day. The trouble with this is that people are going to look in your closet (yes, they will)! To properly stage a house, you may want to consider getting rid of pieces that you’ve been holding on to for too long, or storing these items off-site.
That said, you will also want to avoid showing a house that is completely empty – even light staging at minimal cost is significantly better than nothing at all. With the proper staging, you’ll be able to highlight the property’s potential without distracting from the home itself.
To avoid the costs of staging, cleaning, and storage, consider selling your Hawaii house directly to Oahu Home Buyers who can look past all the deferred maintenance and see the renovations just waiting to be done. We buy local properties as-is, without any repairs or upgrades required. You won’t even have to clean up, and you can leave any items behind that you don’t wish to take with you.
Selling your house in Hawaii is likely one of the largest financial decisions you will make. By knowing what to watch out for, what to avoid, and what to work on, you’ll be able to choose the best selling method possible for your house in Hawaii or the surrounding area.