Whatever the reason to sell a vacant home, the bottom line is every seller would want to ensure is that the property sells quickly for as many a top dollar as possible.

Naturally most homeowners are caught up with some critical commitments like meeting the ongoing mortgage payments, bearing the maintenance expenditure, paying the insurance and managing the other kinds of carrying costs. The need to shoulder the burden of all these expenses and commitments would mean the faster the vacant home sells, the greater the relief for you.

Therefore, learning from what the real estate experts have got to say on avoiding grave mistakes while selling your vacant home can help you gain momentum for the sale plus this enables you to save a few hundreds or thousands of dollars. Read on to know what mistakes you must avoid to sell your vacant home.

Marketing the Property as a Vacant Home

In the absence of furniture, artworks, rugs, decorations and lighting solutions, it is difficult for the buyers to establish an emotional bond with the property. A vacant house devoid of elements suggesting a living place is like a soul missing its body and, therefore, cannot appeal to the buyers in a great way.

Buyers often do not have a point of reference to visualize the property as their dream home. Aesthetics of homes suggest that vacant rooms look much smaller than they really are. Buyers cannot estimate how much furniture they can fit inside a given room.

The vacant house might not present them a layout plan on how to arrange their things, furniture and other amenities inside the home. Therefore, placing some good furniture, rugs, lighting decorations and wall art are some ways to enable the buyers to imagine living in that home.

When they are presented with an empty space, the buyers are easily prone to focus on the negative aspects of the properties including cracks running along the walls, chips of paints that have fallen off, small repair works and other shortcomings as they have got nothing else to see there.

When you present them with a welcoming home setting, they are more occupied with focusing on details like how to set up their belongings and furniture there rather than the negative aspects that will deter them from liking the home. Thus, a well-staged home can help effectively cover up the small bothering issues that might intimidate the buyers.  

Studies show that less than 10-percent of the potential buyers are actually capable of visualizing the true potentials of a home. Nine out of ten people personally visiting your home cannot imagine the possibilities that the property can present them.

Waiting to Find Out Whether the Home Can Sell Vacant

Most sellers attempting to sell vacant homes state that they would first see whether the vacant property sells and if the sale does not happen, then they shall think of staging the home. This can be a very expensive mistake that you cannot afford.

Know that the best tip for home selling is to create the best possible first impression. Every new listing invites traffic over the first few weeks. During the real estate brokers open house, the brokers of the buyers are most likely to visit your home. It is important that your property excites them at the first look.

If you wish to first experiment and not stage the home and then change your mind about staging the property, the brokers might not develop the interest to come back to view the property the second time. Such a situation shall delay the sale. Therefore, there is no point in wasting the greatest potential traffic and time you had initially after listing. Therefore, staging the home before listing it and arranging open house shall help you boost the sales significantly.

Not Distinguishing Your Listing from Those of the Competitors

Approach the vacant home selling issue from the point of view of the buyer. These days over 90-percent of the homebuyers are beginning their search online. After finding the listings, the first thing they do is view the photos related to the property.

Therefore, the pictures you post and the description you provide while listing your property must find a place within their qualifying criteria. In general, they shall be interested in checking the unique points of your house.

They will need reasons why they should visit your house. Unless there is something that draws the buyers to your home, the home cannot sell fast. Always do remember that a potential sale opportunity can be lost just with the click of a mouse.

If your property does not stand out in the listing in a way that attracts the potential buyers, then it would mean you are losing out on the home sale to your competitors. 

Deeming That Pricing is the One and Only Marketing Strategy

No doubt the price quoted in the listing is one of the top aspects alluring the buyers. But there are other marketing strategies that attract buyers especially when it comes to selling a vacant home.

Be guided by the fact that selling a vacant house is not in any way much different from marketing a consumer product in the market. Therefore, in order to be appealing to the buyer, give due consideration to the important aspects of selling including location, price, showcasing and promoting.

While you can do little about the location of the property, you can certainly work on the other aspects of marketing the vacant home. The price can be influenced by the location, the conditions and the showcasing elements of the property. The promotional aspects are meant to drive more traffic to your property listing.

Therefore, if the showcasing and promotion are accomplished in the best way possible, you can hope to eventually fix the price as you deem fit. Properties staged effectively sell 5 to 10 percent more than the properties that are not staged. Once they feel they are emotionally connected to the property, the buyers are often willing to pay more and, therefore, a comprehensive approach to marketing home always works.

Mispricing Your Property

Both overpricing and underpricing are grave mistakes when it comes to real estate selling. In fact, we can call them expensive errors that you cannot actually afford when you are embarking on a serious kind of sale deal. Never create an impression that the property is overpriced when compared to the other listed properties in the locality. Pricing must follow a thorough understanding of the present market scenario.

No enough research and take the advice of the real estate agents in fixing the right price of your home. Gain a good amount of familiarity with the comps in the locality and clearly understand what price tag is right for your home. Often underpriced properties are also most likely to given an impression that there is something wrong with the property. Therefore, be neutral and do a thorough market research taking into account the present trends. 

Not Hiring a Real Estate Professional

Homes without enough representation are most likely to remain for longer in the market and in the end, you are bound to end up selling your property for a lower price than those that used the professionals. Therefore, we can even say that trying to sell homes is a kind of madness. This is truer with regard to vacant homes selling. House selling is a highly professional task and the intervention and support of an accomplished professional really matters.

When the sale of the other properties is ably guided by the pros, your decision to sell it yourself can impact the sale significantly. Know that the commission you are likely to pay them is worth it in terms of selling the home quickly for more dollars enabling you to save a great deal in the end.

Viewing Home Staging as an Expense Rather Than an Investment

The amount you spend on staging your home can actually boost the sale. It can help you make more money. A typical home staging expenditure would range from 1 to 3 percent of the listing price of a home. On the other hand, it will result in you selling the house for 5 to 10 percent higher.

Also, since staging can help you sell the home faster, you can hope to save on the mortgage repayments as well as the other maintenance costs of the property. Never underestimate the miraculous impact that staging can create.

Not Repairing and Cleaning the Home

Know that you are going to lose a lot of money if you are not prepared to repair your home before listing it for sale. When you act ahead of time, it is less expensive to fix things. It can be an embarrassing experience to let the buyers see the faults of the property during the open house.

Also, it is most likely that the prospective buyers will offer much less or demand a credit back for the worth of the repair works that need to be accomplished before the deal closes. Experts say clutter is the culprit that eats at the equity and also kills the deals.

De-cluttering the property can create a sense of a spacious home. In fact, to clear off the kitchen countertops, overflowing closets and the dumped up shelves in the den, it does not cost you much to clear the home of all unwanted things. However, the rewards of this simple action can be highly profitable and, therefore, de-clutter the home immediately before listing.

Approaching the Negotiations from a Personal Point of View

Often sellers tend to take the negotiating too personally and get offended if the prospective buyer is nagging about the price. If you are going to take the hurt personal and respond in a naive manner letting your ego play on the surface, you are going to lose a win-win deal. Keep your ego out of the transaction and let your smartness come into play during the negotiation.

Not Disclosing Adequately

Several sellers end up losing so much money when they are afraid to disclose the setbacks in the property. You need to be upfront and frank in terms of disclosing all the issues about the property.

This will help you save money and time. If the buyers end up discovering the problems themselves, you are bound to lose money during the closing.

Not Following the Timeline Perfectly

Sales that miss the timeline even by a single day can cost you so much extra in taxes. Therefore, missing a day can mean losing dollars. You need to schedule the deal after consulting your accountant well in advance to find out whether any tax breaks can apply for long-term capital gains.

Not Considering the Extra Closing Costs

During closing, you are most likely to incur a list of fees and expenses. By overlooking this fact, most home sellers are likely to lose thousands. It is necessary to review the estimated closing costs with your real estate agent. If you overlook this step, you cannot hope to benefit from any credits or discounts on the closing day.