4 tips to sell your house in a down market

Here is how you can do it!

The ‘market is down' is one stage that keeps coming back in the real estate market time and again. This is the same period where the buyers and sellers unite in their losses that follow when sellers refuse to put their house in the market because of the low demand leaving the homebuyers not much to choose from.

What practically should be the buyers market now becomes nobody's market.

It is time to stand up and sell that house of yours even when the market is down.

This is how you can change your sitting-on-my-hands position into a sweet deal from the property you own.

Here is how you can do it:

Undercut the housing market

It is the thing, which the sellers will not do or, at least, will do when nothing else works and also is something that the agents will disapprove of. But you need to be realistic.

While the heart says that if you undercut the market, you might indirectly make the neighbourhood lower their home prices too.

But we need to see the facts: the prices when the market was flourishing are definitely not the same as today's prices. Be practical and list your home 10 to 20 per cent cheaper than the others on the market. This will get you a positive and easily convertible attention from the buyers.

Throw a bone

Whether you like it or not, there is serious competition in the market especially when it is about selling a house. In truth, at any given time, there are millions of houses for sale throughout the world!

Now to make your house stick out from the rest you need to make some extraordinary efforts. These add-ons need not cost you a lot; you only need to push a buyer to get interested in your house over any other.

For example:

• Compensate the prospect for any price that they might have to pay to get a mortgage. You can achieve this by lowering the list price of your house.
• The proposal to pay the attorney's fees that the prospect might incur in the sale dealings.
• Be flexible in regard to buyer's requirements. Example, if the prospect asks for the window to be changed or some room to be painted, think about satisfying the request.

Note:

It is these small things, which will help in finishing the deal when the market is down. Really down!

Be aware of the buyer moving on to the next ideal house in case you are not compliant especially in this type of market.

Raise the bar for your house

In a fallen or a buyer's market, the responsibility to make the house as gorgeous as imaginable and to help it be conspicuous from the lot is directly on the seller. This is why a number of sellers appoint ‘home stagers' or decorators to help in staging their home right and sell it faster.

While it is highly recommended, one does not need to appoint a stager by the book, you can always do portions of what stagers do on your own! The usual recommendations comprising of rearranging furniture, removing muddle from the room, adding or reducing pieces to get that perfect level of appealing decor.

Draft a marketing plan

Devise a promotion plan for your house; in a down market it becomes even more crucial to advertise your home to as extensive an audience as feasible. Be ready to put it in leading print publications and online on as many property portals as possible.

For example:

In case you are looking for buyers for your expensive house, advertise it in some niche publications, which targets lawyers, doctors, or some other well-earning professionals.

In case you are putting your single-storey house in the market, try and promote it in spaces focusing on senior citizens who appreciate the absence of stairs. The aim here is to devise a marketing plan that collates your house and the people who would live in it, next.

In a market that is at an all-time low, the house sellers should be flexible in regard to both contingencies and price. Meanwhile, they should be financially and mentally ready to count on brokers or agents to help them better market their house.

While the sellers should be prepared with employing an agent, the aforementioned tips, will make it possible for them to sell their house profitably on their own, even when the real estate market is faltered.

Illustration: Dominic Xavier/Rediff.com