It’s hard enough to sell a sell my house fast when you’re the only one doing it in your neighborhood, but when you and your neighbors of 10 years are competing yourself, you will find yourself asking, “How do I sell my house fast?”
Look around your neighborhood. Do you see “for sale” signs out on the front lawn of every other house? If you don’t, then you and your neighbors are the odd ones out, and you’re lucky. Because in today’s economy, it’s not unusual to see a street lined with “for sale” signs one after the other.
Here are some tips to sell your house faster when your neighbors are selling too.
1. Propose a joint open house.
Competition need not always be antagonistic; competition could be friendly and supportive too. Of course, it’s not easy to convince competing sellers to help each other, but with tough market conditions, they might just give it a try. A combined open house happening on the same day can attract more people as they’ll have more choices to look at. It also gives buyers a sense of how peaceful, friendly, and harmonious the neighborhood is.
2. Promote your entire neighborhood.
The first tip would give buyers a glimpse of what the neighborhood is like, but you can even go the extra mile by blatantly promoting your neighborhood. These days, it’s not enough to just sell your house, you have to convince buyers that they are moving in to a good neighborhood. So go ahead and hype it up – tell them about how safe it is to walk in the middle of the night, how good the education is at the local public school, and how pleasant the neighbors are.
But why are you moving when things are so great? It’s a question that buyers will surely have. Tell them it’s because you need to be close to your parents, or that you got a job somewhere, something positive. Give them the impression that you are leaving something good behind.
3. Be open for surprise showings.
If there are several houses listed on the market, it’s entirely possible that buyers may have overlooked your house while searching online. But when they visit your neighborhood, they might see the “for sale” sign in your yard and might ask their agent to show them your property. You never know when you’re going to find the right buyer, so make yourself available for showings as much as you can. It’s understandable of course that you’d want to be notified first, but don’t make it too difficult for buyers to see your home.
4. Stage your home.
When you’re competing against so many other houses, you’ll want to stand out. One way of doing this is to stage your home. Here some tips from Julie Dana, author of “The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Staging Your Home to Sell.”
· Make sure your address number can be easily and clearly seen from the curb, otherwise buyers may end up on your neighbor’s doorstep.
· At night, turn on the lights both inside and outside the house. Draw the curtains. And add some lights outside if there isn’t enough. Some people do an evening drive-by.
· Clean up and remove all clutter. You shouldn’t have your kids’ toys lying around. Toiletries should be kept in the cabinets, and don’t post your mails all over your refrigerator’s door.
· Depersonalize. It is important to give buyers a feel of how it will be when they move in, so remove the trophies, vacation and family photos.
5. Price it right.
In the current housing slump, everything else matters so little compared to the price tag of your home. Stop thinking about how much you paid for your house, how much you still owe, or how much you think it’s worth now. The truth is, it’s only worth the value buyers would want to buy it for. Price it a bit lower than the price of a comparable house selling in your neighborhood, and you’ll be able to sell your house faster.