7 Sins To Avoid When Selling Your Home

It has been an extreme seller’s market in Florida the last couple of years, low rates, supply and
demand, and bidding wars pushed property prices to sky high. But, change is coming.
Rising rates, inflation, and consumers worried about a recession are causing the market to cool
down and also seeing many buyers taking a break. That has caused inventory to start to rise,
and homes spending a touch more time on the market, even here in Central Florida. When the
market was on fire home sellers believed they can sell for practically any price and in any
condition, and many times they could, but maybe not so much anymore. Those lofty
expectations are overblown, and many of the habits they’ve become accustomed to in a
hot seller’s market could be downright deadly for a home sale today.
Don’t fall into the trap of sabotaging your own sale by knowing and avoiding these 7 sins of
selling:

1. Greed – A home’s value is what a buyer is willing to pay for it, and most times that
is derived from the sold prices of comparable homes, your home is not “one in a
million”.
2. Lazy – You need to make a little effort to help the property show well. Clean, put
away clothes, make sure light bulbs work, etc.
3. Envy – Just because the home down the street sold for “X” amount, does need
mean yours will. You need to take into account timing, condition, size, location,
and other factors. It is extremely difficult to undersell a properly priced home in
our market, but you can definitely overprice your home and have it become a
“stale” listing and then eventually bring less than even what it probably
should have if priced correctly from the start.
4. Pride – Many sellers may think their home is absolutely perfect, but it may not
be for everyone. Listen to the Realtor that may offer some home prepping
advice, they may know a little more about what buyers may like than you do.
5. Gluttony – Many times the best offer on a listing is one of the first, but even
when some sellers receive 5, 10, or even 15 offers, they sometimes want to wait
and see if they get more and higher. Many times by the time the seller realizes
most of the offers were indeed already at the top of what the market was willing
to pay, many of those buyers may have moved on already and the seller very
well, have could have missed out on the best offer on the table.
6. Wrath – Emotions can be a big player when selling a home, and anger does not
do anyone good. Keep your emotions in check and do not get angry and dismiss

an offer because of a simple concession request such as closing cost
contributions, it still may end up being your best offer.
7. Lust – Try not to fall in love with another home before you actually sell your
own. We see this many times, and it usually ends up with a seller leaving money
on the table. I always recommend we get a seller’s current home on the market
and under contract before we even start to view any homes in person.