Here is a list of the top seven mistakes you need to avoid when selling.

If you’re planning to list your home soon, there are seven critical mistakes that you must avoid if you want to sell quickly and for top dollar:

1. Picking the wrong agent. Pick someone experienced—if you needed heart surgery, you’d probably want to pick a surgeon who’s performed a lot of surgeries, right? Unfortunately, the majority of agents don’t sell a lot of properties. The average agent only sells about five homes per year! The agent you choose should also have their thumb on the pulse of the current market in your area and have a solid marketing plan for your home.

2. Overpricing your property. Consumers these days are well educated and can find out everything they need to know online. That means they’ll know whether or not your property is overpriced. If it is, they won’t bother seeing it in person. The longer your property sits on the market, the staler it becomes, which will eventually force you to drop the price. That, in turn, will only cause your potential buyers to sit on the fence longer—if you dropped the price once, they might as well wait to see if you’ll do it again.

3. Only considering the highest-priced offer. An offer is over 10 pages long, and the price is just one of the items on it. You might need to stay in the house longer, or you might need a shorter, simpler closing date. There may be an offer that has a lower price but also meets more of your needs and carries fewer risks.

4. Not getting your home ready. That includes failing to make good repairs or do some aesthetic updates. You don’t have to remodel your whole kitchen, but taking care of minor issues can go a long way toward highlighting your property in a buyer’s eyes.

5. Not allowing showings. For example, if you go live on the market on a Thursday and decline showings on Saturday, you’ve made a mistake. Saturday is when buyers are off from work and have time to view properties with their agents. If they viewed 10 houses and yours wasn’t one of them, they’ll choose one of the homes they were able to see.

6. Getting too emotional. Always treat your home sale as a business transaction, and keep a level head.

7. Not decluttering. You’re selling the home, so you might as well start packing everything up in boxes and or storing it somewhere. This way, your buyers will focus on the house itself when viewing it online or in person without being distracted by all the stuff inside the house.

If you have more questions about how to sell your home quickly and for top dollar, or if you’re thinking of buying a home soon, don’t hesitate to reach out to me. I’m happy to help.