10 New Year's Resolutions for Home Sellers

Let's face it, 2008 has been less than a stellar year for the real estate market. But on the bright side, employed homebuyers with good credit will find 2009 as an excellent time to buy. For home sellers, this could also mean more competition from neighboring properties for sale and contentious pricing battles. But you don't have to get left on the curb this year when it comes to selling your home.

Here are 10 helpful New Year's resolutions for home sellers:

1. Step into the buyer's shoes. Go outside and see what prospective buyers see when they drive up to your home. Is the lawn manicured? Is the home nicely painted (no weird colors please)? Is the roof clean and are all the garbage and toys out of sight? If your answer is no to any of these questions, then it looks like it's time to get busy.

2. Create the 'wow' factor. When a buyer walks into your home, you want to evoke positive emotions. From neutral aromatic smells to clean, freshly painted rooms, a buyer should be able to imagine the property to be their home. If you're having trouble organizing your personal belongings, hire a professional stager to get your home ready. This is usually money well invested and will help give the home a well polished look and feel.

3. Know your competition. Your home better be a superior property if you're looking to get a superior asking price. You may need to spend a day checking out your competition. Even with a well staged home, your competition may have some additional amenities, so it's important that you price your home correctly.

4. Create incentives. With the economy in a tailspin, and more people searching for bargain deals with their big-ticket purchases, you can help increase interest in your home with some tempting incentives. Some creative incentives you might want to offer with the sale of your home can include:

• Buy-down interest rates
• Offer six months home owners dues
• Pay the property tax for a year
• Offer moving services
• Provide a home warranty
• Offer six months of prepaid maid service

It's a competitive market and the smallest incentive can be just what the buyer needs to ink the deal.

5. Take GREAT photos. With 87 percent of people starting their home search online, a picture is worth a 1,000 words. From Web ads to virtual tours, choosing the best images of your home to display will help generate more interest and hopefully lure in a serious buyer. Avoid showcasing photos of rooms that are cluttered or unkempt yard space. Focus on the home's positives and the more pictures the merrier.

6. OPEN HOUSES are a must. While winter weather usually deters people from frequenting open houses, you can expect more buyers to bloom in the spring and they will be shopping hard for the best deals in their market. Make it easy to find the home and irresistible to walk through. Having open houses will also give you a chance to market your home with all those attractive incentives you'll be offering.

7. Offer a selling agent bonus. I'm a fan of these bonuses. The best and busiest agents will go where there is a chance to profit more on the sale. You can attract the best agents by dangling the bonus commission carrot.

8. Don't mislead your buyers. Should you have a dog, call it a dog. With distressed and bank owned properties, sometimes it's hard to find any money to improve the property before placing it on the market. If you're trying to sell a fixer-upper, then pursue an investor or buyer with all the right words in your description of the property. Use descriptions such as 'fixer,' 'handyman special' or 'sweat equity awaits.' But whatever you do, don't create misleading marketing material. Being honest is always good business practice.

9. Get Internet exposure for your listing. Enhance your listing on the right Web sites to give it premiere placement. Have the seller share the cost for the added exposure. Find online sites that will provide you with information requests on your property. This can be used to track your leads.

10. Go out and grab coffee when buyers are viewing your home. I see more and more sellers hanging around while their homes are being shown. This can be very intimidating to a buyer. When showing a property, you want the buyer to feel comfortable looking around. They need to open drawers, cabinets and closets, and all the little spaces that they would never touch with the seller at home. An agent's ability to sell the property depends on the buyer becoming attached to the home. This can only happen if the buyer feels comfortable and has plenty of time to imagine living in the new space.

Duane Hopper is a Washington-based real estate agent and owner of CENTURY 21 Real Estate Center.

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