Selling Your Calgary House? Avoid These Costly Mistakes!

When you're selling your Calgary house you may end up hearing a lot of different advice. Friends and neighbours are going to tell you all about their real estate escapades and give you some "helpful" advice. Sometimes these words of knowledge can conflict with the recommendations that your real estate agent is providing. When push comes to shove, however, your agent knows what's happening in the real estate market right now - especially in your part of town. When you hire a real estate agent you are taking him on to help you sell your house using his knowledge.

Below you'll find some of the advice that friends or family may be giving you about your home sale that you need to avoid. They can end up being costly mistakes and some of them can actually slow down the sale of your property.

Price the home high

There used to be a time when you could price your home high just to see what would happen. If buyers didn't flock to the home you could then lower the price. If Aunt Lucy is telling you that she sold her house this way 30 years ago and ended up making extra money on it, this doesn't mean that it's the right thing for you to do now.

The real estate game has changed over the years and you can't afford to list your house too high since it may end up sitting on the listings too long. This makes buyers wonder what may be wrong with the house and avoid looking at it altogether. Your real estate agent will give you a realistic price tag for your home and you shouldn't go much above this suggestion.

Make renovations

If you upgrade your kitchen for $25,000 that doesn't mean that you will get this money back when you put your house up for sale. A lot of people may tell you that you need to make costly renovations to your home in order to sell it. In most cases this simply isn't true. Usually an old-fashioned coat of paint is all that's needed to freshen up a dull kitchen to make it look shiny again.

You don't need to make repairs

You may have some people tell you that you don't need to worry about making small repairs in your home since the new owners can take care of it. There are some repairs that may need to be done, however, in order to see a faster sale. A hole in the wall, for example, should be handled before any showings occur.

Ask for notice before showings

If you've been told that you should ask for notice before you accept any showings, ignore the advice. You should have your home ready to sell at a moment's notice. If a couple is driving around with a real estate agent and ask to see your home, you should be ready to show it. If not, they will just go on to look at other homes and you may end up losing a sale.

Your agent is going to be giving you the best advice possible and it will reflect current market conditions. A lot of advise that you're going to receive from other people may have worked for them in their situation, but that doesn't mean that it's right for you. It's always best to consult with your real estate agent first before taking anyone else's advice seriously.