When you sell your home, you pay the same amount of commission regardless of the listing agent you choose. It's important to find the best listing agent possible because your agent can negotiate a higher sales price, smooth over appraisal and inspection issues, reduce your liability, and make the entire process much smoother for you. So if you have the choice between an agent who's fresh out of real estate school or an agent with a proven track record, it should be a no brainer as to which one you should hire. With 14 years of experience selling homes in Charleston, I've put together a list of the most important questions to ask and also the answers I would look for if I were in your shoes.
Selling a Home in Charleston, SC
These blogs focus on selling real estate. You can read about how to market your home, how to get your home ready for showings, and which home improvements pay off in the end.
Found 23 blog entries about Selling a Home in Charleston, SC.
6 Ways to Get Your Home Show Ready
So you've found the perfect listing agent to sell your home, decided on list price, and signed your paperwork. Now what? Many sellers think their work is mostly done at this point. However, it's crucial to get your home show ready before the photos are taken for your listing (and certainly before your first showing)!
After showing well over a thousand homes to buyers in the Charleston South Carolina real estate market, we've gotten pretty good at gauging buyer feedback and predicting what are both the selling points and the turn offs for a listing since we hear some of the same comments again and again. These tend to be the most common problem areas for listings:
- Curb appeal matters: You'd be amazed at how many times I've pulled up to a
What to Look For in a Listing Agent
Even in the strong sellers' market we're experiencing right now, some listings sit on the market for far too long and create a stigma that leaves buyers asking "Why hasn't this home sold?" or "What's wrong with this house?" Or, on the other end of the spectrum, some hot new listings sell within a day or two leaving the sellers wondering whether they could have gotten more money. A good real estate agent can help prevent both of these scenarios.
How to Choose the Right Listing Agent
When choosing a Charleston SC listing agent, here are some hallmarks to look for to ensure you're hiring the right person. Your listing agent should:
- Offer professional photographs and a virtual tour. Simply put, better photographs help create more showings.
5 Deal Killers that Sellers Should Avoid
Some home features are subjective and could very well appeal to the right buyer. Worse case, they pose a problem with an easy solution. For example, a lime green accent wall will turn off most buyers but can be easily remedied with a bucket of paint. However, there are 5 deal killers I’ve found in the literally thousands of showings I’ve done that consistently put a halt in the showing. And it’s a shame because sometimes buyers really love the home until they discover the deal killer.
If you’re a seller, and you realize that one of these applies to you, don’t worry. We’ve also included solutions below to keep your showings from getting derailed:
Above Ground Pools and Hot Tubs Create Hassel
Although above ground pools and hot tubs can be fun,
…How to Make Your Home Feel Bigger When Selling
After showing literally thousands of homes, it's easy to spot: sellers who have outgrown their home. Often, it was the first home they had ever bought. It was all they could afford at the time, and its 1200 square feet was enough.
Several years later (with perhaps a pet, spouse, or kid added to the household), they're ready to sell their home and move up to a larger house. However, it's obvious to real estate agents and even some home buyers that this house might not be big enough. Whether you're selling a home with 600 or 2,000 square feet, you want the space to feel as big as possible. Here are some tips we've found to help maximize every room in your house!
Remove as Much Stuff from Each Room as Possible
Unless you're a complete
…$100 Home Projects That Add the Most Value
Homeowners often get emotionally and financially overwhelmed when they take on home improvement projects. Replacing flooring, cabinets, and kitchen appliances can cost thousands of dollars, and some sellers never recoup all of the money they spent when it comes time to sell their house. Whether you’re considering selling your home or simply want to get a good return on your investment, here are 7 inexpensive home projects that will add value to your home. And based on our 14 plus years in real estate, these suggestions should pay for themselves several times over!
Painting your front door, trim, and porch railings
Estimated cost: $50 should cover 2 cans of paint and brushes.
First impressions count – whether it’s potential buyers or guests.
…Why Homes Don’t Sell in a Hot Market
In our hot sellers’ market, homeowners assume that a listing will sell quickly regardless of the condition or price or location. This overconfidence can turn into disappointment when a month or two passes with no offers to purchase. Although we’re seeing one of the strongest selling markets in the history of our MLS, it’s important for sellers and their agents to recognize when it’s time to make changes before a listing becomes so stagnant and stigmatized that buyers question what’s wrong with the property. Buyers know that the best listings sell the fastest in a hot market, so you don’t want to wait too late to act. These are the most common reasons that homes don’t sell.
Bad Listing Photos
We’ve dedicated an entire blog to talk about why
…3 Things Every Seller Should Do Before Listing a Home
Many of the sellers we work with have a very tight budget for selling their home. They’re usually not willing to put much money into getting their home ready to list, especially before the listing even hits the market. When sellers ask, “What do I need to do to my home before we list it?” these are the least expensive (and most important) tasks they need to accomplish!
1: Cleaning: The Number One Free Commodity that Every Seller Should Use
If you’re looking for the best return on your investment, you can either clean your home (for free) or hire a good professional cleaner (for about $150) to do it for you. In the past year, we’ve seen a huge increase in sellers happy to pay a professional to clean because they know the maid will do a more
…Selling a Home with Solar Panels
Many sellers don’t realize when they install solar panels the repercussions of trying to sell a home with existing solar. If owners pay for them outright, it’s usually not a problem. In these cases, the owners probably won’t be able to recoup all of the expenses when they go to sell the home because most buyers would rather put that money into kitchen or bathroom upgrades. From a real estate stand point, solar panels should be viewed not as an investment but as a way to save money on utility bills and lighten your carbon foot print.
The problem with solar panels here in our Charleston SC real estate market comes from the fact that most owners finance the panels instead of paying for them outright. Most buyers are not going to want to continue
…Charleston Sellers: Are Flat Fee Real Estate Agents a Good Deal?
Recently, I’ve noticed a lot of flat fee listings in our local MLS. These listings are easy to spot because usually the photos are dark or sideways, the report is only partially filled out, or the comments section doesn’t really highlight the property well. I usually know it’s a flat fee listing before I even see that it’s labeled as Limited Service (that’s our MLS designation for what most sellers refer to as flat fee listing agents).
In strong sellers’ markets like our Charleston real estate market, we often see sellers trying to save money because they know how quickly homes are selling. We saw this trend back in the 2005 market where it seemed like listing agents only had to put a sign in a yard in order to sell a listing.
The point of this
…