7 Tips For Selling Your Condo . . . Fast
The condo market has collapsed.
Since mid-2006, the condo sales frenzy in big cities like Washington, D.C., Las Vegas, Miami and Boston has rapidly run out of steam. Sales are stuck in neutral, a tsunami of new construction has drowned the market in unsold inventory, and prices have either flattened or begun to fall.
And while there are signs that the worst of the housing slump may be improving, as construction slows and interest rates remain affordable, there seems to be no relief on the horizon for condo markets.
Across the country condominium sales have seen worse drops than single-family properties: 13.6 percent from November 2005 to the same month in 2006, while free-standing homes fell 10.7 percent in the same period. Inventories are up 38.1 percent for condos but only 29.6 percent for individual homes, according to the National Association of Realtors. The national median price - half the condos sold for more and half for less - has seen no improvement in the last year: it was at $224,600 in November, unchanged from November 2005.
The Chicago condo market-just like the national real estate market in general-is overflowing with unsold inventory. The most recent data available shows that there are well over 90,000 Chicago homes and condos available for sale.
With conditions like this working against you, you’ll have to work smart and hard to beat your competition when marketing your Chicago condo. Here are the 7 best strategies we’ve found that you can use to attract qualified buyers:
1) Go and see the competition firsthand. Also, get a Realtor’s help-or do some internet research-to find condos for sale in your neighborhood. Know what prices other people are asking. There are many ways to check out condo values, and buyers know them all. In today’s market, if you overprice your Chicago condo, it absolutely will not sell.
2) Pay for an appraisal of your Chicago condo that sets it at the highest possible value, and use this appraisal in your advertising. Check around for similar condos in your area, and ask for 5% less than all your competitors.
3) Build a website for your condo (or have one of your nieces or nephews do it). It’s cheap and fairly easy to do. You need to have material on the internet-that’s where more and more buyers are going to search for condos. Feature a lot of pictures of you and your family enjoying the place, and include as much detail as you can about your Chicago condo. It’s the details that sell.
4) Make brochures with a “look” similar to your website’s and reference your website in them. Hand the brochures out whenever you can.
5) Offer to pay ALL your buyer’s closing costs. Most buyers are able to afford a mortgage payment, but many have problems coming up with large amounts of cash up front. The savings you offer could be a huge help to potential buyers.
6) Send postcards to everyone in your building letting them know your Chicago condo is for sale. If the people who get your postcards have friends or family members looking for a condo, they’ll pass the word along. And a lot of people like to live in a building where they know someone. Check your Yellow Pages under “Advertising-Direct Mail” to find a company that will handle this for you.
7) Promise your selling Realtor a closing bonus-make it $2,000 or more. Realtors only get paid when a deal closes, and the majority of Realtors are part-timers who only close on 1 to 3 homes a year. Make up flyers to advertise your offer and send them to all the real-estate offices near you. When Realtors see your bonus offer, they’ll work hard to sell your condo.
Use these simple-but powerful-strategies to get your Chicago condo noticed by qualified buyers . . . to set an asking price that they can’t turn down . . . and close the deal. You’ll be sitting back counting your money while your competitors’ condos sit for months on the MLS.
John T. Ormond
http://www.articlesbase.com/real-estate-articles/7-tips-for-selling-your-condo–fast-95122.html
October 17th, 2009 at 10:28 am
Any tips on how to sell a condo fast?
October 17th, 2009 at 3:30 pm
Get a good Realtor, and price it aggressively. You will also benefit in making sure it shows well. Offer an incentive to your agent if he sells it within a certain time period, IE a bonus commission if he flips it within say thirty days. Good Luck
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October 17th, 2009 at 3:32 pm
Have a professional Realtor stage it and have it priced to sell! Make it the lowest priced home in the complex!
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October 17th, 2009 at 3:34 pm
1. Use an agent who specializes in those types of properties.
2. Market aggressively to those who might be interested in condo living…first time buyers, singles, or older people who aren’t interested in traditional home maintenance.
3. Offer seller financing if traditional doesn’t seem to be moving your place.
4. Move as much of "you" from the space as possible so people envision themselves living in the property.
5. Maximize any advantages attached with the property. ie. quiet location, on site facilities, close to transportation or event locations.
6. Don’t overlook one market in hopes of appealing to another. Create ads in different languages and post them prominently in those communities.
7. Have agent as a set of prequalification questions before wasting your time with tire kickers. You want interested buyers ready to take over your place.
8. Offer incentives that others might over look…allowances for decorating can cover everything from carpet to paint. Just deduct this from the sales price or give it in the form of a credit towards the buyer’s closing costs.
9. Offer an incentive of full price for quick close or include furnishings.
10. Offer property auction style to generate buyers. May take the expertise of an agent used to doing sales in this manner.
11. Clean, defunk, and brighten. Enter your door as a stranger and look objectively at what needs to be changed. Ripped wall paper, holes in walls, torn window coverings, missing screens, toilets/faucets/fixtures inoperable, huge missing pieces of tile, or even garish paint. Things we love may not be what a buyer loves.
12. Make sure if you have a storage area, garage, or similar space that it’s relatively clean or orderly as well. It should look as large as possible as well.
13. Remove as much stuff as possible from closets, shelves, pantry, and medicine cabinets.
14. Make sure there are enough lights in the place. Sometimes buyers want to see the potential home in the light of day and dark of the evening to judge the noise, neighbors, and neighborhoods.
15. Remove pets and pet stuff. People may have allergies or just not like a particular kind of pet.
16. Use a Mr. Clean eraser sponge or a similar brand. You may not need to paint just to clean the walls. These work great or sometimes a little bleach wipe down or baking soda rub cleans spots.
17. Clean windows and mirrors. If all the cleaning seems like too much work, budget for a cleaning service with a full crew. You might only need touch ups to the bath and sink surfaces afterward.
18. Don’t pop in at the visit. Buyers may begin to feel funny about "looking through" your stuff even if you aren’t talking to them. Conversely, you might be tempted to fill them in with your opinion on what needs to be changed or what you’ve been meaning to do.
19. Prepare 3 offers in advance to have ready when it’s open house day. Think about who might be attending.
20. List in community publications not just the major paper.
21. Use word of mouth just like getting a job or service recommendation. You want to generate as many offers as possible. If one isn’t working don’t be afraid to move to the next one.
Hope at least a few of these help
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