When selling your home, one often comes across a lot of advice from peers, family, agents or online sources. But most of these ‘truths’ are nothing more than ‘myths’. Some of the home selling myths seem to be so taken for granted that one doesn’t stop to verify the correctness of the information.

Here is a list of the top 5 home selling myths that have been debunked:

Myth 1: The price YOU set is right
Although the home seller will be the one making the final decision on the price of the home, the actual selling price will be subject to market conditions, the property’s location and it’s size. The emotional investment the home seller may have in the property may make him the least suitable for setting the price. It is but obvious that any home seller would hope to get more money of the sale than it’s worth.

So how to set the right price? In order to arrive at the right price, while keeping the external elements in mind, the variation between the initial asking price and final selling price should not be too much.

Myth 2: Overpricing will give an extra cushion during negotiations
The very definition of negotiation is a discussion aimed at a mutual agreement by the two parties present. Overpricing a property leads to a serious struggle to get a (serious) buyer to the negotiation table.

This home selling myth will repel any serious buyers as the home buyer always do their research before deciding on a property. An overpriced home, versus what else is for sale, will never get short-listed by the home buyer as it will be ignored completely.

Applying this strategy is completely counter-productive as the home seller would end up lowering the price of the property.

Overpricing the property does way more harm than good.

Myth 3: The longer the wait, the higher the price
The common misconception here is that if a property is on the market for a long time, it has been well marketed.

Thoughts like “If I am getting offers within a few days of listing the house, imagine what I can get in a month’s time.” OR “We are not in a hurry to sell. We can wait for a better offer” are not uncommon among home sellers who believe in this myth.

The fact is that the longer a home sits on the market, the more likely lower offers will come in. Not to mention undesirable reactions like ‘why is this still on the market after such a long time?’ AND ‘There must be something wrong with it.’

Time is NOT a home seller’s friend.

Myth 4: A quick offer! Have I priced the property too low?
A quick offer may lead to doubts on the price of the property in the home seller’s mind. But there is a very good explanation for the quick response.

Serious buyers have been looking for the right property on the market since the past few weeks or months. They are most likely to have checked out almost all properties in the area but haven’t found the right match. That is until your property went up for sale with the correct price.

Myth 5: A good house will always sell itself.
It takes much more to sell a house than putting up the ‘For Sale’ sign. A good house, no matter how gorgeous, cannot speak for itself when an interested buyer has to make his decision. While satisfying the buyer’s parameters, the home has to be sold keeping the best interest of the home seller in mind.

A seller is responsible for seeing to the property having everything in place to make it saleable. This will cover documentation to well-managed property visits and everything in between. Using the emotional route by describing the potential lifestyle, great views and so on will definitely assist in the potential buyer in arriving at a positive decision for himself.

In Conclusion.
A home seller cannot afford NOT doing his homework. Knowing the facts will help in avoiding pitfalls caused by the myths and help him to arrive at a successful home sale.

The myths of home selling must make way for the facts.