7 Ways to Control Your Emotions When It's Time to Sell
It's not always easy to sell the home in which you have spent many years, or raised your children in. There are so many memories and emotions tied up in the home that it can be difficult to make that final decision to put it on the market. Worse yet, if you can't keep your feelings in check through the selling process, they might even cost you more than you might think.If you're considering selling your home and your emotions keep boiling up, then there are several things you should do to try and separate your emotions from the act of selling your home. Here are seven tips to help you keep your feelings from getting in the way of making a deal.
1. Prepare Yourself
Don't rush to judgment when deciding whether to sell your family home. Take the time to identify why you're selling and then prepare yourself for the process. You may have a goal in mind, be it downsizing, up-sizing, retirement, moving to be closer to an adult child or elderly family member, or moving to a new city. Don't lost sight of why you're selling your home and focus on that instead of concentrating on feelings of loss.
2. Sell Only When You're Ready
Once you accept the fact that you are going to be selling your home, that is when you should finally put it on the market, and not a moment sooner. If you try to sell it before you're ready, you'll always look for reasons why not to accept an offer.
3. Price Your Home Accordingly
One of the ways emotions can cost you is in the pricing of your home. Homeowners who feel emotionally tied to their homes will want to price their homes according to their feelings and not to what the market is saying. This results in such homes being priced well above their market values, which can cause the homes to be on the market for a very long time. Instead, look at your home from a buyer's perspective and ask your agent for advice. Price the home accordingly and it will sell quicker.
4. Don't Personalize the Staging of the Home
You're proud of your family and your home so you might think it makes sense to populate your home's decor with personal items and photos. But, this won't help you sell your home any faster. Buyers need to be able to imagine themselves living in the home, and it's harder to do that when all they see is your family in the home. Stage the home using neutral decor and decorations and you'll have better success selling it.
5. Don't Attend the Open House
You might think it would be nice if you were on hand during your home's open house, but this isn't generally a good idea. When the seller is in the home during the open house, it makes the buyers less at ease, to the point that they usually won't be honest in their assessment of things. The feedback your agent gets from the open house visitors can provide you with the information you need to make the changes necessary to make your home more sellable.
6. Don't Take Visitor Comments Personally
Not every comment your agent receives about your home from visitors will be positive. It is important not to take these negative comments personally. You will become distracted and fixated on who said what and this could make it more difficult to sell your home. It can even cause you to refuse a decent offer.It is better to take an objective look at the comments and to make the changes necessary to turn them around. Should a visitor who previously said something negative return to the home later and find their concern addressed, they could wind up putting in an offer. Remember, the comments made by potential buyers are about the home and not about you.
7. There's No Place for Emotions in Negotiations
Another common place where emotions can turn up is during the negotiation process. This is when a potential buyer will be pointing out problems with the home to get the price reduced. Because it's your home they're talking about, it can be easy to take offense to their points.Rather than argue their points, concede the concerns but mention certain features and attributes of the home that help validate its selling price. Keep a calm head, and chances are strong that you'll eventually get to a place where both you and the buyer are satisfied.