Top 5 costly mistakes Boston downtown real estate sellers can make

Are you selling a home in the Boston downtown real estate market this summer? As your Boston downtown real estate broker team, I want you to get the best possible sales price for that home. Here are five big price-killer mistakes, to avoid.

1. Selling Boston condo for sale at the wrong time

During early summer, buyer activity is at its peak here in downtown Boston, but inventory is also high, meaning your home could be overlooked. Generally, spring is the best time to sell a Boston condo for sale, when inventory is low and eager buyers are hitting the market. Early summer is also good, but we don’t recommend listing in August, unless you can’t avoid it. Inventory peaks in August while buyer traffic goes down. Many buyers are on vacation. The hot weather slows Charles River Park condo buyers down. Therefore prices typically fall in August. (This is all specific to your price range and neighborhood, if you don’t see a lot of inventory around your particular neighborhood, August might be fine, but most neighborhoods will be over saturated with inventory with not enough buyers to go around.) If you’ve missed the spring and summer sales window but need to sell your home in 2019, we recommend listing in fall (Sept. – Nov.).

2. Selling your Boston luxury condo with your friend

It’s great – your friend finally got a job and he can sell your Boston downtown condo. While you might be tempted to sell your Boston Midtown condo with your friends or relatives, do yourself a favor and look into whether Joey (or whoever you had in mind) has a successful track record and is able to market your Charles River Park property to get the highest possible price. For instance, we pay extra to the top websites, like Zillow and Realtor.com to feature your home so it sells faster and for more. We also pay for the best marketing presentation around, professional photos, 3D modeling, whatever the property needs. We do it all for 4% commission max. and top it off with a cancel anytime policy for no charge.

3. Pricing Boston luxury condo too high

Is your Boston downtown real estate for sale worth what Zillow says it is? Or should you price your Charles River Park condo based on what your neighbor’s home sold for last year? A good real estate agent will help you figure out the best starting price based on a comprehensive market analysis. This step in the Boston condos for sale selling process is crucial: Price too low, and you’ll be losing out on the value appreciation your home has gained in the time that you’ve owned it. Price too high, and your home will languish on the market — meaning you’ll have to slash the price later on.

4. Neglecting basic Boston high rise condo stagging

We’d like to say that there’s a secret Boston downtown real estate agent trick to woo Boston high rise condo buyers, but the simple truth is that decluttering, cleaning and sprucing up your home (just a bit!) is an effective way to bring in those full-price offers. (Of course, this has to be combined with really good professional photography and possibly video and 3D.) Having too much stuff around will make the home look smaller and less appealing. Simple curb appeal boosters like maintaining landscaping can increase the perceived value of a home (ie, what buyers are willing to pay) by a significant degree. And according to the National Association of Realtors, staged homes sell 88% faster and for 20% more than those that aren’t staged. Now you don’t have to remove all your furniture and bring in new furnishings, we pay for an interior designer to consult on your home, work with what you have – so it best appeals to the current buyer pool.

5. Buying too early, or too late

Most Boston condos for sale sellers are buying a new home with the equity from the home they’ve sold. Timing this just right is tricky — move out too soon, and you might be paying two mortgages and two sets of utility bills, property taxes, etc. Then again, if the new Boston Seaport condo for sale hasn’t closed by the time your old home sells, you’re looking at paying top dollar for temporary housing. Talk to your Boston downtown real estate agent about how to time your home sale and home purchase to minimize your excess costs.