Video: 5 smart ways to sell your home

Transcript of: 5 smart ways to sell your home

MATT LAUER, co-host: We’re back now at 8:19. This morning on TODAY’S REAL ESTATE. five smart ways to sell your home in what is a lousy market. Newly released figures show that 2010 was the worst year for sales of previously owned homes in over a decade, but there is a silver lining. Barbara Corcoran is TODAY’s real estate contributor. Barbara. good morning.

Ms. BARBARA CORCORAN (Today Real Estate Contributor): Good morning, Matt.

LAUER: Silver lining is December was pretty good. The month — the year was bad, but it ended on a high note.

Ms. CORCORAN: No one expected December to be so good. What happened in December where we sold 12 percent more homes than any other time in the year, and that never happens in the month of December.

LAUER: Let’s talk about these tips you’ve got. You’ve got five great suggestions for people who are looking to sell their homes right now. The first one you say is time it right. Not — right now is not the time to have your home on the market.

Ms. CORCORAN: Oh no. Nothing happens in the real estate market until after Super Bowl Sunday. So you might as well sit back and relax; there are no buyers out there. But it is a great time, if you haven’t been able to sell your home, to take it off the market and then put it back on in February and in most Web sites they’ll be tricked into listing as a brand-new listing.

Trulia.com: More Than 8 in 10 Believe Housing Market Won ‘t Recover Until 2012 or Later

LAUER: All right, price your home wisely. Let’s go over this, OK? Everybody wants to try — this is the biggest investment and asset they’ll ever have.

Ms. CORCORAN: Exactly.

LAUER: They want to get the most for it. You say get there around 10, 15 percent below the competitive homes.

Ms. CORCORAN: Well, of course the competitive homes what they’re asking, not what they’re selling for.

LAUER: Right.

Ms. CORCORAN: This is no time in this market to build in wiggle room, which is a commonsense way that people approach it. You won’t get that wiggle room. You have to decide what you can possibly live with and price it right there.

LAUER: But you know what happens. If you put a price on your home and it sells instantly, you’re always going to be haunted by the fact, ‘I could have gotten more for that home.’

Ms. CORCORAN: It’s going to drive you crazy for the rest of your life. but I’m telling you it’s not as bad as wondering why your home just never even sold.

LAUER: All right. This next one is a really good one. Get an inspection of your home before you list it.

Ms. CORCORAN: You’ve got to get the skeletons out of your own closet before the buyer does. Two out of three deals that buyers walk away from, it’s because of the home inspection. They go back and renegotiate the deal. So if you get the home inspection done up front, you know what’s wrong, you have a chance to fix it and it’s not going to get in the way of the sale.

LAUER: All right, you want sellers, or potential sellers out there, to offer financial incentives up front.

Ms. CORCORAN: Yeah, and people don’t do it. What they do is they wait for the negotiations, say, ‘Oh, by the way, I’ll throw in the closing costs to sweeten the deal.’ But you’re far better off advertising that up front as no closing costs. Put all the incentives right on the front side.

LAUER: Finally, you say to wage war online. Why is the Internet such a valuable tool?

Ms. CORCORAN: Because everyone goes online to find the home, and if your doesn’t look good online, they’re just not even going to bother come to see it. So having phenomenal pictures online, if you could possibly afford hiring a local photographer who specializes.

LAUER: What does that generally cost, by the way?

Ms. CORCORAN: Usually three to $400. They turn these houses out very, very quickly. And the beauty to that is you have the curb appeal to compete with every other home out there.

LAUER: And finally, you say if you’re going to spend a little money to try to help you sell your home, spend it on the three key spaces.

Ms. CORCORAN: Of course. And the three key spaces, number one is the kitchen, surface improvements in the kitchen. Number two is the living room, and number three is the front facade of that house.

LAUER: So when they drive up, the first thing they see is appealing to the eye.

Ms. CORCORAN: Let me tell you, real estate has less to do with the head and logic and everything to do with the emotions. So if you could hook that sucker in when he’s driving up to that house, you’re going to have a better shot at a deal.

LAUER: Try not to open the door and say, ‘Good morning, sucker, how are you?’

Ms. CORCORAN: Oh no, no, no.