How I Sold My Home and the Mistakes I Made

Selling a home is tough, and don't let anyone tell you otherwise. Even in a buyers market I have struggled to sell my home and get the asking price I wanted.

Looking back at the whole process there are so many errors I have made and so many things I wish I would have done differently. For example, I listed my home for sale in winter. Listing my home at the bleakest time of the year was never a good option as people were not really interested in looking at houses; they were more interested in looking at Christmas gifts. So next time I sell my house, I will do so in spring or summer. I have learned the hard way that this is when most houses are brought and sold.

In addition to listing my house at the wrong time of year, I also chose the wrong agent. I did not take enough time to research agents in my area. I just went with the first agent I saw, which was a major mistake. The agent I used had no interest in my house, in me, or in the area I lived, so they did nothing more than list my property details on their website and in their shop, which is just not enough.

All in all, my mistakes mixed together with a very tough market made my house very difficult to sell. In the end I had to take an offer that was 10 percent lower than the asking price, simply because I needed the sale. The trouble is that the housing market at the moment is particularly difficult to sell homes in; this is because the supply far outweighs the demand, meaning that house buyers have so many houses to choose from that competition is tough.

The problems I had selling my house were the result of the recession, low demand and me not taking enough interest in the selling of my home. By interest I mean, I did not find out what other houses in the area were going for and I didn't find out which agents best performed in my area. My ignorance cost me money, wasted my energy, and left me with lots of stress and hassle.

To avoid the mistakes I made you have to go into the market with your eyes wide open. You have to know what you are selling, and what you can realistically get for it. In hindsight, the more you research agents, selling fees, selling prices and market values, the more successful your home sale will be.

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