Photo courtesy of Cindy Hodges
Cindy Hodges is a local real estate agent with RealtySouth’s Fred Smith Group.
Preparing to sell your home can be a daunting and confusing process.
To lend clarity, local real estate agent Cindy Hodges, a Realtor with RealtySouth’s Fred Smith Group, answered some key questions to consider when starting the process of selling your home.
Q: How should homeowners determine the right time to sell their home?
A: This area's real estate season seems to be centered around the school calendar — so you’d want to schedule your listing around school holidays. You wouldn’t want to list it during spring break, for example — instead, you’d want to wait and list it once people return and have a couple of days to settle in.
Summer is a little slow, but spring is always a strong season. Spring is usually the best time to list a house.
Q: What factors should sellers consider when choosing a real estate agent?
A: I would recommend considering a real estate company or broker that has a strong presence in the market with a great reputation.
When it comes to specific agents, I would ask friends who they used and who they had a good experience with. I would also interview a couple for comparison purposes. You can ask them about their listing history, how many days on market their listings usually have, their sales price versus their asking price, and what strategies they recommend.
Q: What are the pros and cons of selling by owner versus using an agent?
A: I honestly cannot think of a pro for selling your house yourself. On average, houses listed by an agent sell for $100,000 more than a house sold by owner.
Agents will view it as a true business decision without emotional attachment — whereas a homeowner selling their own house, especially one they’ve lived in for years, may struggle with that objectivity.
Another reason to use an agent is liability exposure. You can be confident that all the paperwork is completed accurately, all necessary addendums are included, and every scenario has been properly addressed when you have an agent handling the sale.
Q: What advice do you give sellers about pricing their home competitively?
A: The worst thing you can do is overprice your house. It’s recommended to price it at or below true market value.
The lower you price a house, the more buyers it attracts — increasing the chances for a bidding war, which can drive the final sales price higher.
It’s important to remember that the minute the sign goes in the yard, selling becomes a business decision. You should take all emotion out of the equation.
