If you still believe, “location, location, location” you are lying, lying, lying to yourself. Pay attention to these truths about real estate:

Your first offer is your best offer. – Hard to swallow when the first offer is a “low ball”. However, more times than not it does turn out to be your best. Although low, it should not be ignored. My advice to Cincinnati home sellers: when you receive a low offer, take 30 seconds to be offended, then tell the buyers what you are willing to sell the property for taking into consideration the latest market information and the property’s activity, online and in-person showings, as well as feedback.

When in doubt, move it out. – Items in the home should be put in to 1 of 4 categories: keep, donate, trash, store. Which leads to…

Less is more. – Less stuff in the closets, less furniture in rooms, fewer personal items (family photos, personal memorabilia) around the house, neat and trim landscape.

You never get a second chance to make a first impression. – The adage, “never judge a book by its cover” is a nice concept, unfortunately, “judging” is exactly what buyers do when they view a property online, drive by or take an interior tour. On average an impression, good or bad, is made in 7 seconds…yes, 7 seconds. Not only is “curb appeal” important, each room gives the buyer insight into the seller and the manner in which the property has been cared for. Each room makes an impression. Impressions determine desire and value. Desire + value = offering price.

Cute sells. – This phrase was born as a result of a conversation with a client who called to thank me for the information I provided about the sales of competing properties.  The highlight of the conversation came when  my client said, “I don’t really see the difference between the properties selling and our house except they are cute.”  I responded, “Cute sells”.  The house was vacant and the client would not allow the property to be staged.  The listing sold; however, I’ve wondered if the property had been “cute”, would it have sold for more or sooner?

If you don’t tell, the neighbor will. – Neighbors love to tell buyers all they “know” about the property, sometimes these tales turn into fish stories, they grow with each telling.  Solution:  Inspect, repair, replace, disclose.

There’s never a bad product, only a bad price. – The first 30 days of a property on the market is the most critical.  At any given time, there is a pool of buyers looking for a home in your price range, if you have a “bad” price, they won’t come see it and won’t bid.  Sellers often say, “Tell them to make me an offer”.  Unfortunately most buyers aren’t interested in “testing” the waters, they want to bid on a property they feel the seller is willing to negotiate and motivated to sell.

Price it right and let them fight. – Homes priced correctly according to their condition, will have a flurry of activity which should culminate in an offer.  No offer?  Although the price didn’t stop the buyer from coming for a look-see, when they got to the property something stopped them from writing an offer.  Remember the first truism, “Your first offer is your best offer.”  Take heed.

All real estate is local. – Applying national or state stats to a local area is a waste of time.  Stats are so local they differ from school district to school district, suburb to suburb, development to development, street to street, house to house.  Your REALTOR® can provide you detailed market stats to assist you in arriving at the right price.  Ignoring the stats will simply cause a delay in your sale.