Should You Let Others Know Why You Are Selling Your Home?
In most cases, no. The motivation for the sale can have a drastic effect on all of the different selling aspects. Of course, you’ll want to let your real estate agent know your own personal motivation behind the sale so that he can better help you and know how to work with the various transactions that occur. It will help him determine the way negotiations will be handled during the sale so that he can act on your best behalf.
Desperate sellers
If you’re desperate to sell your home for one reason or another you’ll generally receive lower offers from people that are playing on your desperation. When these types of things are communicated to a potential buyer that is interested in your home, it starts bells ringing in their heads about how they can proceed to use your desperation in their favor. Usually this can be seen in the form of a lower offer but there may be other things that they’ll ask for that they normally wouldn’t.
Most people realize that there are many reasons for selling a home that may be put into the desperate category. If someone has passed away, the family is usually quite anxious to sell the home quickly. Divorce as well usually calls for a fast sale since both parties usually want to get things tied up and divide the money as quickly as possible. Other reasons for a desperate move may include a job transfer, a financial emergency, a family emergency or another home that has been purchased and the closing is contingent upon the original home selling.
The best way to handle selling a home when you’re desperate is to talk to your real estate agent and discuss the motivational reason that will be given to clients. Usually it is something vague, yet truthful, like “our housing needs have changed” or “we have decided to move on”.
Usually it is important to not show any signs of desperation when you are trying to sell your home quickly. In other cases, where there has been a death in the family and the person wants to sell the home quickly to move on with the grieving process, it may be advisable to let buyers know that the seller is very motivated. In these types of cases the possibility of losing some money is secondary to the actual speed of the sale itself.
Your agent will know exactly what type of strategy should be used based on your own personal circumstances. Every case is different when it comes to selling a home and fortunately most agents have dealt with enough situations to be able to give you a qualified path to follow based on past experience.
