This detailed home seller’s guide to Carmel Valley will show you how to sell your home fast. Included you’ll find pricing strategies, the pre-marketing process to prepare your home to sell, finding the right real estate agent for the job, and some active listings to show you some comparable market offerings and a bit of the real estate process from start to finish.
You may be curious what your home might sell for in today’s Carmel Valley market. If so, call us at 831.250.3399, or use our Home Evaluation Calculator.
Pricing Strategies to Move Your Home Quickly
You may be following the How’s the Market segment of our website where market statistics are updated in real time every week. You might have seen weeks when the Carmel Valley market looks softer than normal. Don’t let this discourage you if you are considering selling. The Carmel Valley school district and incredible location provide consistent year-round demand from home buyers. There are, however, some strategies you can use to effectively sell your home faster and for the most money.
When you price a home, consider your time frame. How soon do you need to move? After you and your agent have reviewed the comparative market analysis, or CMA, consider what is most important to you. Is it selling for maximum price? Selling as fast as possible? Think about the proposed value of your home and the average days to sell in your neighborhood, and select a list price based on those figures and how soon you need to be out. If the average days to sell is 93 days, and you need to be out in 60, consider pricing your home more aggressively. If your timeline is more flexible and you would rather test the market, use the data strategically to gain the best possible price with your time frame in mind.
Identifying a Target Market | Home Seller’s Guide to Carmel Valley
Consider the demand for your neighborhood. What are home buyers searching for? Research the buyer demographic. A few questions to ask a realtor when selling your home:
- What age group is most likely to buy my house?
- What do they do for a living?
- What do they do in their spare time?
- What is their most comfortable price range?
- What are they looking for in a home?
- Do they own other real estate as well?
- Where do they live currently?
- Why are they buying? What problem of theirs are we solving?
One of the biggest reasons for narrowing down a target market is so that your home is easily found in online real estate searches – searches by buyers, and searches by local Realtors looking for homes for their clients. This could be the most important aspect of your home seller’s guide to Carmel Valley. Keep in mind that if you list your house on the MLS, all of the local agents will be able to find the home online, and some savvy agents will send their new listings agents in their real estate referral networks all over the world. Being on the MLS gets you the most exposure, and pricing your home to be found in the searches of significant buyer demand is a great approach to maximize your chances of selling your home quickly. The more exposure you get to your home, the better the odds of getting your desired price.
What Deviates Your Carmel Valley Home From The Competition?
Some questions to consider when researching comparable homes to come up with a price as you make your way through the home seller’s guide to Carmel Valley.
- What value does your home provide?
- How does your home differentiate from the rest of the competition?
- What does your home have that no other home in your neighborhood has?
This process is important because the marketing of your home should encompass the most wonderful features your home has to offer whether it’s the location, condition, size, lot, etc. . .
The marketing should showcase not just the home, but the lifestyle associated with living there. That’s why showing off the location is so important. Buyers can look through photos on Zillow now and see a virtual tour of the home, but the way marketing executes is putting the lifestyle on display whether it’s drone stills from above, video footage showing a property walkthrough, or a drone video showing the close proximity to amenities and mother nature.
Homes that are priced well are still selling quickly in Carmel Valley, and we are still seeing homes sell at their list price, or very close!
Setting Your Home Up For Success by Preparing for Showings
Staging a house to be sold can be broken down into six steps. The link to the left is the full article on home staging in Carmel Valley, but here’s a summary of staging for the home seller’s guide to Carmel Valley.
- Start by de-cluttering
- Arrange the furniture to complement the floor plan.
- Re-purpose rooms so that buyers will walk in and appreciate how well the space is utilized
- Use subtle and effective lighting
- Use natural paint colors and art that work in tandem
- In regards to flowers – when in doubt, orchids and geraniums!
Increase your Odds of Selling Quickly by Choosing the Right Real Estate Agent
Choosing a Realtor is an important component of the home seller’s guide to Carmel Valley. When considering a Carmel Valley real estate agent, there are several factors to consider on how to choose a realtor to sell your home:
- Reputation
- Experience
- Marketing Strategy (every home is different)
- Testimonials
- Customer Service Standards
Reputation
Make a few phone calls to friends or people in your network who live in the area you’re considering buying. Ask who they have worked with and who they recommend. Carmel Valley is a small town, your network will be able to point you in the direction of several Realtors in no time.
Experience
Work with a real estate agent who has a rich history in the area you’re buying. They know the nuances of the market and they can provide valuable guidance when difficult parts of your escrow come up.
Marketing Strategy
While real estate digital marketing (premium photography, target marketing, drone footage, selling the lifestyle) now plays a huge role in our marketing strategies, an equally important part of the marketing is your agent’s sphere of influence. They may have past clients in the neighborhood or street where you’re buying who have friends or family looking to move to the area. We’ve had many transactions where our past clients call us to give us a lead for one of our listings, and we put the deal together. An added bonus is the new buyers get an immediate introduction to their neighbors.
Testimonials
What are other buyers and sellers saying about your prospective Realtor? Zillow is a fantastic tool for researching real estate agents in your area of interest. You can see who does the most business, who has the best reviews, what properties they have represented, and you can read their bio’s to see if you would have a good connection with them. This last one is important because selling a home can be stressful, and you want to have a good relationship with your Realtor to help the process move along smoothly. Many sellers have an emotional connection to their home, but if you really like your real estate agent, you will more than likely walk away from the experience feeling good about it. The quality of your Realtor can make or break your experience, so choose carefully!
Importance of Customer Service in Real Estate
A few questions to ask your prospective Realtor:
- How often will you be communicating with me and updating me on our progress?
- When will I receive listing activity reports?
- What hours do you work, and if you are not available on a given day, who should I call if I need something?
- If my property is not selling, what is your approach to fix that and get it sold?
We send our sellers weekly updates on showings and open houses with monthly marketing reports. We have 5 team members, and we can be reached 7 days a week – call, text or email anytime. If one of our team members is not available, the other usually is, and you will have everyone’s contact info so you can reach out anytime. When a property isn’t selling, it is always at least one of three reasons: access, condition, and price.
Access – A property that is difficult to show is difficult to sell. If you have tenants, or if it is difficult to gain access the property for any reason, the lack of exposure is inhibiting your sale.
Condition and Price – These go hand in hand. If the property’s price does not reflect it’s condition, it will have trouble selling. Either remedy the condition or adjust the price.
Carmel Valley Active Listings
If you’re thinking of selling, you may be wondering which homes are currently listed and how your home compares. Here are a few of the Carmel Valley homes for sale on the market, with a link below for the full list.
We hope our home seller’s guide to Carmel Valley is helpful, and let us know if you have any questions by contacting us or joining the conversation in the comments below.