Whether or not the market is in your favor, you may be self-sabotaging your home sale if you’re making some common mistakes. Simple errors can engage you in a real estate catch-22: wanting to sell your home, but making it difficult to do so. In order to save you from preventing the sale of your own home, here’s a list of four obstacles that may be in your way – and how to push them out of your path:

1. A Cluttered Home
Any potential home buyer wants to see his future space as a clean canvas, full of furniture and simple décor, but not muddled by all your worldly possessions piled on the floor. Make sure you do adequate cleaning, and to eliminate any extra clutter you want to keep, consider a self-storage unit. Companies, such as StorageMart, often have customers renting storage units to clear out clutter while their home is on the market.

2. Hanging Out at Home
Although you may be eager to see and hear the goings-on during showings and open houses at your own home – and simultaneously don’t want to have your regular at-home routine disrupted – you are standing in the way of your home’s sale if you stick around too much. It can be uncomfortable and awkward for potential buyers to view your space under your watchful eye. They won’t make honest comments about their feelings about your house, and their feelings themselves may be altered by your presence – and not in a good way. Take a step back and let your real estate agent do the work as you walk away for a short time.

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by Louis Cammarosano

Based on responses from over 500 real estate agents and brokers nationwide, referrals ranked as the number one marketing preference among real estate professionals for acquiring new clients, with an overall score of 8.95 (out of 10) for effectiveness. Referrals also ranked number one in the 2011 and 2010 surveys.

Leads from brokers (scored a 5.6) and Events (5.26) ranked second and third, respectively, as most effective marketing strategies, which remained unchanged from 2011.
Online lead generation services (5.19) ranked fourth, jumping four positions from the 2011 survey. Email Campaigns (4.92) and Featured Listings (4.91) swapped positions from the 2011 survey and came in fifth and sixth, respectively.

Postcards and Mailers (4.9) were bumped down from sixth in the 2011 survey to seventh. However, it scored half a point higher in 2012. Craigslist (4.3) and Youtube (4.1) ranked eighth and ninth, respectively. Youtube scored 0.6 points higher than in 2011, helping it jump three spots.

In the 2011 survey, Social Media sites like Facebook and Twitter were grouped into one category. In 2012, each site stood on its own. Overall in 2011, Social Media scored a 3.8. In 2012, Facebook (4.0) ranked 10th, Google+ (3.7) ranked 12th, LinkedIn (3.61) ranked 14th and Twitter (3.43) ranked 19th. The average of these scores is 3.69.

Blogging (3.91) ranked 11th in 2012. This represents a 0.62 increase and a jump of two spots from 2011.

“Despite the hype of social media as an effective marketing outlet, real estate professionals once again voted referrals as the most effective and most preferred form of marketing,” said Louis Cammarosano, General Manager of HomeGain. “Also coming in ahead of social media were in person events, like open houses, mailing of post cards and online lead generation services.”

Top Effective Marketing Strategies for Real Estate Professionals in 2012:

(Cumulative Averages, 1=least likely to use/10=most likely to use)

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Vacant homes can be a security risk for both agents and customers. However, there are options to keep you both safe. More real estate agents are turning to portable home alarm systems to help minimize these risks. While considering alarms, it is important to do what you can to keep the home from being a target. Security is best done in layers.

Secure in layers
Consider the first layer of home security while staging a vacant home; it is important to maintain a “lived-in” look from the street. This can be done by putting lamps on timers or using basic home automation lamp modules that turn on and off at different times. Put porch lights on a dawn-to-dusk sensor, to illuminate the front of the home at night. A porch light left on all day is a dead giveaway for a vacant home.

Keep the yard landscaping clean and trimmed and gates locked. Enlist the neighbor’s help if appropriate. Asking them to help keep an eye on the house, parking in the driveway periodically and contacting you if there are any concerns. Building relationships with neighbors may benefit you in the future, and it gives the neighbors a sense of community in their neighborhood.

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On Monday October 15, 2012, Louis Cammarosano, General Manager of HomeGain, was a guest on the Real Estate 360 Live radio show on The Big Talker 1580 WHFS AM, hosted by Ryan Sloper.

Listen to the show.

Part 1 (14:37)

Ryan and Louis discuss the recent unemployment rate that dropped unexpectedly. Ryan and Louis discuss whether the unemployment number will impact the Presidential election results.Ryan and Louis discuss the impending “fiscal cliff”. Louis notes that some CEOs are writing to the employees urging them not to vote for Obama.

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On Monday October 1, 2012, Louis Cammarosano, General Manager of HomeGain, was a guest on the Real Estate 360 Live radio show on The Big Talker 1580 WHFS AM, hosted by Ryan Sloper.

Listen to the show.

Part 1 (14:58)

Ryan and Louis discuss the current unemployment rate. Ryan notes that interest rates fell after the announcement of QE3. Louis notes that QE3 is a bail out of freddie mac and fannie mae as it takes bad assets off their balance sheets. Louis notes that while interest rates are lower, fees have been increased.

Ryan notes that the fed’s stated intention that by keeping interest rates low is to help employment. Louis believes that will not be the case and that QE3 is nothing more of another bailout and a way of keeping the cost of borrowing low so the government can continue to spend money.

Louis notes that obama said that the debt is not an issue “short-term”

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