Selling Your Home? Here's Why You'll Want to Keep Your Emotions out of It

Selling your home can be an extremely emotional process, but it's important that you don't let your emotions get the best of you.  Learn which common mistakes emotional sellers make when selling their homes so that you can identify them during your own sale and overcome them before it's too late.

Price Paralysis

You love your home, you know the value it provides to its owner, and you think it's special compared to other houses on the market... and that it should be priced as such!

Be wary of this thought pattern though, as sellers who are emotionally attached to their home tend to overprice their listing, ignore market data, and be stubborn in negotiations.  

It is perfectly normal for your emotions to cloud your judgment when first listing, but it is important that you listen to your real estate agent's advice and stick to reason, or you may find your home failing to close.

Pricing Based On Need

Your home has a market value, and you can't ignore that.  It's fact.  

When moving to a new property, it is essential that you understand that you cannot price your current home based on the amount of money you need to purchase your desired next home.  This mindset is unrealistic and can drag out your home sale.

If the purchase of a new home is contingent upon how much you make from selling your current home, be sure that you do not celebrate too early.  Wait until you have closed the deal before gauging what you can afford to buy next, or stick to a property that is definitely within your budget.

Maintain An Open Mind

While you may love the way your personal items and interior design pieces make your home feel, it is best to stage your home very impersonally for showings.  This may require re-painting rooms to more neutral tones, taking down your favorite family photos, and using professional staging furniture rather than your own.  Doing so isn't admitting that you have bad taste, but rather accepting that buyers have a wide variety of tastes themselves, and you want to appeal to them all.

You should also keep an open mind when it comes to who you sell your home to.  You may have an idea of what you consider to be the perfect buyer, but ultimately the goal is to sell your home.  What the buyer does with it after the fact is up to them.

To avoid these emotional home-seller mistakes, work with a trusted real estate professional who can guide you through the process and keep you on the right track.