Time's Up! Tips on Selling Your Home in the Fall Return to Articles
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I remember when we sold our first home in 2011. Being rookie homeowners we listed it in the fall; we had no idea it was the riskiest time of year. We later discovered we were competing with motivated sellers who didn’t contract during the summer months. Homeowners who may have been unrealistic about their listing price were taking reductions in hopes they could relocate prior to school starting. We were also under a lot of pressure with a shortened season due to Colorado winters, when the first snowfall is typically in October. If we didn’t go under contract within a month or two, we were going to pull our listing prior to the holidays.
We ultimately closed in December; it took us a little longer because we had to overcome that our home was the only one in the neighborhood without a basement. Despite this objection, we continued to have a lot of interest and showings, even after our listing had gone “stale”. We were diligent about making sure our house was in pristine condition and it looked like a model inside and out. It also helped that we kept every home improvement and maintenance receipt in a binder. We left our binder on the counter because we felt it was our obligation to prove that we were responsible homeowners. After the showings, many of the potential buyers and realtors raved about the information in our binder and wished more homeowners would do the same. I remember being dumbfounded “Don’t all homeowners leave some type of home history report?”
I read the article by Mike Holmes, professional contractor and television host for HGTV, who encourages homeowners to “ Sell it Right .” Mike’s 6 tips on selling a home promote seller etiquette and building trust with the homebuyer. Looking back, we had no idea what we were doing, but unbeknownst to us we did some things right. We didn’t realize the impact our binder would have during the selling process and we never predicted it would later shape our future. This was how RezDox was born.
Fast-forward to today where I am looking at our RezDox Dashboard, our online binder where our invoices have been digitized. I see we have spent $51,855 on our current home’s maintenance and improvements, of which $27,846 has contributed to the equity growth in our home’s market value. When the time comes for us to sell this home, we will do our best to “Sell it Right” by being as transparent as possible and provide that extra peace of mind with our RezDox Home History Report.
Co-Founder CEO, RezDox
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