Do you have a Real Estate Plan?

The famous quote by Robert Burns is most often used to say that no matter how detailed you plan, there are no guarantees that everything will happen according to that plan.

While technically this is correct, I’m here to tell you that in real estate, the best laid out plans often DO come to fruition.

In this week’s blog, we are talking about making a plan to sell your house.

Maybe your family is growing or your kids have moved off into adulthood. Maybe you got a great promotion or new job, and are wanting to set yourself up for the next chapter in life. Or maybe, your current home’s value has increased significantly and you want to capitalize on those gains.

Despite what you may be seeing in the news about market crashes or interest rates, we are still seeing as much interest as ever in folks wanting or needing to sell their home.

The Des Moines-area market is uniquely different than most other urban areas in America. We have stable employment and wage growth, and the cost of living here is still considerably lower than most metro areas across the country.

This means the real estate market continues to roll, but maybe it’s just changed slightly. No longer can we confidently say every listing is going to get multiple offers on day one, but we can confidently say that every listing is going to sell.

This is where planning comes into play. And when selling your home, you cannot plan enough!

I’m not talking about making a plan to take photos and then waiting for the buyers to show up.

What I’m talking about, first and foremost, is who are you making your plan with?

Anyone can come in and tell you they will sell your house for the highest price (and most will!).

However, it’s critical to understand that pricing your home is the biggest key to executing your plan. It’s important to work with a team of experts who are immersed in helping buyers find homes, because they know best what customers are looking for at the current moment!

You have to make your plan with someone who can give you realistic financial expectations for the selling of your home (and buying a new one). A few mis-calculations or -estimations can cascade into the seller ending up behind the 8-ball from a financial perspective.

It’s also important to think through the marketing of your home. Are you working with a team that has dedicated marketing to get your home front and center to the buyers most critical to executing your plan? Can they target their marketing to different audiences and adjust to meet your wants and needs?

And what happens when the best laid out plans do become of mice and men? Well, you should have a plan for, too.

What if your home doesn’t sell as fast as you want it to? On the other side, what if you get an offer you can’t turn down, too soon? You should have plans for all these scenarios and always be taking the different variables of pricing and timing together.

All this sounds pretty simple, right? Wrong.

We see time and time again homes that are put up for sale, priced too high and then the home owners are left scrambling when the rubber meets the road on their timelines.

They typically will lower the price on the home first.

What message does that send to potential buyers?

Sometimes that doesn’t work and then they are left really scrambling. We’ve been approached by countless homeowners over the years who have had to switch representation and come to us to help.

It’s really important to get it right the first time.

We are proud and humbled to say we think we can plan with the best of them.

If you think in any way that the current home you are in is not your forever home, reach out. It’s never too early to start thinking and talking through this.

We’ve made real estate plans as long as five years out with clients. The longer timelines you give yourself on the front end, the more likely it is that the plan you develop will ensure you have all the right leverage.

Give us a call- it’s our job to make sure you have your future planned out appropriately and we take that responsibility very, very seriously.

It’s been a unique past 24 months in the real estate market and we are ready for what the next 24 months will bring. Are you?