Market News

5 Real Estate Mistakes to Avoid

(msnbc) - We’ve been hearing for months that the housing market is lousy. There’s 18 months worth of inventory out there and houses, depending on where they are, can sit on the market for as long as 8 months to a year, experts said.

Here’s what some real estate agents identify as the five worst mistakes you can make in a declining market:

5: Not hiring a professional real estate agent. “Ninety-five percent of the people that are purchasing are working with a buyer’s agent. If you do for sale by owner, by yourself you are eliminating that 95 percent of the market,” said Artrice Clark, of Keller Williams Gold Coast. Citicondo.com’s Patrick Schell said that only 2 percent of successful home sales are For Sale By Owner. “It’s a numbers game,” he said.

4: Not maximizing your marketing — particularly on the Internet. Eighty to 90 percent of buyers start their search online, according to Roger Lautt, of WeSellChicago.com. Lautt — a 25-year real estate veteran — also stressed the use and quality of photos. “I will not put something on the MLS (Multiple Listing Service) until I have all the photos … people love photos and a number of those people may not go back to look it up again because it has no photos.”

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