5 Mistakes People Often Make When Selling Their First Home

If you’re a homeowner thinking of selling, and you’ve never sold a home before, you may want to avoid the decisions first-time sellers often regret. Selling a home is a big deal as this is very likely your most valuable asset. If you are an inexperienced seller you could easily make mistakes along the way. To help you avoid the pit falls others have fallen into, we’ve listed the five top regrets of many first-time home sellers in an attempt to help you avoid them:

1. Holding firm for a higher offer

Every seller wants to get the most they can for their home. But inexperienced sellers will often turn down a serious offer, especially if the buyer doesn’t look like they have the money. Sellers often end up regretting offers they turned down, waiting on higher offers that never materialised. 

The buyer making the highest offer may not have accurately estimated his/her ability to come up with the financing or may end up buying another house. If you’re really unlucky you’ll get a buyer who makes you a great offer just to get you to turn down all other offers. Once you do that they’ll start renegotiating hard, assuming that all other potential buyers have found other homes. Their goal is to press you to accept a new offer for a lot less money.

In the same vein, some first-time sellers will disregard the first offer that comes in, assuming that it is just one of many. Then they’re dumbfounded when they don’t get any more offers, or they realise that this offer was the highest. But, returning to a buyer whose offer you once rejected is like telling them that you were wrong about the value of your property. Even if they are still interested, their offer this time may be lower than before.

An experienced agent will explain that most serious offers are made by buyers who have no problem signing the OTP and putting a deposit down on the property.

2. Digging your feet in

When buyers are viewing your house, it is best if your agent shows them around. Even though you may think you can answer their questions best, you need to let buyers feel comfortable making up their own minds. You do not want them to feel any pressure. Also, your agent will know how to present your home’s best features in a way that persuades them to buy.

You may value the tranquillity of your location, but some buyers may consider the lack of amenities in the community. After having lived in your home for five or more years (if it’s an HDB), you have become emotionally attached, but those viewing it don’t feel the same. If you dig your feet in too hard on price you can come off as a demanding “hardseller.”

3. Insisting on recouping the cost of renovations

If you get too carried away renovating your house, you could end up with regrets when it comes time to sell. So, unless you plan on living there forever, overspending on renovations is not recommended. Factoring in all those costs when setting your selling price, assuming that buyers will see the value in everything you did, is wishful thinking.

Interior design is very subjective. You may have buyers who see your unit and love everything but the design. This being the case, another nearby unit with a similar floor plan, but without your elaborate renovation, would sell far faster. Buyers want to do their own renovations and don’t want the expense of tearing down all of yours.

If you don’t price your unit right, especially if it’s located where there is plenty of supply, your unit won’t be able to compete.

4. Moving away from your comfort zone

You might think that you’d prefer living somewhere less crowded and the thought of living in the wilderness may seem appealing, until you actually try it. If you act on the impulse and sell your home in the city to move to the outskirts of town you could find it too boring, and even lonely. After frequenting local stores, supermarket, coffee shops, restaurants, and your fitness club for years, you would probably miss all the friendly faces. Some sellers never adapt to their new surroundings and forever regret their move.

Before putting your house on the market and leaving your comfort zone, it would be a good idea to spend some time in the neighbourhood that you plan on moving to. You need to see how you would feel living there, what the people are like, and whether it has the conveniences you’re used to. You need get a sense of the general vibe during the day and at night. If you’ve been living in a neighbourhood with a vibrant nightlife where you can socialise with friends after midnight, it won’t be easy adapting to a place that “goes dark” when retail shops close at 9:00 p.m.

5. Jumping to sell during a sellers’ market

It's only logical that if you sell your home during a sellers’ market you’ll likely make a lot of money. But unless you have another home lined up to move into, you’ll have to buy in a sellers’ market as well, spending all those profits. Also, you need to factor in legal fees, stamp duties, costs to renovate, and various other expenses. In the end you could even lose money.

We encourage you to plan ahead before making such a major decision. Make sure that the home you’re moving to is solidly lined up, that it’s affordable after factoring in all the expenses. If you are planning to rent while you keep looking for a new home to buy, that may not be wise because in a sellers’ market, rents are typically high as well.

At Pinnacle Estate Agency, we strongly believe in sharing our real estate knowledge to the public.⁠ For more content like this article, check out our Singapore Property Guides.