First Person: Selling Our Home in One of the Worst Real Estate Markets in History

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Selling a home can be one of the most significant financial steps in a person's life. Sure, buying a home is up there too, but actually determining how to best prepare for and rid oneself of a home in the most economically efficient manner, can take a lot of workand even then, it doesn't always pan out (take it from me, I've been there).

I learned a heck of a lot when we recently sold our home during what has been one of the worst real estate markets in history. Here are some of the rules I developed during the process and to which I plan to adhere to more strictly next time.

Start Home Sale Preparations Well in Advance

We began preparing our home for sale multiple months in advance to ever putting it on the market. We painted rooms, cleaned, downsized, and packed up personal items, and decluttered, and then we had our real estate agent come over to see what other steps we should take in the preparation process.

We also ended up fixing broken floor tiles, adding some window treatments and new blinds, replacing the garage roof and back porch awning, and making similar repairs and adjustments to our home in order to make it more presentable in the months prior to putting it on the market.

Choose a Price Point Carefully

We really messed up on this one when we put our home up for sale. Our mistake now makes it one of the most highly valued rules on my list. We priced our home too high initially, and we never recovered from the mistake, which in my opinion not only cost us a quicker sale, but tens of thousands of dollars in the process.

Because we didn't price our home correctly for the market that we were in, we were constantly trying to make up the difference as the market continued to drop.

Consider Your Real Estate Agent Wisely

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First Person: Selling Our Home in One of the Worst Real Estate Markets in History

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