5 Tips To Sell Your Condo

You've got to be on your game when selling a condo in today's market. There is a large inventory of unsold units in Chicago right now, but the new $15,000 home buyer's tax credit may inspire buyers to get off the fence and find that condo of their dreams. Here are five pointers on how to make your condo stand out and attract buyers.

1. Price it Right - Buyers are very concerned with price and they use price range to narrow down the market to affordable options. You are responsible for not only pricing your condo to reflect its real value, but also to reflect the current market trends. Look at what other comparable units in your building or neighborhood have sold for in the past six months and use that data to appropriately price your own condo. It is important to review sale prices (not listing prices) because they show what buyers were actually willing to pay for the property, not what the owner thought buyers would pay for it.
2. Use Location Specifics - Everyone knows location is important in real estate. But everyone might not know why your location is great and what makes it such a prime property in Chicago. Tell buyers about the ins and outs of your neighborhood, the little tidbits that make it a wonderful, convenient, desirable place to live. Give personal accounts of your experience and real examples of the businesses, parks, schools, shops, restaurants, and transportation options in the vicinity. A buyer may not think twice about looking at your property if they are unfamiliar with the area. However, if you give them a short summary of what the location has to offer, you can engage them while alleviating apprehension. And hopefully gain an interested buyer.
3. Highlight Building Amenities - For many buyers, the benefit of living in a condo is the great communal amenities—things that may be hard to obtain or afford in a single-family home. Make sure to point out features that buyers would consider bonuses, like an exercise room, swimming pool, rooftop deck, valet service, in-house business center, and maintenance. Your property listing and marketing materials should emphasize these amenities, in addition to your unit's individual aspects.
4. Offer Incentives - The market is very competitive for condo sellers these days. As a result, buyers have become accustomed to seeing incentives, price reductions and other offers from motivated sellers to get more bites. The fact is, buyers like to save money and your offer to pay assessments for a few months or put money toward closing costs will grab attention.
5. Take Great Photos - Buyers are big fans of photographs. When looking online at condos for sale they want to be able to see the unit (inside and out) with a few clicks of the computer mouse. Listings with no photos tend to be passed by and listings with bad pictures can actually do more harm than good. So, if you can, have a professional photographer shoot your condo. If not, take photographs on a sunny day with all the blinds open and lights turned on. Use a digital camera and try different angles to get the best representation of space.