Many people make serious mistakes when they put their homes up for sale. These errors in judgment and decision making can result in a lot of unnecessary stress while also possibly reducing a home’s market value and delaying a sale indefinitely. By avoiding the mistakes outlined below, you can greatly increase the odds of selling your home at a good price.

Here are 10 serious mistakes you’ll want to avoid when you’re selling your house:

1.) Not Considering Home Buying Companies

People who sell homes tend to reach out to real estate agents and brokers by default, but what these home sellers don’t know is they could be losing out big time because of the fees and commissions these agents and brokers tend to charge for the property sales they make. By dealing directly with a home buying company instead, you’ll likely be able to sell your house fast and get cash for it in no time at all.

Many Upper Midwest residents know the benefit of selling homes through such companies, considering the current state of the housing market in places like Detroit, Michigan. Google search terms like “sell my house fast Detroit MI” have been trending in and around the city for quite some time now, as suburban residents sell their homes in the suburbs to move closer to where the jobs are, either in Detroit itself or in boom cities in other states.

2.) Not Removing Clutter

Cluttered homes can be a huge turn-off for prospective buyers and serve to greatly reduce the market value of your property. Thankfully, getting rid of clutter is a straightforward, albeit tedious process.

As soon as you decide you want to sell your house, start selling off or donating all your unneeded items. Not only will decluttering help make your home more attractive to prospective buyers, but having less stuff will also mean you’ll spend less when moving or renting a storage unit.

3.) Refusing to Update the Property

If your home looks dated by current standards, you’ll have problems justifying a high asking price. Also, if your home’s electrical, HVAC, and water systems are over a decade old, it may be important to have a professional look them over or replace them with more efficient modern alternatives. By updating your property, you’ll be able to ensure the best possible prices for your home when it goes on the market or when you sell it to a home buying company.

4.) Not Doing Repairs

Many homeowners looking to sell off a house quickly will not bother to do repairs, as they feel that it may be an unneeded expense. However, in most cases, the cost of repairs will more than make up for itself as homeowners will be able to ask for a higher price when their home goes on the market. Unless the property is extremely depreciated, the cost of repairs will almost always be worth it.

5.) Intentionally Hiding Problems

Home sellers that are proven to have intentionally hidden serious issues may be held legally liable. This is especially true for problems that may cause safety problems for future buyers. If your house has a relevant issue, make sure to fix it thoroughly or fully disclose the problem to the buyers in writing.

6.) Not Using Good Photos

Good photos are extremely important for online property listings, as they can serve to frame the expectations of prospective buyers. Unfortunately, many property owners do not understand the value of having good-quality photos online and skip having any pictures altogether.

While not having good photos is bad, having awful photos can be even worse. If your property looks sketchy or uninviting on the listing, you’re probably not going to get a lot of calls about it.

7.) Being Emotional

For most Americans, the house they live in represents their most significant financial investment. People can also form deep attachments to their homes and neighborhoods. It’s no surprise that we can all be a little bit emotional (and irrational) when it comes to our homes.

8.) Keeping Your Decor

Homes tend to sell faster when they’re presented as a blank slate. Most home buyers do not want reminders of the previous inhabitants. Even those that don’t particularly mind will have a harder time visualizing their life in the house if all your personal touches are still in it.

The possible exception to this may be if you maintain a period home with decor and fixtures that are appropriate to the era. If you have such a home that’s in well-kept condition, it may appeal to a tiny portion of buyers who may be willing to pay more for an authentic historic home.

Of course, the trade-off is that you may have problems selling the property to other potential customers, which is an issue if you want to sell your house in Detroit fast.

9.) Asking for Too Much

As it is, the country is chock full of unsold houses. There’s a lot of competition out there and pricing your property too high can very easily ruin your chances of ever selling it.

To avoid selling your house for too much, it’s a good idea to get some emotional distance between yourself and your property. Additionally, you may want to do some research on local housing rates and use the prices of properties similar to your own as a basis for your asking price.

10.) Being Unavailable

One of the biggest mistakes you can make is not being available to tour prospective buyers around your property. Given the glut of available houses on the market, being unavailable will make prospective buyers skip your property altogether.

Thankfully, hiring a qualified real estate agent will make this a nonissue, as they will be able to give prospective buyers tours of the property even if you’re not available.

Sell Your House in Detroit Today

Most of the mistakes above can be avoided by consulting a home buying company that’s familiar with the Michigan and Detroit property markets. If you want to sell your house in Detroit, Michigan fast and at a good price, it pays to go with an expert.