Costly Seller Mistakes #3

3. False advertising

Don?t misrepresent your house?either through your description or by retouching photos to the extent that it?s misleading?and don?t let your agent either. Altering a photo to add shrubbery to the front yard or making the neighbor?s house look farther away than it really is won?t fool anyone. Similarly, don?t list your three-bedroom house as having four bedrooms by including that additional room in the basement. ?Most buyers looking for a four-bedroom want all the bedrooms on the same level,? says Endres-Fein. ?That?s one of the things that buyers complain about most.?

4. Be careful about incentives

In the housing market?s headier days, prospective buyers might have been lured by extra perks like offering to pay for a year?s worth of dues at the local golf club or a $1,000 decorator allowance. Now, though, sellers would do better to reduce the asking price by that incentive amount or offer it as a credit towards closing costs.

5. Waiting to fix up the place

If you know a part of the kitchen?s hardwood floor needs to be replaced, do it before the open house. Deducting the cost of such necessary repairs from the asking price will cost you a lot more than just getting the project done yourself.