John Salkowski | Know All The Options Before Selling Your Home

Should You Wait for Lower Rates to Buy in Philadelphia?

Fri, 16 Oct 2026 05:00:00 +0000

The JRS Realty Group, founded by high-producing Real Estate Broker & Author John Salkowski was built on the notion that the secret to achieving incredible goals and getting true results is to dominate real estate with a team approach.

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Higher interest rates are shrinking buying power across the Greater Philadelphia area, and many would-be buyers are questioning their timing. One of them wants to buy a home and asked me in my latest Ask John whether it makes more sense to wait. I don’t think you should wait, and the reasoning has a lot to do with what everyone else is doing.

I work two markets, so some context first. In Pennsylvania, I cover Montgomery, Chester, Delaware, Bucks, and Berks counties, along with parts of Philadelphia County. I also work Southwest Florida, including Naples, Bonita Springs, parts of Fort Myers, Ave Maria, and Marco Island, where most purchases are paid in cash. The question came out of the Philadelphia side of my business, so I’ll focus there.

Higher rates do shrink buying power. With rates running in the 7% to 7.5% range, a financed purchase simply doesn’t stretch as far as it used to. My recommendation is to get preapproved one more time at a lower price point, so you can see exactly what’s available at that level. If lowering your number feels like a sacrifice, that’s the reality of the market we’re in right now.

“When everyone else is sitting on the fence, that’s when you should get off it.”

Falling rates will bring more buyers. I believe rates will come back down eventually, and when they do, you’ll see an influx of buyers enter the market at once. A rush like that drives prices up and brings multiple offers along with it. Competition drives prices up, and right now there’s little to none of it.

Less competition puts you in charge. Buyers who purchase while everyone else waits hold far more negotiating power, whether it’s on price, seller concessions, or a mortgage rate buydown. In most cases, you’ll have the upper hand. I love working with buyers in a market like this, because we’re the ones holding the football. We’re the quarterback, and we’re driving the negotiation.

You can always refinance later. Rates are higher than people are used to, but historically they’re still at a decent level. I don’t think we’ll see the threes and fours again, though I do think we’ll see fives. I can’t tell you when or how much, because I don’t have that crystal ball. When and if that happens, you can refinance. Once that wave of buyers comes back, you’ll be glad you bought when you did.

Don’t follow the crowd. I’m not telling you any of this as a sales pitch, and I don’t need you to buy a home from me right now. I simply want you to avoid doing what everybody else is doing. When most people are sitting on the fence, that’s when you should get off it and start walking the other way. Whether you’re financing or paying cash, this is a market worth being in.

If you have questions about your own situation, let’s schedule a free discovery call. We’ll jump on Zoom and talk through your real estate goals. The conversation becomes your roadmap, your GPS, and your flight plan to get you there safely. Call me at 610-709-5147, email me at john@jrsrealtygroup.com, or visit thejrsrealtygroup.com. The most important decision in buying or selling a home comes down to the broker you hire more than the location, and I’d love to be yours.

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The 3-Step Process for Buying When You Must Sell First

Wed, 23 Sep 2026 05:00:00 +0000

By John Salkowski

Touring homes is the fun part, so almost everyone starts there. When your purchase depends on selling your current home first, starting there is what gets you stuck. You fall in love with a house you aren’t qualified to buy yet because your home isn’t ready and you don’t have a pre-approval letter.

I spent an hour on a discovery call this week with a homeowner in exactly that spot. She wants to buy, she has to sell first, and the first thing I asked her to do was stop looking at homes. The search gets easy once the first two steps are done, and it stalls when they aren’t.

First, get your home market-ready. Getting it market-ready starts with a real estate professional walking through the house with you, talking through pricing, and building the marketing plan around it. Just as much of that conversation is about what not to do as what to do. Pre-sale inspections belong in this step too, so nothing turns up at the worst possible moment.

“When you fall in love with a home, you want to be able to act instead of just wish.”

Second, get preapproved with a lender. This one runs alongside the first step rather than after it. A qualified mortgage banker, lender, or your own bank can get you preapproved and tell you what monthly payment you can carry. The price of the home you can afford falls out of that number, and it’s what you’ll be shopping with.

Third, start looking at homes. Your home is live on the market by now, and your pre-approval letter is in hand, and that’s when the home search actually works. When you walk into a house you love at that point, you can act on it instead of just wishing.

Communicate the contingency before the offer. The worry I hear most is about moving too fast. If the home goes live and an offer shows up within days, nobody wants to end up without a place to go. Communication is a skill set, and it earns its keep here. Before any offer ever reaches your hand, the other agent should already know your seller needs to buy a home. Tell them the sale is contingent on finding a suitable home and that you’ll need a flexible closing date. Handled upfront, it’s a non-issue.

Doing it in this order is what separates a move that works from one that stalls out. It’s why I ask every client to start with a discovery call. That call is your road map, your GPS, your flight plan for the whole move. Message me the word Discovery, and I’ll reach out so we can get on the calendar and talk through your goals. You can also call or text me at 610-709-5147, email me at john@jrsrealtygroup.com, or visit thejrsrealtygroup.com. I’d love to help you put these steps in the right order.

Certify Your Home for a Higher Price Ready to Sell Your Home with Confidence? With our proven approach, your home will be market-ready and attract serious buyers right away. Schedule a Consultation
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Why You Need Your Own Agent for New Construction

Mon, 14 Sep 2026 05:00:00 +0000

By John Salkowski

I’ve got another episode of Ask John, and this question came in through a direct message on social media: “John, when buying new construction, do I need my own representation?” It’s a great question, and the answer matters more than most buyers realize.

New construction is a fantastic option when you’re buying a new home. But here’s the thing you have to understand before you ever walk through the door.

1. The agent at the sales center works for the builder. When you walk into a new construction sales center, that sales representative represents the builder. It’s the builder’s agent, and that agent is looking out for the builder’s best interest. So here’s my question for you: who represents you? Yourself? Think about that for a second.

You don’t do this every day, and you’ve just walked into a sales center about to make the largest financial and emotional transaction of your life. There is a lot that goes on behind the scenes.

2. There’s more to negotiate than you’d expect. This is exactly why I tell people who want to work with me to call me before they walk into new construction, so I can either go with them or call the sales center and register them as being represented by me. There’s a lot that goes into this: lot location, upgrades, financing, inspections, and resale value. A lot of buyers end up representing themselves while the agent across the table represents the builder. And if anything happens, that agent is going to protect the builder. Most of the time nothing goes wrong, but all it takes is one mishap and, if you’re unrepresented, now you’re hiring an attorney to sort it out.

“The most important decision you'll make isn't about location. It's about the broker you hire.”

3. Walk in alone, and you may lose the chance to be represented at all. This is the biggest mistake I see buyers making: going into new construction sales centers unrepresented. A lot of builders have rules that if you walk in without your agent, that agent can’t represent you afterward. In most cases, not all, but most, the builder requires your agent to be there with you from the start. So don’t make that mistake.

If you want to be safeguarded and protected, then yes, I recommend having your own representative handling the negotiations for you. And this isn’t about putting an agent’s name in and having them do nothing for their fee. When you work with me on new construction, I’m there with you at every phase of the building process. I’m your eyes and ears, looking out for your best interest.

It’s truly up to you, but I don’t recommend walking into new construction unrepresented, because that agent sitting at the desk in the builder’s office represents the builder. Remember: the most important decision you’ll make when buying or selling your largest financial and emotional transaction isn’t about location. It’s about the broker you hire.

If you’ve got a question you’d like featured on the next Ask John, send me a direct message, leave it in the comments, or send me an email. Call or text me at 610-709-5147, email me at john@jrsrealtygroup.com, or visit thejrsrealtygroup.com. I’d love to help.

Certify Your Home for a Higher Price Ready to Sell Your Home with Confidence? With our proven approach, your home will be market-ready and attract serious buyers right away. Schedule a Consultation
Certified Home Program Ready to Sell Your Home with Confidence? With our proven approach, your home will be market-ready and attract serious buyers right away. Get Certified
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The Pre-Sale Walkthrough That Can Save You Thousands

Wed, 26 Aug 2026 05:00:00 +0000

By John Salkowski

Before you list your home for sale, and before you sink tens of thousands of dollars into renovations, do one thing first: have me over. Earlier this week I had a conversation with a homeowner who was thinking about selling, and I convinced her to let me come walk through the property. I did it for one reason. I didn’t want to watch her waste money.

She almost renovated a kitchen she didn’t need. She was about to spend $30,000 to $40,000 on a full kitchen renovation. When I walked through, I gave her tips on what to do and, more importantly, what not to do. She’s no longer doing that renovation. Her cabinets, countertops, and flooring are all in great shape. All she really needs is to paint the walls and change the cabinet hardware, and she was genuinely relieved to hear it. Spending $40,000 on that kitchen wasn’t going to come back to her at the closing table, and knowing what’s actually worth doing before you list is exactly what a walkthrough is for.

“The most important decision in real estate isn't location; it's the broker you hire.”

Getting your money back is the point. It’s my job as a real estate professional to make sure that if you’re investing a dollar into your home, you get some of it back, and ideally most of it. In my professional opinion, she wasn’t going to recover the majority of that renovation cost when she sold. Not every upgrade earns its money back, and the most expensive project isn’t always the one that pays off. That’s the whole reason to look before you spend.

That’s what a pre-sale walkthrough is. I come over, walk the property with you, and we talk through what you need to do and what you do not need to do before you list. I offer that with no strings attached, because I’d rather save you money than watch you spend it on the wrong things. It also gives us a head start on pricing your home the right way and getting it ready to show well. In her case, she’s doing a few minor repairs, and then we’re listing.

So if you’re thinking about selling and you’re tempted to renovate first, have me over to walk through your property. I can either save you money or make sure the money you do invest actually comes back to you, and part of that is knowing how a home is prepped to look its best for buyers. It’s also worth knowing what your home is worth today before you decide on any updates.

Remember, the most important decision you’ll make when buying or selling real estate isn’t about location. It truly is about the broker you hire. Call or text me at 610-709-5147, email me at john@jrsrealtygroup.com, or visit thejrsrealtygroup.com. I’d love to walk through your home with you.

Certify Your Home for a Higher Price Ready to Sell Your Home with Confidence? With our proven approach, your home will be market-ready and attract serious buyers right away. Schedule a Consultation
Certified Home Program Ready to Sell Your Home with Confidence? With our proven approach, your home will be market-ready and attract serious buyers right away. Get Certified
What’s Your Greater Philadelphia Area Home Worth? Are you thinking of selling your home or interested in learning about home prices in your neighborhood? Get a free no-obligation home value estimate. Free Home Value Estimate
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Stop Interviewing 3 Agents Before You Sell

Tue, 11 Aug 2026 05:00:00 +0000

By John Salkowski

Let me make a controversial statement. Whoever told you that you need to interview three agents before selling your home was giving you a rule, not a strategy. Most sellers interview three agents because that’s what everybody does, and then they hire the one who quoted the highest price. If that’s your process, you’re asking the wrong questions.

The highest number is the wrong criterion. After more than 20 years in this business, the one thing I never want is to be hired because I promised someone a number. Anybody can promise you a number. A price on a listing appointment is a pitch, not a plan, and it tells you nothing about whether that agent can actually deliver it. When you’re choosing who handles your largest financial and emotional transaction, price alone is the weakest possible way to decide.

Know your real criteria before you sit down. Before you meet with anyone, get clear on what you’re actually evaluating. Do you have a set of questions you plan to ask? The questions worth asking a listing agent center on experience, pricing, negotiation, marketing, and communication, not on who flatters you with the biggest figure. Walking in with clear criteria is how you choose the right agent to sell your home, instead of the one with the best sales pitch.

“Anybody can promise you a number, but not everybody can take you to the finish line.”

Ask about their actual strategy and marketing plan. Ask each agent to walk you through their strategy for your specific property. Ask what their marketing plan really looks like, beyond putting a sign in the yard and a listing online. A real plan is the difference between a home that sits and a home that sells, and it’s something an experienced agent can explain in detail on the spot.

Pin down how they communicate. Communication is where a lot of transactions quietly fall apart, so get specific. Ask how you’ll communicate with them and how often. Ask which methods they use. Ask how quickly you can expect to hear back when you reach out. An agent who can’t give you a straight answer about communication before you’ve hired them won’t get clearer after you sign.

Judge experience and negotiation, not promises. You have to weigh experience and negotiating skill, because those are what protect your money at the table. Think about it the way you’d think about anything high-stakes. If you needed heart surgery, would you want the surgeon who has done it a handful of times, or the one who has seen just about everything over many years? If a pilot hit trouble at 35,000 feet, would you want someone brand new or someone deeply skilled? Selling your home deserves that same standard. A good agent should be proving their pricing and negotiation skills before you ever hire them, and a good one makes you money rather than costing you money.

This is exactly why I put together my guide, the top 10 questions you must ask a real estate professional before hiring them. If an agent isn’t proving to you that they’re proficient in communication, strategy, marketing, and negotiation, and if you don’t trust them with your largest financial and emotional transaction, why would you hire them? The most important decision you’ll make when buying or selling isn’t about location. It’s about the agent you hire.

If you’d like my Top 10 Questions guide, or you just want to talk through your sale before you start interviewing anyone, reach out. You can also request it and plan your next step at my free home seller workshop. Call or text me at 610-709-5147, email me at john@jrsrealtygroup.com, or visit thejrsrealtygroup.com. I’d be glad to help you hire the right way.

Certify Your Home for a Higher Price Ready to Sell Your Home with Confidence? With our proven approach, your home will be market-ready and attract serious buyers right away. Schedule a Consultation
Certified Home Program Ready to Sell Your Home with Confidence? With our proven approach, your home will be market-ready and attract serious buyers right away. Get Certified
What’s Your Greater Philadelphia Area Home Worth? Are you thinking of selling your home or interested in learning about home prices in your neighborhood? Get a free no-obligation home value estimate. Free Home Value Estimate
Search Homes for Sale See all homes for sale on our MLS with pictures, pricing, and more. Start Your Search

How to Decide if a Naples HOA Home Fits You

Wed, 29 Jul 2026 05:00:00 +0000

By John Salkowski

If you’re thinking about a move to Southwest Florida, you’ve probably already made up your mind about one thing: no HOA. It’s the most common thing I hear from buyers relocating to the Naples area. Then we get in the car together, I take them through a few communities, and that opinion starts to soften pretty fast.

Most Naples gated communities have HOAs. In Southwest Florida, and Naples in particular, the majority of gated communities are governed by an HOA. They’re popular back in the Greater Philadelphia area, too, but down here, they’re closer to the standard. If a gated community is on your must-have list, you’re most likely looking at HOA living, whether you planned on it or not.

Weigh the amenities against the fee. Every HOA has its pros and cons, and the real question is what actually comes along with it. Does the community have a clubhouse? Tennis courts and pickleball? A restaurant on site? Those amenities are the reason a lot of people fall for a place, and they’re worth weighing against the monthly cost.

“Don't count out an HOA before you see what the right community actually gives you.”

Budget the fee, taxes, and insurance. Here’s where I slow buyers down. Beyond the mortgage, you’ve got the HOA fee, property taxes, and insurance to account for. Run all of it together before you decide, because a home is only the right home when the whole number makes financial sense for you.

Buyers change their minds after touring. After our discovery call, I like to walk buyers through several gated communities in person, and something shifts when you actually see them. Everything is uniform, plush, and manicured, kept to a standard that’s tough to match on your own. The people who swore off an HOA are usually the ones asking me about the next one down the street.

Judge lifestyle fit and financial sense. When it comes down to it, I want you focused on just two things. The first is whether the HOA gives you the lifestyle you’re after. The second is whether it makes financial sense for your situation. Answer those two honestly, and you’ll know pretty quickly whether a community is worth it for you.

A discovery call maps your plan. That’s exactly why I offer a discovery call. It’s a strategy session where we talk through your real estate goals and build a plan around them, a GPS and a road map for where you want to end up. Whether you’re buying or selling, the most important decision you’ll make isn’t about location, it’s about the broker you hire.

If you’re weighing a move to Naples, or working through whether an HOA community fits your life and your budget, I’d love to help you put a plan together. Call or text me at 610-709-5147, email me at john@jrsrealtygroup.com, or visit thejrsrealtygroup.com. I look forward to hearing from you.

Certify Your Home for a Higher Price Ready to Sell Your Home with Confidence? With our proven approach, your home will be market-ready and attract serious buyers right away. Schedule a Consultation
Certified Home Program Ready to Sell Your Home with Confidence? With our proven approach, your home will be market-ready and attract serious buyers right away. Get Certified
What’s Your Greater Philadelphia Area Home Worth? Are you thinking of selling your home or interested in learning about home prices in your neighborhood? Get a free no-obligation home value estimate. Free Home Value Estimate
Search Homes for Sale See all homes for sale on our MLS with pictures, pricing, and more. Start Your Search

Why the Smartest Investment Isn't Stocks or Real Estate

Thu, 16 Jul 2026 05:00:00 +0000

By John Salkowski

I have a question for you: What’s the best investment you’ve ever made? I hear the usual answers all the time. Real estate is the best investment. Retirement accounts are the best investment. Stocks, bonds, and treasuries are the best investments. Maybe putting your money into a business is the best investment.

After 56 years on this earth, though, my answer has landed somewhere different. The best investment you can make is in yourself. For me, that journey started at 37, when I left one career to begin this one.

Investing in your mind keeps you moving forward. This is where it begins for a lot of people, and it never really ends. When you read books, listen to podcasts, and watch the kind of videos that teach you something or fire you up, you’re compounding what you know the same way money compounds in an account.

Investing in your character is one most people skip. Be a man of your word. Be someone others can trust, someone people know they can count on.

“The best investment you'll ever make is the one you make in yourself.”

Investing in your health protects everything else you’re building. Take the walk. Get to the gym. Eat whole foods, and yes, you’ve heard me say that phrase plenty of times, because it matters. As you get older, lifting weights becomes less optional and more essential, and deadlifting in particular is about the best exercise you can do for a body that has to carry you through the rest of your life. The other investments don’t mean much if you haven’t taken care of the one thing that makes them possible.

Investing in relationships is the one you can’t get back. Spend your time with the people who mean the most to you, and tell them what they mean while they can still hear it. Too often, someone passes, and only at the service do we hear how much they mattered, what a difference they made, how they shaped a life. The question worth sitting with is whether we ever said any of that to them directly.

A couple of weeks ago, I put that question to the test. I went to visit a friend I’ve known since I was 13 or 14 years old, a woman who was like a second mom to me, whose children were some of my closest friends growing up. She had just come out of the hospital, and she wasn’t doing well. Sitting with her, I told her plainly how much I cared about her, how much I loved her, and how much she had impacted my life, all of it while she was still here to receive it. That is what more of us need to start doing, and it’s the part of this message I hope stays with you longest.

So think about the last time you told someone that they impacted your life, or thanked them for something they did for you, or simply told them they look great and that they matter to you. Most of us could stand to hand out more compliments, treat people with a little more kindness, and say out loud what someone truly means to us before the chance is gone. I hope this one resonates with you.

Let me leave you with the question I opened with: what has been your best investment, and do you agree that it can be the one you make in yourself? I believe it is, because formal education will make you a living, while self-education can make you a fortune. If this landed with you, I’d love to hear from you. Call or text me at 610-709-5147, email me at john@jrsrealtygroup.com, or visit thejrsrealtygroup.com. Thank you for spending these few minutes with me today.

Certify Your Home for a Higher Price Ready to Sell Your Home with Confidence? With our proven approach, your home will be market-ready and attract serious buyers right away. Schedule a Consultation
Certified Home Program Ready to Sell Your Home with Confidence? With our proven approach, your home will be market-ready and attract serious buyers right away. Get Certified
What’s Your Greater Philadelphia Area Home Worth? Are you thinking of selling your home or interested in learning about home prices in your neighborhood? Get a free no-obligation home value estimate. Free Home Value Estimate
Search Homes for Sale See all homes for sale on our MLS with pictures, pricing, and more. Start Your Search

5 Things That Make Buyers Walk Right Out

Thu, 25 Jun 2026 05:00:00 +0000

By John Salkowski

I get a lot of great questions through my Ask John videos, and this one came from a potential seller: What are the big turnoffs for buyers when they walk into a home?

I came up with five things.

Every one of them can end a sale before it starts, and luckily, all five are fixable if you address them ahead of time.

1. Bad odors. A buyer will forget what they see, but they will not forget what they smell. Pet odors, cigarette smoke, lingering cooking smells, all of it has to be addressed. It can kill a deal before it even starts.

“A buyer will forget what they see, but they will not forget what they smell.”

2. Clutter everywhere. Your home feels much smaller when there’s too much furniture and too much stuff inside. This is why preparation matters more than almost anything. I shot a video recently on lead time. You should start working on prep three to six months before your home goes live on the market.

3. Deferred maintenance. This is a big one, because buyers always wonder what’s hiding behind the small stuff. Drippy faucets, cracked caulk, peeling paint, in my experience, buyers see those and immediately ask what bigger problems haven’t been taken care of. Little things make them question the whole house.

4. Dark rooms. Buyers love bright, light, open, and airy. Here’s a real example. A home in my market sat for four months at $730,000 before coming off the market. The seller had rooms in every color, one green, one pink, one yellow, one blue, with matching colored carpets. It took us two months to prepare. We neutralized everything, walls and carpet, into clean neutral tones. We relisted for $20,000 more, and it sold in one week for $750,000. That’s what light and neutral can do.

5. Overpersonalization. When you go to the open market, you have to depersonalize. What you like isn’t necessarily what everyone else likes. Tons of family photos on the walls, heavy moldings, all of that needs to be addressed. No one else lives in that home but you, and buyers need to picture themselves there.

And remember the lead time. You want to start preparing your home three to six months out if you want to sell it fast and for top dollar.

One last thing worth remembering: the most important decision you’ll make when buying or selling real estate isn’t about location. It’s about the agent you hire. If you’re thinking about selling and want a plan to get your home market-ready, let’s talk.

Call or text me at 610-709-5147, email me at john@jrsrealtygroup.com, or visit thejrsrealtygroup.com. I’m here to help.

Certify Your Home for a Higher Price Ready to Sell Your Home with Confidence? With our proven approach, your home will be market-ready and attract serious buyers right away. Schedule a Consultation
Certified Home Program Ready to Sell Your Home with Confidence? With our proven approach, your home will be market-ready and attract serious buyers right away. Get Certified
What’s Your Greater Philadelphia Area Home Worth? Are you thinking of selling your home or interested in learning about home prices in your neighborhood? Get a free no-obligation home value estimate. Free Home Value Estimate
Search Homes for Sale See all homes for sale on our MLS with pictures, pricing, and more. Start Your Search

What Every Buyer Should Know Before a Home Inspection

Wed, 17 Jun 2026 05:00:00 +0000

By John Salkowski

I just wrapped up a home inspection with one of my buyers, and this one was special. He’s a friend of mine from high school; he and his wife were high school sweethearts and are still happily married after all these years. It’s their daughter buying the property. So I had my fatherly protection cap on for the whole transaction.

Walking out of that inspection got me thinking about how much smoother this part of the process goes when a buyer knows how to use it, so here’s exactly what I recommend.

Always get an inspection when you can. This is the first and most important one. Whenever it’s possible, have a home inspection done on the property. The only time you might have to consider waiving it is in a competing situation where it’s the difference between winning the home and losing it, and even then, there’s a smarter way to handle it than simply going in blind.

“A home inspection isn't just a checklist. It's your chance to learn the entire house before it's yours.”

Neutral homebuying guidance makes the same point: in a hot market, you can often waive the contingency without waiving the inspection itself. And if you truly have to skip the formal inspection, bring someone with you during the showing who knows construction, whether that’s a home inspector, a contractor, or even a handy family member you trust to spot trouble. This matters whether you’re buying your first home or making a move up.

Meet the inspector before they start. When you do have an inspection, take a few minutes to talk with the inspector before they head inside. Ask about their process and what they’ll be looking at, so you understand how the next couple of hours will go. It’s a small step that makes the whole inspection easier to follow and far more useful to you as the buyer.

Follow along to learn the house. Once things are underway, I recommend following the inspector around the property so you can actually learn the home: where the electrical panel is, the hot water tank, the water main shut-off, and the HVAC system. Before you do, ask the inspector if they’re comfortable with you tagging along, because some prefer quiet while they work, and others are happy to walk you through everything like a teacher.

Either way, asking first sets the right tone, and when they say yes, you’ll come away knowing your future home far better than most buyers ever do. This kind of hands-on familiarity is just as valuable in a new-construction purchase as it is with an older resale.

Review the findings before you leave. At the end of the inspection, stand outside with the inspector and go over the bullet points together, especially anything they flagged as faulty or as a safety issue. You’ll still get the full written report by email afterward, but hearing the key items in person, while you can ask questions, helps everything land.

From there, you work with your real estate professional on a response to the seller’s agent, whether that means requesting repairs, asking for a credit, or requesting a one-year home warranty, whatever fits your situation best. Having someone in your corner who knows how to guide buyers through that negotiation is where a lot of the value comes from.

Those are my recommendations for getting the most out of a home inspection, and I hope they help you walk into yours feeling prepared. Buying a home is one of the biggest decisions you’ll ever make, and having the right guidance through every step of it makes all the difference. If you have questions or you’re getting ready to buy, I’d be glad to help.

Give me a call or text at (610) 709-5147, or email me at john@jrsrealtygroup.com. You can learn more at thejrsrealtygroup.com. I’d love to help you through your next move.

Certify Your Home for a Higher Price Ready to Sell Your Home with Confidence? With our proven approach, your home will be market-ready and attract serious buyers right away. Schedule a Consultation
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3 Seller Mistakes That Cost Thousands at Closing

Wed, 27 May 2026 05:00:00 +0000

By John Salkowski

I talk to sellers every week who are getting ready to list their home, and the same three mistakes keep showing up. These aren’t small oversights. They’re the kind of decisions that cost thousands of dollars at the closing table, and most sellers don’t realize the damage until it’s too late.

If you’re thinking about selling, these are the three things you need to get right before your home goes on the market.

1. Don’t overprice your property. This is the most expensive mistake a seller can make, and it’s also the most common. The temptation is to “test the market” by listing high and seeing what happens. What happens is your home sits. Every day it sits, it loses credibility. Buyers and their agents start asking what’s wrong with it, and the answer is almost always the price.

If your home has been on the market without serious activity, you need to reduce the price within 14 to 21 days. That’s not a suggestion. If you wait 45 or 60 days to make your first adjustment, you’ve already missed the window that matters most, which is the first two to three weeks when your listing gets the most visibility.

“It's not about location. It's about the broker you hire.”

The principle here is simple: you want to stay ahead of the market, not follow it. Sellers who price competitively from day one attract more attention, generate more showings, and almost always end up netting more than sellers who list high and chase the market down over several months.

2. Your first impression happens online. The first time a buyer sees your home is not when they walk through the front door. It’s when they’re scrolling through listing photos on their phone, and you have about two seconds to make them stop and click. If the paint is tired, the flooring is dated, or the space feels cluttered, they’re moving on to the next listing.

This is where sellers need professional guidance before they spend a dollar on updates. Far too often, I see homeowners take it upon themselves to do renovations, whether minor touch-ups or major projects, without understanding what actually gives them a return on investment. They spend money in the wrong places and skip the improvements that would have actually paid off.

According to NAR’s 2025 Profile of Home Staging, nearly half of sellers’ agents reported that staging reduced time on the market, and 29% saw a measurable increase in the dollar value offered. The right preparation matters, but the keyword is right. A professional walkthrough of your property before you list will tell you exactly what to do and, just as importantly, what not to do, so you don’t waste money on improvements that won’t pay off.

3. Hire a professional, not just a licensed agent. Everyone can get a real estate license, but not everyone has the experience or the skill set to make a home sale work. I tell sellers to think about it this way: if you needed life-changing surgery, you wouldn’t go to a surgeon who does the procedure a few times a year. You’d want the one who’s done it hundreds of times, who knows every complication that can come up, and who has a track record of outcomes to back it up. Selling your home is no different.

The agent you hire affects your pricing strategy, your preparation, your marketing, your negotiation, and ultimately, how much you walk away with. The difference between a good agent and the wrong one can be tens of thousands of dollars.

Here’s what I tell every seller I work with: the most important decision you’re going to make when buying or selling real estate is not about location. It’s about the broker you hire.

If you’re thinking about selling and want to avoid these three mistakes, I’d love to walk through your situation. Call or text me at (610) 709-5147, email me at john@jrsrealtygroup.com, or visit thejrsrealtygroup.com. I’m here to help you get it right the first time.

Certify Your Home for a Higher Price Ready to Sell Your Home with Confidence? With our proven approach, your home will be market-ready and attract serious buyers right away. Schedule a Consultation
Certified Home Program Ready to Sell Your Home with Confidence? With our proven approach, your home will be market-ready and attract serious buyers right away. Get Certified
What’s Your Greater Philadelphia Area Home Worth? Are you thinking of selling your home or interested in learning about home prices in your neighborhood? Get a free no-obligation home value estimate. Free Home Value Estimate
Search Homes for Sale See all homes for sale on our MLS with pictures, pricing, and more. Start Your Search