Get your home SOLD!
The days of sticking a sign in the ground and waiting for the contracts to pour in the front door are very much over.
I am always amazed (given the amount of information on the Internet) how many sellers do not understand the concept of displaying their home as an item to be SOLD. Sellers preparing to post an item on EBay will take the time to package their products in the best light possible, knowing quite well that they are competing with sometimes millions of similar offerings. Many sellers do not take this approach toward selling their homes, at a very dear cost in the final outcome.
Let’s look at three major reasons why home sellers do not take the time to prepare their home as well as they should to compete in this market.
First, there is that personal, subjective view that the home owner’s improvements will appeal to buyers today. I mean, who would not love the orange carpeting and dark paneling that we lovingly installed in the family room 30 years ago?
Then there is the seller’s need to live in the home while it is being sold. Sellers continue to personalize the home with their stacks of LPs and laundry that they fail to see in the corner of the living room, or the baby’s toys strewn across the kitchen floor or the stack of dishes piled in the sink. All of these are distractions to a buyer.
Finally, there is the cost and lack of motivation to spend money to fix up something the seller sees as perfectly fine. The avocado green refrigerator is in perfect working shape and matches the avocado stove and dishwasher. What’s wrong with the flocked wallpaper in the foyer?
If you are a seller (or about to be one), I challenge you to move your mindset from one of “I am selling my HOME” to “I have my HOUSE to sell”. This is the hardest (and the most necessary) concept you must embrace well before the ink is dried on the listing agreement.
OK, now you are committed to move and you want to sell your HOUSE. What are the best practices that will guarantee an easy sale? How do I get those good buyers to choose MY house over the one down the street? Follow this blog in the next few weeks and I’ll show you how.
Monday, April 12, 2010
Wednesday, April 29, 2009
Get Your Home Sold!
Fast rewind to 2004. In New Jersey, if there was a "For Sale" sign in front of your home, chances were that you had someone knocking on your door within 15 minutes to see it. There was no need to "stage". That word had no meaning back then in that hot market, where if it had 4 walls and a roof, it was sold in days for top dollar.
Now, however, the market has swung the other way. In most markets, for every able buyer there are now at least 10 properties begging for an offer. The buyers know their power and are squeezing the sellers until they say "Uncle!" Listing Realtors have also changed their tunes and are more willing to negotiate offers.
Given all the competition out there, I am astounded how many sellers just don't get it. The bottom line is, sold houses are not getting top dollar. Some sellers still believe that if they bought a house for $200,000 and put $100,000 into it, they should get back $300,000. The reality is, the sellers are more likely to get the original price or maybe less in some markets, with the $100,000 just making their house more competitive and saleable. When a house is priced to its value, it will sell within 3% of that price-and fast!.
Houses do NOT sell themselves anymore; they need to wow a buyer the moment the buyer is introduced to it, either on the Web, by a Realtor, or at an Open House. I have several buyers that insist they want a "fixer upper" (translation: "good deal"). What do they buy? The house with the slightly dated baths (the "fixer upper" part), new kitchen, and pretty flowers sitting on the table!
What would I recommend to sellers getting ready to put their home on the market? Bring in a Realtor, who is trained to competitively assess your home in the local market. You will also get suggestions on how to put your house on a buyer's "short list".
Next, I would remind the sellers that their home should be depersonalized, not sterile. A house with a little living warmth attracts buyers. However, too many knicknacks distract the buyers from being able to see themselves living in the home.
Now to the WOW factor. The first step is to declutter every room, including the garage. Rent a storage locker, a POD, and have a garage sale. Declutter the front porch and back yard too. Don't forget to trim the bushes.
Second, clean, clean, CLEAN!! Organize every cabinet (yes, buyers open every drawer in the kitchen!), wash all the windows, and bring in the sunlight wherever possible.
Third, freshen up the paint, update the bed and bath linens where possible. If you have wood floors, take up any dated carpeting, and if you have time, refinish the floors. You will see a huge return on investment.
On updating the kitchen and baths: do not overspend on these items for the type of house and neighborhood. Sometimes just refacing the cabinets and buying a new stove is all it takes to give your home that "WOW, I want it!" buyer response.
I remember when my husband and I put our 4 bedroom, 2 1/2 bath split up for sale in 1998. It was an ugly 1960's tract house in a great neighborhood. We had seventeen years of "stuff" clogging the room space, a 1980's kitchen and baths and a paneled family room. Back then, our Realtor took one look at our house (which, by the way, I thought was very updated!) and said, "Get rid of the STUFF!" We filled a storage locker with boxes and boxes of mementos, books, old albums (yes, the LPs), bikes, yard tools...it went out of the house.
Then I went to town cleaning...I mean, CLEANING. I took a toothbrush and bleach to the grout in the baths. I took disinfectant to every surface in the kitchen and degreased all the oak cabinets. Rugs were sent out to be cleaned. I replaced all bedding. I washed every window in the house, including the garage windows. We took down the paneling and put in drywall.
Our house went on the market at 5pm on a Wednesday night. We were still cleaning and we noticed literally, a parade of cars slowing down and checking us out from 5:15pm on! Our house was sold for full price by the open house on Sunday.
I bring up this point because I believe that had I not decluttered and cleaned my house, had we not freshened up the space with new towels and bedding, it would have been a different story.
So sellers, spruce up your space before taking on the real estate market! You will notice that a little elbow grease can bring a little more cash to your pocket!
Now, however, the market has swung the other way. In most markets, for every able buyer there are now at least 10 properties begging for an offer. The buyers know their power and are squeezing the sellers until they say "Uncle!" Listing Realtors have also changed their tunes and are more willing to negotiate offers.
Given all the competition out there, I am astounded how many sellers just don't get it. The bottom line is, sold houses are not getting top dollar. Some sellers still believe that if they bought a house for $200,000 and put $100,000 into it, they should get back $300,000. The reality is, the sellers are more likely to get the original price or maybe less in some markets, with the $100,000 just making their house more competitive and saleable. When a house is priced to its value, it will sell within 3% of that price-and fast!.
Houses do NOT sell themselves anymore; they need to wow a buyer the moment the buyer is introduced to it, either on the Web, by a Realtor, or at an Open House. I have several buyers that insist they want a "fixer upper" (translation: "good deal"). What do they buy? The house with the slightly dated baths (the "fixer upper" part), new kitchen, and pretty flowers sitting on the table!
What would I recommend to sellers getting ready to put their home on the market? Bring in a Realtor, who is trained to competitively assess your home in the local market. You will also get suggestions on how to put your house on a buyer's "short list".
Next, I would remind the sellers that their home should be depersonalized, not sterile. A house with a little living warmth attracts buyers. However, too many knicknacks distract the buyers from being able to see themselves living in the home.
Now to the WOW factor. The first step is to declutter every room, including the garage. Rent a storage locker, a POD, and have a garage sale. Declutter the front porch and back yard too. Don't forget to trim the bushes.
Second, clean, clean, CLEAN!! Organize every cabinet (yes, buyers open every drawer in the kitchen!), wash all the windows, and bring in the sunlight wherever possible.
Third, freshen up the paint, update the bed and bath linens where possible. If you have wood floors, take up any dated carpeting, and if you have time, refinish the floors. You will see a huge return on investment.
On updating the kitchen and baths: do not overspend on these items for the type of house and neighborhood. Sometimes just refacing the cabinets and buying a new stove is all it takes to give your home that "WOW, I want it!" buyer response.
I remember when my husband and I put our 4 bedroom, 2 1/2 bath split up for sale in 1998. It was an ugly 1960's tract house in a great neighborhood. We had seventeen years of "stuff" clogging the room space, a 1980's kitchen and baths and a paneled family room. Back then, our Realtor took one look at our house (which, by the way, I thought was very updated!) and said, "Get rid of the STUFF!" We filled a storage locker with boxes and boxes of mementos, books, old albums (yes, the LPs), bikes, yard tools...it went out of the house.
Then I went to town cleaning...I mean, CLEANING. I took a toothbrush and bleach to the grout in the baths. I took disinfectant to every surface in the kitchen and degreased all the oak cabinets. Rugs were sent out to be cleaned. I replaced all bedding. I washed every window in the house, including the garage windows. We took down the paneling and put in drywall.
Our house went on the market at 5pm on a Wednesday night. We were still cleaning and we noticed literally, a parade of cars slowing down and checking us out from 5:15pm on! Our house was sold for full price by the open house on Sunday.
I bring up this point because I believe that had I not decluttered and cleaned my house, had we not freshened up the space with new towels and bedding, it would have been a different story.
So sellers, spruce up your space before taking on the real estate market! You will notice that a little elbow grease can bring a little more cash to your pocket!
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