1. Staying home for the appraisal. The Appraiser is licensed by the state and is required to perform an unbiased appraisal. Offering cookies, charm or discussion about why your home is VALUABLE will not help the appraisal.. After the appraisal is done the mortgage company almost always reviews the appraisal from afar. In other words, if the Appraiser inflated your home by 3% the Underwriter would likely catch it and order a new appraisal. The loan would be delayed and the buyer may become paranoid about buying the home all together. Simply put, don't be home trying to aid the Appraiser.
2. Painting window seals is usually a sign the seller is painting over holes where termites have eaten. The wisest thing to do is replace the wood, disclose the situation on your sellers disclosure and treat the area. Of course, get advice from a Termite professional.
3. Offering "closing costs assistance" on the MLS is like saying.. "We Sell Cheese With Our Pizzas!" out front of your local pizza parlor. WE KNOW. It's understood that the seller will be either providing a concession or reducing their price to some point. The promoting of closing costs help is over used and no longer effective.
4. JUST REDUCED signs on your real estate sign or on the MLS makes you look desperate, unable to sell, and unwanted. Imagine going to a dating website and seeing someones profile picture that had a banner above their head that read....... Passed Over Again.
5. I always shake my head when I see a home reduced by $1,500.00. People look for homes priced in increments of 5, 10, and 20 thousand dollars. If you were priced at 295k and decided to reduce to 291k then that would be a perfect example of doing nothing but simply giving money away. You have to DROP to 290k that way you can be viewed by buyers and their agents in a whole new price bracket.
6. IF YOU ARE SERIOUS ABOUT SELLING then try to NEVER decline a showing. Buyers and buyers agents really don't care if the dishes haven't been cleaned. We REALLY just want to see the floor-plan, rooms and so on. If your daughter is sick, fine, but allow us to see the REST of the home. We'll work around it. Sometimes a seller being home for this reason is understandable.
7. SILLY REQUESTS prevent you from selling! Requesting a 30 minute or 1 hour window can get you passed on. Our showing service give us a TWO hour time slot to see a list of homes, usually 8. If your home has a very specific and narrow window, we may not be able to logistically work around your requests. The homes are mapped out on paper in a sequential order to provide a quick route to see as many homes in as little as time as possible.
8. You might like the scent of sugar cookies, but not everyone else does. Imagine if the candle has been burning for an hour before we show up. The living room is overbearing and almost nauseating to SOME buyers. Same goes with cinnamon, pumpkin spice and so forth. The best thing is a squirt or two of Fabreeze. A non scented product is best.
9. People WILL use your bathroom. Provide TP, Soap, towels and such. Discard any Hustler magazines, Tabloids, Muscle or Monster truck mags too. People love to "figure out the seller." While it may not matter, it's best to keep things clean, simple and orderly.
10. YES your home smells like DOG. Dog's pee, crap, pass gas and do other animal type things. You likely don't brush their teeth after every meal and they probably don't get 2 showers a day. Many buyers do not like pet odor. Plain & Simple. SMOKE OUTSIDE & THROW AWAY butts.
11. It's best to remove political items that could turn buyers off. I once showed a buyer who noticed a book about HITLER and the 3rd Reich. After seeing this book he noticed an entire wall of books about Adolf, Germany and other potent stuff that pissed him off. We left the house immediately.
12. If you're going to leave the radio on it's wise to leave it on a station that doesn't play offensive music. Any song that sings about running from cops, gettn jiggy with it or smoking drugs may turn off a soccor mom or the older couple that won't find it as cool or amusing. In Houston we have 99.1 a contemporary adult radio station.
13. It's never a bright idea to leave your bills, paperwork from your listing agent, divorce attorney or cpa laying out on the breakfast table!
14. Shotguns, pistols, swords, knives, beat sticks, numb chucks, wips, Chinese stars, brass knuckles should ALL be be stowed away. I've seen EVERYONE of these in houses. It's BAD because it's associated with death, violence and unhappy thoughts. Most Texans have a small bunker of weapons, and that's understandable, but PUT THEM AWAY when selling your home! We don't want to see a loaded .357 on top of the fridge.
15. Hunters just don't get it. A slew of dead heads on all the walls in the house is a ENORMOUS turn off. A stuffed bobcat with a bird in it's paw isn't cute, cool or neat; it's a foolish and arrogant way of saying..... "I DON'T CARE WHAT PEOPLE THINK." You are proud of your kill and that's fine, but use some common sense.
16. Trampolines, above the ground pools, punching bags in the breakfast room, 88 pairs of shoes by the front door are not okay. Put them all away...
NOBODY and I MEAN NOBODY likes above the ground pools. If you're thinking about selling I suggest you poke a hole in that sucker and drain the water. You enjoyed it, now throw it away. It actually TURNS OFF BUYERS!!! No above the ground pool is worth showing off when selling.
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