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Your emotional attachment to your house can cost you big $$$$

Reblogger
Real Estate Sales Representative with Re/Max Town Center

This has too often been true. Home sellers place a high emotional value on their home, which often doesn't translate, especially in a tough market. 

Original content by Tammy Lankford, GREC# 169695

Your emotional attachment to your house can cost you big $$$

Our homes are very personal to us.  And I know this from personal experience.  Thinking of my Grandmother's home brings warm happy feelings.  Thinking of my parents home does the same.  But when I think of the last two homes I lived in with my X husband I get a entirely different set of emotions.  And when I move the next time, I'm sure I'll be very attached to my current home... the one where I lived when all the children left the nest and became adults.  But when it comes time to sell you have move outside the feelings of your "home" and sell your "house".

I recently had an experience with a transaction where a divorce was involved and it caused the sellers to literally just walk away from a house that hadn't been properly cleaned because it was too emotional for either party to do so. Sometimes you just have to bite the bullet and pay someone to do a job that you can't do yourself.  I can promise you that if you leave your home clean then new buyers will appreciate it in their offer in the form of cash in your pocket.  Otherwise it will come across in their offer in more ways than one.  If buyers believe you lived in the home in that condition it's likely they will believe you neglected to maintain it as well as clean it.

And of course there is the other extreme.  The house that is completely your families home to the point that buyers can not even imagine their family "intruding" into your space.  You know the one, the one with the children's art on the refrigerator, the one with two dozen family photos in the greatroom, the one with "Olivia's Room" painted on the bedroom wall.  The one with no space at all for a new family. 

When you get ready to market your home, it should be a house ready for a new family to picture as their own.  After all, think about what you are leaning towards when you are looking for a new home for yourself.  Pack away those personal items & photos and your "collections", paint the rooms with warm neutral colors, call a professional stager if you need help.

You live in a home, but you sell a house.  You have to detach emotionally from your home and view it as a house when you put it on the market.  If you have warm feelings and are connected or if you harbor resentment and refuse to clean like the transaciton I had with a divorced couple it can cost you money and time.

Tammy Lankford/Broker (Lane Realty) Lake Sinclair : Real Estate Brokerage in Eatonton, Putnam County, Georgia706-485-9668

(Click on Lane Realty Logo for web site)

Tammy Lankford, Broker/Owner

Broker License # 169695  Lane Realty License # H-11420

Call me today for all your Lake Sinclair real estate needs.

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Posted by

Mary and Al Cardany

Realtor

240.832.0401

Client@CardanyRealtyGroup.com

Comments (3)

Don Wixom
RE/MAX Executives Nampa, ID - Nampa, ID
"Looking out for your next move..."tm

Al & Mary, thanks for re-posting this! I missed it the first time around. It's so true, that people need to detach themselves!

Sep 21, 2010 04:55 PM
Dan Edward Phillips
Dan Edward Phillips, Humboldt and Del Norte Counties, CA - Eureka, CA
Humboldt and Del Norte Counties, CA

Hi Al and Mary, great post, thank you for putting it back up!

Sep 21, 2010 05:04 PM
Doug, Marjorie & Kevin McKay
RE/MAX REAL ESTATE MOUNTAIN VIEW - Chestermere, AB
Calgary & Chestermere - 403-207-1776

I have never seen an appraisal give value for emotional attachment. 

How about we love this house too much to sell it for that price.

 

Sep 21, 2010 05:11 PM