I went out yesterday with some new clients, who happen to be first time home buyers. They are trying to cope with finding a home that meets their needs, in a neighborhood they like, and for a price they can afford, just like anyone else. The 7 homes we toured were all between $450 and $500K, which in our area is at the lower end of the market. Scary! But the experience compelled me to sit down and share some advice.
SELLERS: PLEASE make sure your home really looks like a house that is being marketed to SELL, not one that is striving for the prize of worst home in the price range. I realize that we are all busy with daily living (jobs, kids, chores), and sometimes our personal situations can be pretty unpleasant (e.g., divorce). So keeping a house clean and neat can be tough. But when you list your home to sell in a competitive market, you are really hurting your chances if the house shows poorly and looks like a war zone. My buyers today were completely turned off by a couple of the homes they saw in their price range because they were such a mess and clearly needed lots of work - and who knows WHAT problems were beneath all the stuff. And since my buyers were pretty vocal about what they saw, you can be sure there will be similar buyers who might tour YOUR home and react similarly if it does not show REALLY WELL!
So I ask you - Does YOUR home encourgage buyers to think about buying it, or discourage them from it and send them sreaming out the door? Does the condition of your home make the others in the market look like a terrific value? My buyers couldn't wait to get out of one home we saw - we weren't in it for 30 seconds. I have to wonder where the agents are who listed these homes? Did they coach their clients on things they should do to make the homes look good and the clients ignored them? Or are these agents clueless? Anyone ever hear of staging to sell? So what do I do now, when these homeowners' agents call me for my buyers' feedback? Do I have to be honest with them about how these houses look and why my clients didn't like them or do I skirt the issue? Personally, I'm not at all surprised these properties have been on the market for well over 3 months. You know who you are. Please don't let this happen to you!
BUYERS: If at all possible, I would encourage you to TRY and overlook the kind of mess I am referring to here. I know it's tough, especially when you are fortunate to have a number of homes to consider in your price range, and some of them really show well. But try to overlook the fact that a home is a war zone, and really examine the home's overall potential to work for you, unless the amount of maintenance and fixing-up is much more than you can or want to cope with. Just because a house is a dump inside and the owners, or tenants, live like slobs, does not necessarily mean there are serious problems - although you should be cautious, since it often does mean there is alot of deferred maintenance.
Use your imagination! Try to pretend the house is empty, the loud or ugly wall colors are gone, the grass is mowed, the carpet is clean, last night's dinner is not still in the kitchen sink, and noisy friendly dogs are not jumping all over you, and consider what YOU could do with the home if you were to buy it. Turn on lights and open doors and shades so you can see better. And, as I have said before, DON"T simply toss out a listing you see on the MLS because of ugly pictures, or photos of a house that looks like a disaster area, unless the house really does not meet your needs. That ugly stuff is all removable or fixable!! And you might miss a diamond in the rough.
Well, now I feel better. Except I am not looking forward to those feedback calls. Maybe they don't care enough to call. Guess we'll keep on looking.
;)
;)
Unless the condition is reflected by the price it is really hard to overlook messy homes. They are good for one thing, setting up the buyer to buy a nice home when they finally find one!
kk