Oh I love it when the market improves, you see sellers who just completely let it all hang out with the confidence someone will buy their house with all the warts and pimples on full display. I showed this house to lovely first time buyers yesterday. Things first time buyers think when they see a 99% empty house but random and possibly hazardous junk is left behind: Will they ever remove it, or would I be stuck with this stuff when we buy it?
The contract does call for a seller to leave the property "broom clean and free of trash and debris" but when it is obvious they've already moved out, it's hard for a buyer to believe they will ever remove their scary stuff.
Moral of the story - call a junk removal service BEFORE placing a home on the market.
The $300 it will cost you to remove the scary stuff from your house, is way less than the thousands of dollars buyers are discounting from the price because you left a very bad impression. This stuff was only a portion of what was left behind too. There was a basement full of miscellaneous junk, a broken down car, and a garage we were afraid to enter.
If this were my listing, I would have had it removed myself before putting it in the MLS, if the seller's circumstances didn't allow it to happen.
A true professional agent really should not place a property on the market in this condition unless it's a foreclosure with rock bottom pricing to compensate.
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