You Aren't Selling the Love
You Aren't Selling the Love in the U.S. Virgin Islands.
If you have a home for sale in the U.S. Virgin Islands, you will want to read this blog carefully. There is often a debate on whether you should renovate or lower the list price, should you renovate before you sell? It is difficult to be objective about something that has been such a part of you but this needs to be a business decision.
You Aren't Selling the Love
When home owners have been in the same property for decades, they decorate the way they like it. They buy in the 1970's or 1980's and the vanities that scream "DATED" to the rest of us, are just their vanities. The basement they just finished last year, with wood paneling, is what they like. The choices they made over those decades are very personal.
Then in walks a Listing Agent like myself, with the news these owners don't want to hear. Their home is not worth $150,000 more than I am advising them. It is dated. And telling someone their home is dated can be difficult, especially when the entire place feels like a monument to 1979 or 1984.
This past week, one particular home owner, argued vehemently over the price. He took me to Zillow to see all the high prices of homes around him. He points out one that was listed just under where he wanted to be. I pulled up the MLs next to Zillow, found the home and he jumps for joy seeing the same figure he saw on Zillow. He doesn't understand it is a list price on an expired listing. Translation, it was an overpriced home that sat on the market for six months and didn't sell.
Reality when selling is tough, especially when you are living in a home that has very little updating since the decades ago when you purchased it yourself. That reality hit him, but he said, "But I want it to sell for more." It came across as a remorseful plea. He was convinced it could. There must be some way. When I asked how, he replied, "Because I love this house."
You're not selling how much you loved your home. You have to sell to what the buyers in today's marketplace love. If that is a lower level cabinet that the outdated pure wood you have in your kitchen, you have a choice to make. Remodel or suck up the lower price. You may not love the finishes that buyers in the market now love, but if I do my job right, you won't have to live with them. The object is to sell and go make your mark on another home.
Chris Ann Cleland, Associate Broker- Licensed in Virginia, GRI, SFR, Northern Virginia Short Sale Specialist. Affiliated with Long & Foster, 7526 Limestone Drive, Gainesville, VA 20155. To contact Chris Ann, call 703-402-0037 or email chrisann@LNF.com. Or you can visit her website: www.nvarealestate.net.
The opinions expressed in this post are those of Chris Ann Cleland, not those of Long & Foster REALTORS®.
Comments(2)