Sellers - Should I Stay or Should I Go? Go! Vamoose! Leave NOW!
The hardest shift for many sellers is moving from "I love my home" mode to "I'm selling a product" mode - because in the latter mode its all about buyers and their needs!
That's why most sellers hire a professional agent to handle things - your agent can be more objective about everything from pricing to staging to crafting the marketing message to the ultimate contract negotiations. Your professional agent will know how buyers and their agents think, and what matters most to them.
Plus - its never easy to hear someone criticising your personal choices, or pointing out something that was on your "honey do" list that you never quite got around to taking care of.
So plan to be scarce when buyers come calling. It may be the difference between getting an offer or not!
One of the biggest pet peeves that buyers have shared with me in my more than 20 years of being in this industry is when we arrive at a showing/inspection/final walk-through and the seller(s) are there.
I can sense the change in my clients immediately. Even if they love the house their moods change dramatically. Gone is the light heartness that I try to keep when we are on the search for their "perfect" home. The way they try to figure out if there furniture is going to fit in the living room or if their grandmother's hutch will fit in the dining room.
They go through the house as quickly as possible. They become like total strangers and are unable to really look at whether the door opened smoothly or if the view from the deck compensates for its current condition. They stop seeing the possibilities of painting a room in a different color as the seller's tell them that it was their dead child's favorite color. They feel like they don't dare open a drawer or cabinet. The silence can become deafening at times as the "seller" starts selling their home and in the process actually lets out more information than they should.
From my experience if you are a seller please don't stay in the house during a showing or any inspection. I know you are curious about who will buy your home, but refrain from going next door to a neighbors to "spy" on the potential buyers like one seller did or park your car in front of the home like another. "Your" home is not "your" home the moment you put it on the market. It is a product that needs to be sold. Divorce your emotions from "your" home. Keep your memories to yourself and take them to where ever "your" new home will be and start building new memories.
The new buyers will bring their own style, energy and make their "own" memories in "their" home. But only if you remove yourself during the selling process and leave it to the listing agent and buyer's agents to "sell" the home you are vacating. You may think you are the best person to "sell" your home but if you really believe that talk to some For Sale By Owners who after their initial foray into real estate by overwhelming numbers go and find a professional realtor to do the job!
Evelyn Santiago
Managing Broker - 630-251-0059
Heart Realty Group, Inc.
We are Passionate About Real Estate!
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