In A buyers market, there are two key ingredients to getting your property to move. The first is proper pricing, which I discuss in a different blog entry. The second is proper condition.
There are basically two markets here, the new construction market and the re-sale market. For this entry, I'm only talking about the resale market. I'll assume for arguments sake that new construction homes are already in excellent, showing condition (although we know that's not always the case).
Because there's a lot of inventory on the market here, buyers have lots of choices. Some people think that's great, some think it's not so great. Personally, I think it's good. I believe competition drives excellence. Lack of competition breeds laziness and mediocrity in my opinion, and I'm not a fan of either of those things.
Most conventional buyers are not in the market for a project. In fact, if they're seriously in the market for a new place to live, it's because they sold their old place to live, and in order to have done that, chances are they just finished a bunch of projects at their old house. While not ALWAYS true, most buyers are not looking for a project. They are, however looking for a deal.
Around here, everyon's having a great time saying "it's a buyers market." Which isn't entirely untrue, but I don't think it's as severe as folks are saying. But, preception is 9/10ths of realitys right? So when buyers are out looking, they're looking for deals. When buyers are looking for deals, they're looking for every little point they can negotiate on. Your job is to remove all those negotiating points.
I remember a listing a took years and years ago as a relatively new agent. The house was vacant and needed a good thorough cleaning and it needed new carpet. The sellers were insistant that we just give an allowance for carpet and paint. My professional opinion is that unless your sellers are just motivated and are not interested in getting top dollar, ALLOWANCES DON'T MAKE FISCAL SENSE. You'll end up giving a $10,000 allowance for $4,000 worth of work. Suck it up, and replace the carpet and heve the paint done professionally.
The key is to make people fall in love with the house from the second they drive up the driveway. Spend some money on landscaping and increase the curb appeal, hire a professional maid service to give your house a top down, PROFESSIONAL, cleaning, replace the carpet if it needs it, paint if it needs it. Don't put those items off on a buyer.
How would you feel if you went to your local car dealer and visited their used car lot and they wanted to sell you a car at full retail value, that needed new upholstery, and they said "Oh don't worry, we'll give you a couple thousand dollars back to get that fixed." There are far too many other places to buy a car where you don't have to mess with that. Same is true for houses in this market.
You absolutely can sell houses in this market. But there is a lot of inventory. If your listing has work that needs to be done, you can be pretty sure that if your buyers don't want to do that work, they can find another house that is adequate for them down the street. This is called the law of substitution. In a nutshell, and of course paraphrased by me, it says "There is an adequate substitue for your house, in your market, that doesn't need new carpet and paint, and that will be similarly priced." It just means there's so much available inventory that if your prospective buyer doesn't feel like replacing your carpet, there's a good chance they can drive 10 minutes and find a similar house that doesn't need the carpet replaced.
If you're serious about selling your house, and want it done in a timely manner and for a fair price it can be done, and we've done it. It take a little time, effort, and maybe even a little money. Selling your house is a big deal. Treat it that way, and you'll be pleased with the results.
Chris Hackett
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