Your emotional attachment to your house can cost you big $$$$

Tammy this can be one of the biggest obstacle in getting a home ready for sale.    It can take some prodding but it is possible to get a seller to let go to some extent.

Tammy - I like this expression too:  "You live in a home, but you sell a house." If all seller's looked at it this way, our job would be (a little) easier. Nice post.

Hi Tammy -- As a REALTOR and an ASP, I totally agree with you and to do less than you describe, is simply leaving money on the table unnecessarily.  I try to gently convey to seller clients, one a trust relationship has been established, that they can take all their memories with them, and that those memories are theirs, and theirs along to keep and cherish.  That seems to re-orient their view sometimes and with a few other concepts and strategies, we become a united team and we both want the same goal.

As real estate agents, we have a leg up on most of the public when it comes to detachment.  I have found myself amused over the years as Sellers have protected their nests as if they were one of their arms or legs.  I personally have been in and out of thousands of homes so they now are to me what they are...concrete, wood studs, windows, doors, etc.  The "home" goes with us when we leave our "house" and carry ourselves and our memories away with us.  Thanks for the blog.

I completely agree with Valerie. As harsh as it sounds, we (delicately/tactfully) state to the buyers that once they've made the decision to sell their home, it's no longer a home - it is a house, more plainly put - a product. It is indeed a fine line to draw when you're so connected to that product, but using that tactic is the best way for them to detach themselves from it. Expressing our compassion and understanding of their emotions is helpful as well. Once they begin the process of de-personalizing it, it'll be easier for them to sell, which is after all the desired goal, right?

GREAT points, Tammy!  It's a fine line between over-doing it and way under-doing it in home preparation...when in doubt, ask a brutally-honest friend, or have a home stager in for a consult....it will be worth it!

Sharon Lord
Argent Decor
AZ Vacation Home Furnishing Service

100% agree with this. I've run into multiple transactions where the home sellers placed a higher value on their home than it was worth due to their emotional attachment. In the long run, it lost them a quick sale.

Tammy, people definitely need to detach themselves when selling their home. I have always loved your statement,"You live in a home, but you sell a house."

Tammy, what great points you bring out.  HOUSE and HOME have 2 different emotional connotations and the wise REALTOR learns to use those terms interchangeably depending on the situation.

It's always a problem when people think their house is worth more just because it has a lot of memories, or they spent a lot of time working on it.  I always walk people through the logic of why a home is worth a particular price.  If they can't look at it logically, then selling will be a huge problem.  I had this happen with a listing and the sellers eventually took over a million dollar reduction because they overestimated what there house was worth while the market was dropping.

Tammy...

A home becomes a product, and that product must be properly presented. Thanks so much!

Good post today for sure.  Yes, people often hang on to the emotion and think that a buyer will "buy off on that"  pun intended!!  Not the case however, i always tell my sellers to take the emotion out of the sale.

Patricia/Seacoast NH

Well put Tam ! I always tell my sellers - you dont want the buyer to walk in and say "This is someone elses really nice home" you want them to say "I could see this being MY really nice home !"

Tammy ~ it's so true that potential buyers can get the feeling that they're "intruders" in someone's home when everywhere they look they see photos of the family members, their vacations, award certificates on the walls, kids artwork on the fridge, toys in every room, etc.  Sellers need to put those items out of sight, so that a buyer can see the home, not their stuff.  Good post ~ I hope sellers are paying attention!

I'd go even further, and would argue that emotional attachment to most material things is a major cause of problems in life, but then you'd call me a Buddhist and you'd probably ask me to go to a different website. All kidding aside, the post is right on the money.  It sometimes becomes very important to work with a home stager, so that the seller can get an independent (objective) view of their product (house) rather than their own (subjective) view.

Thank you so much, Tammy!

This is a great post, and so accurately describes what I run into on a daily basis.

Emotional attachment is the #1 issue when it come to both Pricing and Presentation.

You certainly get the sellers who have put absolute blood, sweat, and tears into upgrades in the property. And, it ends up being THE worst when they opted to take care of all of the labour on their own to "save" money. All they end up remembering is how many hours they spent, and how much of theirselves they put into the property.

Then you have the sellers who have raised their children in the property. Heck, there are still the pencil/pen marks on the kitchen wall showing the successive heights of the children as they grew up. Their struggle comes from trying to determine how to put a price on so many years of memories, turmoils, and accomplishments. These are the sellers who are most reticent to pack away truly personalized items. They seem to get stuck on wanting to memorialize life with objects.

Ahhhh, yes, and then the divorce/death/illness/lay-off situations. Has anyone else noticed the thick negative energy in these properties? And, there always seems to be at least a little evidence of the trauma left lying around. Guess what? Buyers pick up on these situations immediately. What transpires next? The buyer either runs away from the listing with their tail between their legs, or they make truly low-ball offers and take advantage of the situation.

The main question I always present my clients (sellers) with is this: "What is your ultimate goal right now in life? Do you truly want to sell this property and move on to the next chapter in your life?"

Of course, they always say that, yes, they do want to sell the property.

So, I educate them, and explain to them that their "Home" is now just a product that needs to be disposed of in order to realize their goals. So, this "Product" needs to be marketed in such a manner where every single potential buyer can easily envision moving right on in.

But, that is not enough. There is education required when it comes to accurately pricing their product. Buyers on the market are savvy, and know what products are worth. They have done their homework. I tell my clients that buyers will dictate whether a product is priced right. Buyers simply will NOT pay more than what a property is actually worth.

Great replies to everyone else!!!!

Then