I recently received an email from a frustrated home seller. He found my ‘Ask-An-Expert’ section on my Muskoka Real Estatewebsite when searching for advice on selling his Muskoka home.
He told me that he has his beautiful home listed with another Agent, and is wondering why it is taking so long to sell. He has had numerous viewings and open houses, and made a few price adjustments, but after nearly 2 yrs on the market, still no offer.
Here is his email to me, with supporting pictures. Please take a look at this and give your opinion...
“Dear Sasha,
I have been trying to sell my home for the past 2 years now! To say I am frustrated with the whole situation is an understatement. My Agent gave me some pointers and suggestions just before we listed, and I did what was asked of me. He suggested that we make the house more ‘child friendly’, as it was likely that the potential buyers would have young kids. He also told me that in order to promote the listing well on the internet, that we should draw focus on ‘features’ of the home in pictures.
My Agent also pointed out that we should try to promote the age of the house on the outside by giving it more character, while modernizing and upgrading the inside. Apparently, this is what potential buyers now look for when buying a home. I have included some pictures for you, with details of the work that I have put into the home....
To appeal to families with small kids, I thought they would appreciate knowing that their kids would not be able to lock themselves in the bathroom.
Also, as an added bonus, I installed a kid-size handrail at the main entrance.
For 'features' I tried to work with what I have.
In the home-office I simply just had to place the computer in the middle of the room in order to 'draw focus'.
I even came up with an idea of my own! To impress the guys who 'want-it-all' I installed a plug in the shower so that they can shave too!
To make the house look a little more up-to-date, I installed those wood and glass doors that everyone seems to be raving about...... 
And to add more 'character' to the outside, I made some improvements to the windows 
.....
I can honestly say, without prejudice, that I do not know where the problem is! Oh...I forgot to mention....
During the course of the listing being on the market, my wife and I had a terrible break-up. No matter what I did to help try to make our home more 'sellable', she just kept nagging me and telling me that I had no idea what I was doing! I'm sure you understand that there is only so much of that kind of talk that a man can take, so I made changes to the front door so that she was no longer able to live with me.
This has caused a few minor issues when buyers have wanted to come view the house inside, but I told my Agent that I would leave the window open for them.
I am BEGGING you to tell me what else I can possibly do to help sell my home!!! Thanks in advance for your time."
Disclaimer: the contents of this post is purely fictional, apart from the pictures that are very real!
I hope you enjoyed taking the current frustration with market conditions to a momentarily humorous level.
Comments(10)