It's All In What You're Used To 
Going home for the holidays can remind you of the differences in life. Choices in lifestyle that demonstrate how differently we can choose to live.
My parents retired to West Virginia some years ago, back in the mountains in a place called Bartow. If you look on the map for it, you'll have to look hard. It's a small place with no stoplights, none of the "modern" conveniences we take for granted in our daily lives. There's no Wally World, no burger joints, no large grocery store. Life requires some planning. That midnight craving isn't so simple as running down to the corner store. And while there's plenty of high speed Internet service, WiFi and cell phones are forbidden due to blackout requirements with the National Radio Astronomy Observatory just down the road in Green Bank.
It's a little bit of an adjustment when we visit, not having that cell phone always ready to go, laptops tied to a cable, but you adjust. There's a river on the back of the property, beautiful mountains all around, fresh air, peace, nature at it's best.
Now we often ask our sellers for similar adjustments when they're ready to sell their home. They're used to living a certain way, and that way may not gel with what the general public may want. It may be "just right" for the seller's day to day lives, it IS what you're used to and it works for you, but it's not optimal to convincing the buying public that YOUR home is the right one for them.
That's where we ask for changes. Since we work with both buyers and sellers, we know what the buyers are looking for, what they're saying when they walk in a home. It's experience we can use to help our sellers be better positioned to grab that buyer's attention.
Now the things we ask our sellers to do aren't always what is ideal for living in a home, but living in a home and SELLING a home are often radically different. Big furniture that shrinks room sizes, the collections that fill the shelves, bright colors and wallpaper. They're all possible turnoffs to the prospective buyers.
You may not like all our recommendations, you may even choose to ignore those requests. Your home, your life, your choice. Just be aware that those recommendations are in YOUR best interest and putting years of experience to work to shorten your time on the market. Those changes are perhaps the difference between SELLING your home, and continuing to LIVE in your home.
If you have questions about the home selling process and how we can help you, please don't hesitate to contact us!
Serving Warren County's residential real estate needs,
Liz and Bill aka BLiz
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