Sellers here's some good advice - there's a good amount of information that I've given for sellers preparing their house but there are some things that agents wish they could say to sellers in these instances! Dead animals adorning the walls (taxidermists), guns out to possibly show the sellers prowess. These things HAVE TO BE put away for your home to show in it's best light.
Throw in some humor like an agent from Texas, Greg Nino did and I'm sure I'll be making my point. Enjoy, and oh by the way, an above ground pool is nothing more than an oversized bird bath for buyers in Illinois! They don't care.
1. Staying home for the appraisal. The Appraiser is licensed by the state and is required to perform an unbiased appraisal. Offering cookies, charm or discussion about why your home is VALUABLE will not help the appraisal.. After the appraisal is done the mortgage company almost always reviews the appraisal from afar. In other words, if the Appraiser inflated your home by 3% the Underwriter would likely catch it and order a new appraisal. The loan would be delayed and the buyer may become paranoid about buying the home all together. Simply put, don't be home trying to aid the Appraiser.
2. Painting window seals is usually a sign the seller is painting over holes where termites have eaten. The wisest thing to do is replace the wood, disclose the situation on your sellers disclosure and treat the area. Of course, get advice from a Termite professional.
3. Offering "closing costs assistance" on the MLS is like saying.. "We Sell Cheese With Our Pizzas!" out front of your local pizza parlor. WE KNOW. It's understood that the seller will be either providing a concession or reducing their price to some point. The promoting of closing costs help is over used and no longer effective.
4. JUST REDUCED signs on your real estate sign or on the MLS makes you look desperate, unable to sell, and unwanted. Imagine going to a dating website and seeing someones profile picture that had a banner above their head that read....... Passed Over Again.
5. I always shake my head when I see a home reduced by $1,500.00. People look for homes priced in increments of 5, 10, and 20 thousand dollars. If you were priced at 295k and decided to reduce to 291k then that would be a perfect example of doing nothing but simply giving money away. You have to DROP to 290k that way you can be viewed by buyers and their agents in a whole new price bracket.
6. IF YOU ARE SERIOUS ABOUT SELLING then try to NEVER decline a showing. Buyers and buyers agents really don't care if the dishes haven't been cleaned. We REALLY just want to see the floor-plan, rooms and so on. If your daughter is sick, fine, but allow us to see the REST of the home. We'll work around it. Sometimes a seller being home for this reason is understandable.
7. SILLY REQUESTS prevent you from selling! Requesting a 30 minute or 1 hour window can get you passed on. Our showing service give us a TWO hour time slot to see a list of homes, usually 8. If your home has a very specific and narrow window, we may not be able to logistically work around your requests. The homes are mapped out on paper in a sequential order to provide a quick route to see as many homes in as little as time as possible.
8. You might like the scent of sugar cookies, but not everyone else does. Imagine if the candle has been burning for an hour before we show up. The living room is overbearing and almost nauseating to SOME buyers. Same goes with cinnamon, pumpkin spice and so forth. The best thing is a squirt or two of Fabreeze. A non scented product is best.
9. People WILL use your bathroom. Provide TP, Soap, towels and such. Discard any Hustler magazines, Tabloids, Muscle or Monster truck mags too. People love to "figure out the seller." While it may not matter, it's best to keep things clean, simple and orderly.
10. YES your home smells like DOG. Dog's pee, crap, pass gas and do other animal type things. You likely don't brush their teeth after every meal and they probably don't get 2 showers a day. Many buyers do not like pet odor. Plain & Simple. SMOKE OUTSIDE & THROW AWAY butts.
11. It's best to remove political items that could turn buyers off. I once showed a buyer who noticed a book about HITLER and the 3rd Reich. After seeing this book he noticed an entire wall of books about Adolf, Germany and other potent stuff that pissed him off. We left the house immediately.
12. If you're going to leave the radio on it's wise to leave it on a station that doesn't play offensive music. Any song that sings about running from cops, gettn jiggy with it or smoking drugs may turn off a succor mom or the older couple that won't find it as cool or amusing. In Houston we have 99.1 a contemporary adult radio station.
13. It's never a bright idea to leave your bills, paperwork from your listing agent, divorce attorney or cpa laying out on the breakfast table!
14. Shotguns, pistols, swords, knives, beat sticks, numb chucks, wipes, Chinese stars, brass knuckles should ALL be be stowed away. I've seen EVERYONE of these in houses. It's BAD because it's associated with death, violence and unhappy thoughts. Most Texans have a small bunker of weapons, and that's understandable, but PUT THEM AWAY when selling your home! We don't want to see a loaded .357 on top of the fridge.
15. Hunters just don't get it. A slew of dead heads on all the walls in the house is a ENORMOUS turn off. A stuffed bobcat with a bird in it's paw isn't cute, cool or neat; it's a foolish and arrogant way of saying..... "I DON'T CARE WHAT PEOPLE THINK." You are proud of your kill and that's fine, but use some common sense.
16. Trampolines, above the ground pools, punching bags in the breakfast room, 88 pairs of shoes by the front door are not okay. Put them all away...
NOBODY and I MEAN NOBODY likes above the ground pools. If you're thinking about selling I suggest you poke a hole in that sucker and drain the water. You enjoyed it, now throw it away. It actually TURNS OFF BUYERS!!! No above the ground pool is worth showing off when selling.
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Greg Nino is Licensed Real Estate agent & Team Leader for GT & Associates. We proudly serve all of Harris, Montgomery, Brazoria & FT. Bend County. Our expertise & professional services are available 7 days a week.
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GOOD MORNING LYN! Nice re-blog - this did make me laugh! Often, when I pull up and see trucks with rifles in the rear window - I am prepared for the deer looking at me as I open the front door! -- Gab
Good points, Lyn. What may be common sense for some, is overlooked by others!
It's the little things we do that makes a difference in the way that our home shows. Excellent information to reblog.
The home I live in was built and lived in buy a hunter. He had stuffed animals all over, with one being a full standing deer.
Fortunately, we were able to look beyond that and loved the house. We had been looking off and on for a couple years. (Getting ready to relocate from San Francisco to Phoenix) We knew this was the house for us (sans animals) and made an offer that evening.
Gab: LOL, yes I guess in your area that's true. My brother in law is a wiley hunter & has been all over the globe. They have a bear in their familyroom & even a zebra skin. When it comes time to sell, we pack it all up to the local storage locker.
Bill: Besides a full sized deer takes up alot of valuable room for things that people usually want space for - like furniture!
Lyn, That Greg is so subtle and soft spoken, I would love to be a fly on the wall for one of his listing presentations.
Steve: I can see a few similarities in our styles. I think he's getting pretty crabby for his old age maybe even jaded. I'm sure he will always tell you how it really is.