Fixtures and furnishings

You may want to strip everything from your house that is not nailed down. If you are asking premium price, Buyers will know it.  Getting your price while keeping all of the appliances, light fixtures, drapes, tracks and garden shed is not a successful strategy. 

Make your sale by leaving things – On The House.

Two peas in a pod

Have you rented a pod to fill up with your clutter & stuff while your house is on the market?  Please do not leave that pod on your driveway when the For Sale sign is posted.  It is an eye sore.  Potential Buyers and your neighbours will be put off.  Have the pod removed to storage while you wait for the Sold sign.

Store until your sale is in the bag.

Blue Boy and Pinky

Nothing says “Grandma lives here” more than the needlepoint pictures of the Blue Boy and Pinky.  You may have inherited these pictures.  They are dear to your heart.  To a Buyer they just say – old, tired and dusty.  Any old pictures, needlepoint or paint by number, that were completed 40 – 75 years ago need to stored before your house is on the market.  

Let Blue Boy have his day in hallways at the “home”.

Pease porridge hot

When the market is really hot, you will want to have your house listed right away.  Think twice.  Even if you are not going to stage your house, you will increase its value by doing necessary repairs and cleaning.  Buyers are picky and want to get value for their money. 

When it comes to the market;  Some like it hot, some like it cold .

Some like it on MLS, nine days old.

Zinger 119

What professional are saying about: Why fix it if I am just going to sell it?

Many houses are sold “as is”.  Some in more need of work than others.  For seniors, estate managers and people with  neither the time/talent nor the budget to make repairs, at least get estimates of what the new roof, new furnace, sealed basement and hardwood floors will cost.  Let the estimating companies know that you will leave the estimates for Buyers to see.  There are a lot of Buyers out there looking for bargains and willing to put in a low ball offer.   If you want more for your house, do some of the repairs first. 

Let Buyers know that you know what needs to be done.

There are Sellers who think that Buyers will overlook all the work that has to be done and just buy the house “as is”.  From a bargaining position, being up front with the work required lets Buyers know that you (the Seller) have priced the house to reflect what is still needed and that putting in an offer with the list of deficiencies would be redundant.

Photo credit:  Fixer Upper @ http://www.flickr.com/photos/whitetrashtexas/3812700975/

Check out what industry experts have said about this post @ http://activerain.com/blogsview/1902129/why-fix-it-if-i-am-just-going-to-sell-it-

 

Valerie Zinger           

Fear of heights

If your are selling, stand down the street from the house and look at the shingles.  If they are blistered, cracked, broken or missing, it is time to correct the damage and replace the shingles before water gets into the house.  If you can see the damage then so can the Buyer and his home inspector.

Scale the heights for your sale.

 

Zinger 116

Wait a minute. My neighbour’s house sold for more.

We are in a strange period of the housing market.  This spring, houses were being whipped off the market in a day with a bidding war and the sold price was higher than the list price.  Now it is the fall and listings are starting to linger for days and sometimes weeks.

What your neighbour’s house sold for is no longer the only comparable you need in order to understand what may happen when your house sells.  Get the sales information for the past 90 days and in a wider area than just down the block.  It is good to see what the list versus the sold price is and take that into account.  There are still bidding wars when a  house price is too good to be true.

I will always recommend going for current market value and depend on informed Buyers and Sellers to get to the “real” value.

Days on the Market – DOM

Buyers and Buyers’ agents are very interested in knowing the number of days that a particular house has been on the market.  The question sounds like – “How long has this house been for sale?”  Why is this important? 

A house that has been on the market for less than a couple of weeks is still hot.  If it is just listed and properly priced then it may be sizzling hot – subject of a bidding war in a Sellers’ Market.  A potential Buyer may want to avoid newly listed houses just because of the bidding war situation.  Conversely, some Buyers will only look at new listings assuming that older listings are “picked over”. 

If the house has been on the market for a long time, Buyers and agents will be asking what is the problem.  Is it the wrong price?  Is there a problem with the house that the MLS pictures do not show?  Is there a stigma to the house or neighbourhood?  Maybe the Sellers are stubborn and refuse to move on their price or they are just listing the house to see what the market will bear and are not really interested in selling unless they find an uninformed Buyer. 

DOM (Days on the Market) for an area is also interesting to a Buyer and Seller.  For the Seller, there is no need to lose sleep about not selling a home in a week if the average DOM in the area is 28 days or greater.  If houses turn over quickly then the Seller will have some indication that the price may be wrong.  For the Buyer, looking in an area with a high DOM means that, when selling the house at a later time, he or she can expect it to take longer than in more popular areas. 

There is a lot of information available to Buyers and Sellers to make informed pricing and buying decisions.

Photo credit:  PriceReduced @ http://www.flickr.com/photos/37486024@N03/3490989249/

Guns and roses

If you are going to put your house on the market and you have guns, be prudent and store them  away from the house and from where strangers are going to see them. This might be a thorny topic for some but why worry about your guns being stolen?  Replace the Buyers’ interest with a couple of wonderful bouquets of roses. 

 Replace cold metal with symbols of love and friendship.

Zingers 114 

Selling and Decluttering – The Front Hall Closet

Your front hall closet is going to be viewed when Buyers come to look at your house.  Most people have the front hall closet packed tight.  Before you put your house on the market,  de clutter the closet. 

Buy a box of wooden hangers (they look solid and substantial while costing less than a dollar each).  Take out all the coats and jackets and choose one or two for each person in the house – one if there is little space, two if there is more room.  Take out anything that is not coat, boot, scarf and glove related.  Find a different place in the house for these items.  If it summer, take out the winter coats and vice versa.  You can pack your seasonal coats and outerwear now, in anticipation of the move.  You might take this opportunity to have your coats cleaned and/or given to the Salvation Army.

When everything is out of the closet, sweep and wash it.  Toss the bent hangers and mismatched mittens.  Find a new home for your dozen purses, vacuum cleaner and the kitty litter bag. 

Hang on to your Buyers with a clean, organized and spacious closet.

Photo credit:  Coat Hanger Cintre @ http://www.flickr.com/photos/21025851@N00/2169219432/

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