Realty Five of Defiance: Get Your Home Ready!

Ok, so you've debated for weeks and have finally decided that you want to sell your home. So, you contact you're favorite real estate agent and tell them to list your house. Unfortunately, the agent comes in, inspects your house then comes up with a laundry list of items that you need to do in order to sell your house. You're balloon is now deflated.

Many people don't realize the old adage that you only get one chance to make a first impression is so true when it comes to selling a house. Homebuyers, especially in today's market, are a selective group of people who are searching for the "perfect" house for them and their situation. It's not like buying a car where there are thousands of the same car out there. There are not two houses exactly alike in the world. There are some that look similar but because houses are attached to the ground, no other house has the exact same location, view or characteristics.

Thus, when a buyer comes by a house to see what it has to offer, they have to be able to see all that the house has to offer them that no other house can. I have often heard statements from sellers at listing appointments that they plan on doing something (clean carpets, paint a room, de-clutter the closets, clean the garage etc.) I say get it done ASAP because I have five days from the time we sign a contract to get this house on the market. Thus you have three days to get it done because on the fourth day I have to get pictures, get all my marketing material together and have it ready for the fifth day.

Now, as a seller all the things that should have been done and could have been done over the past few weeks has to be done in three days.

What happens if you don't get them done? Well, the house is starting to be advertised and a buyer comes to see it. Statistics tell us that the first few people who see a house are the most likely to buy it. If they cannot see this house for all it has to offer and it value then they walk away and see their next house. (As for value, the house also needs to be priced right, I'll save that for another post.) Not only that, but a house that is not in selling condition will not demand as high a price as one in selling condition. For example, if I had a house for sale and tried to sell it with carpet that looked dingy compared to one that had the carpets cleaned, I could sell the one with the cleaned carpets for litterally thousands more. Why? Because a house with dingy carpets tells a buyer that the seller was an unclean person, that the carpets will have to be replaced (though they may not) and to do so would cost them thousands of dollars plus the headache. Clean carpets also smell better and a clean smell always helps sell things at a higher price (think of buying a car with that new car smell compared to one that smells of some offensive odor)

In order to get top dollar for you home and to sell it quicker, begin to do some of those maintence items that you have been putting off. They may cost you a few hundred dollars now, but if you don't do them you will certainly be paying thousands later.

Here's a before and after of a house I have for sale. Which would you rather have?

Before and After Photos