Putting my house up for sale. Bad surprise.

[NativeFL]

As a current looker of houses in the Boston area, I can tell you what I look for and what turns me off.

I like to see modern furniture. When I see a house with country decor (in Mass??), it makes it very hard for me to envision my furniture in the space. Also, I like to see modern colors on the walls, not just plain white and definitely not wallpaper!!!!

Also, if I'm looking at a $660-700K house, I don't really want a lot of fixing up to do. I sure as heck don't want to put in a new kitchen or bathroom!

Also, as agent Valerie said, make sure your listing has a bunch of pics on it. I have about 70 houses saved at realtor.com right now and I think only about 5 or less that are saved just have the outside picture. I need to know if your house has what I"m looking for!

And yes, watch some of those hgtv shows.

[scarletfire]

I agree with Valerie that good photos make a BIG difference. You don't need pictures of every single thing in the house, just the most appealing features to pique buyers' interest. This was a big pet peeve of mine when we were house hunting. I couldn't believe how many agents posted dark, unappealing pictures, or photos of cluttered rooms. I know sometimes that's the seller's doing but I always found that funny. And oh my gosh, photos of bathrooms with the toilet seat up! Sure, that's just what home buyers are looking for! ;->

A thought re: staging, how about staging in only certain rooms that will give the most impact to save money?

Re: selling a home on a busy street, I agree that can definately be a challenge. My sister-in-law was interested in buying an antique home and around here they're often located on busy roads. In one house we visited the sellers had installed new windows in two of the front rooms of the house and it helped a lot, but of course that's not cheap. I knew their listing agent and she told me that before they had the new windows so many people had come through that loved the style of the house but couldn't deal with the road noise. They did sell it pretty soon after that, although I don't have any idea whether they recouped the cost.

[GFRNOW]

I am not a Realtor, I am a Broker and Certified Residential Appraiser.

Your friend is right - Price is the only reason a house doesnt sell. People have extremely unrealistic expectations of value. Staging means nothing if the house is over priced. The shows on TV for some reason only show what the house was "listed" at. NOT what it eventually sold at. They deal in hypothetical only.

You may want to find a brokerage that will list for a flat fee. (not the typical 5 percent) I do entryonly and flat fee listings that the big brokerages cannot do.


What most people need is an agent/broker that is not afraid to tell you the truth about your home - you need someone who is going to pick it apart before the prospective buyer and inspector does. Most people get POd
when someone comes in a criticizes a home. But it needs to be done.

I had one listing that thankfully I didnt get. The lady had craft crap everywhere - she wouldnt take any of it out. Why - "because its me" They also had the house over priced by 200k. They listed with the miss perky Realtor who couldnt sell wine to a whino. almost 2 years later it sells At below the price I said it would (the market slipped). After they fired the listing agent who had listed for a year and half with only 1 price reduction. Her incompetence(though not totally her fault) cost them over 100k. Plus the 50k in carrying costs.

You need to ask you self do you want to sell it or list it.

[MammaLakn]

I agree, its all about price! That and how badly you want to sell.

Our house has been on the market since May (job relocation) and its finally pending. We listed it LOW, around $15 - $20K lower than competing homes. Dropped the price by $5K, didnt really make a difference. Slashed another $10K off the asking price and got 2 offers within a week. Which is pretty good in a town where the total amount of home sales during the last 6 months is less than 10!

We sold well below appraised value, but atleast are walking away with a decent profit.

Im not a fan of staging, frankly Im put off by it. I have small children and I want to see that a house is being enjoyed/lived in. I cant envision my family in a home which looks like a pic in a magazine.

A PP mentioned the (s)he likes to see modern furniture and colors on the wall, I dont. I dont like country and wallpaper either. I love simplicity. The less furniture and nicknacks the better. My point is, you wont be able to please everyone. Then again you only need to find one person to like it.

Good-luck!

[CapeCodder]

The above poster makes a very good point. There is no way to stage for everyone's likes and dislikes. Keep it simple...put away clutter. KEEP IT SPOTLESS! Odors are a killer...if I walked into a house and it smelled like smoke...or dogs...or litter box...I was turned off. I also would remove any evidence of pets if you have any. You might want someone who will be honest with you to enter the house and "sniff"...you tend not to notice your own "houseitosis". Oh, clean your drawers in your kitchen and your closets, people with go through EVERYTHING when they're looking. Fix any minor things you might not even notice anymore. We had a leak repaired a year ago and didn't touch up the tiny spot it made and every potential buyer noticed it. It would have been much easier to just repaint the ceiling rather than explain why the spot was there.
Again...best of luck to you.

[haberstroh]

[/b] We had a leak repaired a year ago and didn't touch up the tiny spot it made and every potential buyer noticed it. It would have been much easier to just repaint the ceiling rather than explain why the spot was there.
[/b]

Well in an ideal world you would have to disclose this leak anyway. No matter if it is visible or not and especially if it was due to water. But then again MA is not very strict when it comes to disclosure laws, contrary to NJ where the potential buyer has the right to know every thing, even issues that the owner does not know about. Crazy! On the other hand...who likes to be lied about just to find out the damages later on.

[CapeCodder]

Originally Posted by haberstroh

Well in an ideal world you would have to disclose this leak anyway. No matter if it is visible or not and especially if it was due to water. But then again MA is not very strict when it comes to disclosure laws, contrary to NJ where the potential buyer has the right to know every thing, even issues that the owner does not know about. Crazy! On the other hand...who likes to be lied about just to find out the damages later on.

Yeah, the thing is we had fixed the leak right when it occured but never painted the ceiling (we had JUST painted it right before the leak happened).
Always hire a reputable home inspector anyway...so worth the money. We actually fell in love with a great old house in Maine and after the inspection we decided foundation work was not in the budget...we shelled out almost 1000 dollars on inspections...but I'm sure it saved us far more than that in the end.

[SuperGrover]

Thanks, plus one point for every reply.

I'm still not listed because the relo company demands I make certain fixes and reinspections. My basement is bone dry, but wiseguy inspector writes watermarks on floor into the report. Yes, when I mop the kitchen floor water drips into the basement in certain spots. Standing on one of the small discolorations and looking up, one notes that the basement ceiling exudes sunlight. Scientists have been contacted to resolve the mystery. Theres been a crack on the outside foundation since long before I've owned the place. Can we agree that a 55 year old house is finished settling?

On the bright side I beat down the guys at Pulte pretty good, as they're in loss cutting frenzy. Now its my turn.

[septimus]

Originally Posted by SuperGrover

Thanks, plus one point for every reply.

I'm still not listed because the relo company demands I make certain fixes and reinspections. My basement is bone dry, but wiseguy inspector writes watermarks on floor into the report. Yes, when I mop the kitchen floor water drips into the basement in certain spots. Standing on one of the small discolorations and looking up, one notes that the basement ceiling exudes sunlight. Scientists have been contacted to resolve the mystery. Theres been a crack on the outside foundation since long before I've owned the place. Can we agree that a 55 year old house is finished settling?

On the bright side I beat down the guys at Pulte pretty good, as they're in loss cutting frenzy. Now its my turn.

Our relocation company was useless... the said we could list it and we did and then after we had an offer in which the buyers' had seen the relocation company's pre-listing inspection report before making an offer and the relocation company tried making us do repairs even though the buyers had their inspection and didn't ask for any additional credits and what not....

Also make sure that your relo company is familiar with how RE transactions work in MA. Our relo company was supposed to pay out our equity as soon as we had an "offer" and they would take over the sale, which is why they wanted all the repairs done... but in MA an offer is just that and in many states it is also the P&S.

We finally got the relo company to realize that a 130 year old house will always have quirks and since the buyers knew what they were getting to give up on making us make repairs the stupid inspector wanted...

As for staging, we cleaned out about 1/3rd of the stuff in each room. We left our furniture behind since we were moving to temporary furnished housing and our realtor paid for staging and our house looked amazing. My sister said she didn't recognize it as mine

GL

[Panther16]

I think Staging a home makes all the difference. You should have a realtor who can help with the staging and also help guide you with the curb appeal and set up of things in your home as well. A home that is staged right and has nice curb appeal will sell much faster. Even things like painting a room and moving furniture around can make a big difference. If you have any other questions about staging please feel free to email me. Thanks