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The agents are the pros. You admit you are just guessing.
You interviewed these people for their experience and expertise. Trust them to know the market and who is looking/interested/moving in.
Sure, you COULD list your house with its dated interior and admitted "builder grade" materials. But you really don't want to have your house languishing on the market when you could spend a couple thousand dollars to make some changes that you may not personally need but that COULD be the difference in selling your home.
Find out who the majority of buyers are and do what would appeal to that majority. Sell it. Move on.
The idea that its millenials behind the super-depressing grayness of so many houses on the market these days is more than slightly ludicrous. My son is in that "millenial" grouping and neither he nor his very-status-conscious wife (she thinks I live in a "bad" neighborhood because she saw a loose dog here once) - NEITHER of them like the samey-samey-ness of the all-grey house. Or any grey at all. My son has said he could TOLERATE it - but he doesn't like or want it.
I saw a house where EVERYTHING was grey. EVEN THE CEILINGS - in the kitchen they were even dark grey! WHO DOES THAT? The flooring was some awful ancient-barn looking grey laminate. Walls, curtains, floors, ceilings, countertops - they even came up with grey appliances.
I don't know whose fault all this grey is but it doesn't seem to be "the millenials". I blame moron realtors who are giving people terrible advice about "updating" their homes before putting them on the market.
And no, I won't buy your grey house. Thanks anyway.
You interviewed these people for their experience and expertise. Trust them to know the market and who is looking/interested/moving in.
You've made this comment to me a few times now, so I'd like to step off topic for a moment to address it. I admire your attitude about trusting experts, and in a lot of ways I agree with you. I certainly respect people who have received training in their field. But at the same time realtors are human and not infallible. I will trust them with things such as handling complicated paperwork and marketing. Decorating advice? Not as much (although I'll listen and seriously consider their suggestions).
Even though they have the best intentions, realtors can make mistakes (and will not pay the price if it does turn out to be a mistake).
And while I'm on this side topic of being wary of expert decorating advice.... here's a public safety announcement. I've worked in public safety for 40+ years, and one thing I've learned is to be particularly wary of people who give advice about decorating. Sure, their idea might be pretty but they often have no clue that their advice is potentially dangerous.
I work with firefighters and with police, and I've seen some bad things happen as a result of well intentioned advice. For example, NEVER let a realtor (or anyone) tell you to leave a vacant house without any window coverings. Yes, the rooms will look extra light and bright. But when you have a break in, the realtor will not take responsibility or help pay for it. He'll just shrug and say "Oh I'm so sorry" and move on to the next client leaving you to deal with a problem caused by their irresponsible suggestion.
Also, please think about possible fire hazards. One of the realtors I interviewed told me to "hide an ugly heater with a drape" because buyers would have to walk by it en route to a media room built in the back of our basement. Apparently the chance of this being a fire hazard never even occurred to her. I couldn't believe she seriously suggests that to people, and this was a very successful realtor who otherwise would appear to be an expert. Sadly, this type of thing happens more often than you might think.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Wmsn4Life
But you really don't want to have your house languishing on the market when you could spend a couple thousand dollars to make some changes that you may not personally need but that COULD be the difference in selling your home.
1. I'm not sure if this is required to "keep my house from languishing" and
2. These redecorating expenses add up to significantly more than "just a few thousand dollars." If I did everything they insisted I needed to do, it would run about $20K.
And speaking about the money involved, do realtors guarantee their expert advice? Of course not. If I spent the $20K and did all these things and the house didn't sell, I'm the one who would be stuck with the bill and with a house that is not attractive to me. So before I plunk down that sort of money I want to make sure it's necessary.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Wmsn4Life
Find out who the majority of buyers are and do what would appeal to that majority.
Exactly the point of starting threads like this. It's research. Does this take up my time? Sure. But it's been the secret to my success, and how I was able to a survive a 40-year career and be able to afford retirement in the first place. There have been lots of experts in my life, and I do the same thing with all of them. They give good advice most of the time, but even so, if I had blindly trusted everyone who's ever given me financial advice I would be in trouble today. That's why I always do a little research before making decisions, I figure God gave us experts to give us ideas but brains to use.
OK, enough on this side topic. sorry about getting on soap box, sometimes I think my career in public safety has given me that habit, LOL. Back to discussing what Milleninals want vs. what they actually buy.
I don't think the grey fad will last forever- and as you said, I know not all milleninals (myself included) are into it.
With that said, I would prefer a house to have all neutral color paint throughout, but I think that goes for most people, not just millennials.
Totally agree. The more I look into it, the more I think that as long as the listing photos show walls that are neutral, most people (yes, including Millennials) will at least look at the house. I'm not really sure why some people think Millennials are so different from any other group of buyers, it seems to me people are people and ultimately location and affordability is what it's all about. Also don't know why one group of people would be presumed to all have the same specific tastes. HGTV is THAT strong of an influence. (I hope, LOL).
Last edited by Piney Creek; 03-22-2017 at 09:34 AM..
There are Millennials with money and Millennials without money. The creator of Snapchap is 30 years old and has an estimated worth of 4 billion. It would not be hard to believe that there are a few other employees worth millions due to stock options. It is pretty easy to see what a place sold for and what it looks like.
In Los Angeles I've seen nicely done up places go for over $200,000, 20% more than an old place with differed maintenance on the same street. You've seen this type home flipping shows on TV.
I think the idea of marketing to Millennials, is nothing new, they just didn't have the title Millennials before, they were called YUPpies and DINKs
Millennials are far from the only people buying houses.
Everybody, and I mean everybody, including me, would love to get $100,000 worth of upgrades that they don't have to pay any extra for. $100,000 worth of upgrades would make it easier for your real estate agent to sell the house. It does not benefit you.
The house should be clean and odor-free. Paint clean and neutral color. Flooring clean and not obviously worn. Trim the landscaping back so it looks tidy. Other than that, the buyer can pay for their own upgrades to suit their own tastes.
$30,000-$40,000 in upgrades might only bring you an additional $5,000 on the sales price. Appraisals are by the neighborhood and by the square foot, not by whether or not you knocked out walls and installed marble tile in the shower. Most buyers are getting mortgages and can't pay more than the appraisal.
I've had more than one real estate agent suggest costly modifications that I know for a fact wouldn't bring any additional price. They are looking for the ease of selling, not for maximizing what you can put in your pocket after the sale.
As a home owning millennial, it was all about location. I wanted a small house near a recreational area, in my case, Lake Michigan and a state forest. A fireplace, garage, small dining nook, and a sunny room to read in were all on my list and I ended up finding all of that at a bargain price.
Oh, I also avoided realtors like the plague that said something about granite countertops...........
To me, millennials are the generation where SOME had it good living at home with amenities and they want those same things that they had at home with mom and dad. NOT REALIZING that that was NOT mom and dad's first house, and it may not have been the condition the house was in when mom and dad bought it…before they came along. They don't KNOW ENOUGH for it to occur to them that the house they're buying may or may not have to be their forever house….especially if it's they're first. They're like young children who just "see it" and "want it." The think the housing inventory is what's on HGTV.
For me, I'd say that to know whether these realtors' comments are legit, I'd need to see just how "dated" your house is. Do you have NO updates since 1965? Was the last kitchen update in 1985? Have the bathrooms ever been remodeled? Is the kitchen original? What shape is the carpet in? Does the house have all rooms closed off from each other or is it "open floor plan" -- a phrase I WISH I had a dollar for every time I heard it?
Also, do you think you can be objective about your house…..from the perspective of fresh eyes.
Are TEN people telling you to do some work…or ONE or TWO people?
An elderly neighbor once said to me look at this 25 year old (rust and mottled colored carpet, that was the original color that rust mixed with born shag that was popular 30 years ago)…she said, "look at it, still in great condition, you'd never know I raised five kids on this carpet." I said nothing, but THOUGHT:" are you crazy it's old, dated, and HAS to be filthy underneath."
Later this month, I go to closing on my house that I'm selling. ONE realtor out of the 15 total agents who saw it (she was part of a 5 agent caravan) said MAYBE I should think about neutralizing a red accent kitchen wall. Well I got a full price offer in 5 days…so clearly -- uh -- I didn't need to "neutralize" anything. It really just shows ignorance to expect a 1970 house to have the huge master bath of today's houses.
What really gets me irritated is buyers expecting certain features in a home or neighborhood when that's not what the neighborhood IS. For example…..If you want modern…then don't even LOOK in old town Charleston, S.C. THAT is what's crazy….to want big closets and look for a house in old town Boston.
As a layperson, I'd say location and price are the paramount factors…condition is third. So obviously, if the first two are spot on…then condition can be in lesser shape and the house might still get some interest. Now granted, you may not clear out of the house the profit you want, but that's not the buyer's -- or a market -- issue.
Ultimately you have to decide how much and what you're willing to do before it's listed, to make it show as best it can. You could do what I did -- set a budget and do what you can for that budget. Keep in mind there will also likely be an actual inspection. So while you may spend money "prepping" the house for sale….there also likely will be additional items a buyer may ask to have done.
These questions come from my recent experiences looking for a listing agent. I couldn't believe how many people we had to interview, all of whom adamantly insisted that we needed to make expensive decorating changes to appeal to Millennials.
The funny thing is we interviewed people we thought would be very different, and in some ways they were. But all seemed to insist on marketing to Millennials and said things like "this group in particular has no vision and won't even look at your house unless they see listing photos with all these decorating changes."
We are talking about major changes including removing giant bathroom mirrors and builder grade vanities, removing all carpet, everything is painted grey, all hardwood is stained a dark color, etc. Surprisingly, they don't seem to think people care that much about roof or HVAC, but putting in a new trendy back splash is urgent. Some of the realtors were apologetic, some were pushy, some were very logical--but all were very insistent that making such renovations is a trend that cannot be ignored.
We went along with some of it (the carpet, mirror and vanity, not with the other changes), and we'll just have to see if Millennials will look at our place or not. Or if we sell it to someone from another age group. I'm trying to look at it as a scientific experiment to see if what they say is true.
Our listing realtor thinks we will be in for an unhappy surprise and is really pushing for us to do more. Not going to happen until we see how things go.
But it does make think this would be an interesting topic for this forum:
Is there a difference between what do Millennials say they want vs. what Millennials realistically buy? Also, are they really the only group worth marketing to?
EVERY generation has people who have champagne tastes but want a beer budget. Is this what you mean?
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It's research. Does this take up my time? Sure. But it's been the secret to my success, and how I was able to a survive a 40-year career and be able to afford retirement in the first place. There have been lots of experts in my life, and I do the same thing with all of them. They give good advice most of the time, but even so, if I had blindly trusted everyone who's ever given me financial advice I would be in trouble today. That's why I always do a little research before making decisions, I figure God gave us experts to give us ideas but brains to use.
