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***This isn't SD-specific per se, but seeing how this is the first housing market we've looked in where people repeatedly don't follow some of these basic rules, it seemed the right place to post this.***
The wife and I are looking to buy a home in the North County area (specifically PUSD) and have been amazed at how many sellers don't seem to follow some of the general guidelines of selling a home, specifically when it comes to showing it. Granted, I understand that some circumstances don't allow a seller to do all these things, but some just don't seem to have a clue. So, from a potential buyer's perspective, here are some things that sellers should keep in mind:
1) Post a 'FOR SALE' sign. Yes, this is a digital age where most of us start our house-hunting expedition online, but there is still something to be said for the tried-and-true method of driving around a neighborhood looking for houses for sale. More than once I've gone into a neighborhood looking at one house and driven past another with a sign posted. If I like the neighborhood, I'm guaranteed to grab a flyer from that house as well. That brings up the second point: don't run out of flyers. Yes, they go surprisingly fast and you may need to fill it almost daily, but nothing's more frustrating than seeing a house you may be interested in only to not be able to get the info.
2) Pics, pics, and more pics! You simply cannot have enough pictures of your house online. If you can post enough pictures online that I can virtually walk through your house from the comfort of my couch, it's a huge perk. That being said, I don't need 4 pics of your front lawn if the only difference between them is that you moved 6" to the left each time you snapped it. Pick the best and go from there. Also, make sure the pictures you take make sense to someone who has never been to your house. This can be tricky, admittedly, but a good trick is to include some perspective from one picture to the next (like a piece of furniture or a window). Light helps as well! Open as many windows AND turn on as many lights as possible. The brighter the better. In many cases your realtor should have good experience with snapping pictures that best showcase your house or at least know someone who can. If they don't/can't, find someone who can. Almost all of us know a shutterbug or two who probably wouldn't mind snapping a few pics with a good quality camera.
3) If you have the resources, stage! The upside to channels like HGTV is that sellers can see how easy it is to stage a home. The DOWNSIDE to channels like HGTV is that buyers can see how easy it is to stage a home. To be honest, it's somewhat expected in today's market. Yes, it can be difficult to stage a house and keep it looking that way if you live there, but at minimum spend some time staging the house for the pictures. The biggest key to staging is to minimize everything! You want just enough furniture and items for a buyer to get the sense of what a room is for and that's it. The less furniture, the better. Putting a few pieces in the garage or in storage wouldn't be a bad idea. Of course, if the house is empty, there's not a lot you can do. Then again, both empty and occupied houses can benefit from the next bit of advice.
3) Clean! Dirty dishes in the sink and toiletries strewn from one end of the counter to the other are never selling features of a house, yet I see stuff like this in the pictures posted online time and time again. For the pictures, cleaning couldn't be easier. Move all the junk for two seconds, snap the pic, then put it back (or put it away). When showing the house, obviously a higher level of cleanliness is needed. Pay special attention to odors and general filth (bathrooms and kitchens usually needing the most attention). 'Lived in' is one thing; disgusting is another. A lack of effort in cleaning makes a buyer wonder how much effort you put into the general upkeep of the entire house. If the house is empty, cleaning should be that much easier but, surprisingly, these are some of the worst houses I've seen yet. Take a few minutes to vaccuum, sweep, and maybe wipe down surfaces with at a wet rag. It's understandable if things get a bit dusty, but is there really a reason to not clean all the crud out from where the fridge had been?
4) When showing your house, leave! DON'T be there when the potential buyers are there. It's awkward at best and annoying to say the least. Buyers want to feel like they can investigate every last inch of your house and converse with one another openly about what they do and don't like (as they should), but no one with the least bit of manners is going to feel comfortable doing this with the owner within earshot. If you must stay (and again, you really shouldn't), stay away from the potential buyers as much as possible! While they're in the house, be outside and vice versa. Do NOT go around giving them the guided tour! As much as you may feel you're doing a service by being able to point out key features of your house and answer any questions, what you're really doing is hovering and making the potential buyer feel like an an unwanted guest.
Yes, this thread is really a general rant 'cleverly' disguised as a bit of a 'how-to', but hopefully these basic things will help some realize why their house may be taking so long to sell while their neighbors close in days.
Mike
Last edited by whiteboyslo; 05-03-2011 at 09:26 AM..
***This isn't SD-specific per se, but seeing how this is the first housing market we've looked in where people repeatedly don't follow some of these basic rules, it seemed the right place to post this.***
The wife and I are looking to buy a home in the North County area (specifically PUSD) and have been amazed at how many sellers don't seem to follow some of the general guidelines of selling a home, specifically when it comes to showing it. Granted, I understand that some circumstances don't allow a seller to do all these things, but some just don't seem to have a clue. So, from a potential buyer's perspective, here are some things that sellers should keep in mind:
1) Post a 'FOR SALE' sign. Yes, this is a digital age where most of us start our house-hunting expedition online, but there is still something to be said for the tried-and-true method of driving around a neighborhood looking for houses for sale. More than once I've gone into a neighborhood looking at one house and driven past another with a sign posted. If I like the neighborhood, I'm guaranteed to grab a flyer from that house as well. That brings up the second point: don't run out of flyers. Yes, they go surprisingly fast and you may need to fill it almost daily, but nothing's more frustrating than seeing a house you may be interested in only to not be able to get the info.
2) Pics, pics, and more pics! You simply cannot have enough pictures of your house online. If you can post enough pictures online that I can virtually walk through your house from the comfort of my couch, it's a huge perk. That being said, I don't need 4 pics of your front lawn if the only difference between them is that you moved 6" to the left each time you snapped it. Pick the best and go from there. Also, make sure the pictures you take make sense to someone who has never been to your house. This can be tricky, admittedly, but a good trick is to include some perspective from one picture to the next (like a piece of furniture or a window). Light helps as well! Open as many windows AND turn on as many lights as possible. The brighter the better. In many cases your realtor should have good experience with snapping pictures that best showcase your house or at least know someone who can. If they don't/can't, find someone who can. Almost all of us know a shutterbug or two who probably wouldn't mind snapping a few pics with a good quality camera.
3) If you have the resources, stage! The upside to channels like HGTV is that sellers can see how easy it is to stage a home. The DOWNSIDE to channels like HGTV is that buyers can see how easy it is to stage a home. To be honest, it's somewhat expected in today's market. Yes, it can be difficult to stage a house and keep it looking that way if you live there, but at minimum spend some time staging the house for the pictures. The biggest key to staging is to minimalize everything! You want just enough furniture and items for a buyer to get the sense of what a room is for and that's it. The less furniture, the better. Putting a few pieces in the garage or in storage wouldn't be a bad idea. Of course, if the house is empty, there's not a lot you can do. Then again, both empty and occupied houses can benefit from the next bit of advice.
3) Clean! Dirty dishes in the sink and toiletries strewn from one end of the counter to the other are never selling features of a house, yet I see stuff like this in the pictures posted online time and time again. For the pictures, cleaning couldn't be easier. Move all the junk for two seconds, snap the pic, then put it back (or put it away). When showing the house, obviously a higher level of cleanliness is needed. Pay special attention to odors and general filth (bathrooms and kitchens usually needing the most attention). 'Lived in' is one thing; disgusting is another. A lack of effort in cleaning makes a buyer wonder how much effort you put into the general upkeep of the entire house. If the house is empty, cleaning should be that much easier but, surprisingly, these are some of the worst houses I've seen yet. Take a few minutes to vaccuum, sweep, and maybe wipe down surfaces with at a wet rag. It's understandable if things get a bit dusty, but is there really a reason to not clean all the crud out from where the fridge had been?
4) When showing your house, leave! DON'T be there when the potential buyers are there. It's awkward at best and annoying to say the least. Buyers want to feel like they can investigate every last inch of your house and converse with one another openly about what they do and don't like (as they should), but no one with the least bit of manners is going to feel comfortable doing this with the owner within earshot. If you must stay (and again, you really shouldn't), stay away from the potential buyers as much as possible! While they're in the house, be outside and vice versa. Do NOT go around giving them the guided tour! As much as you may feel you're doing a service by being able to point out key features of your house and answer any questions, what you're really doing is hovering and making the potential buyer feel like an an unwanted guest.
Yes, this thread is really a general rant 'cleverly' disguised as a bit of a 'how-to', but hopefully these basic things will help some realize why their house may be taking so long to sell while their neighbors close in days.
Mike
Mike, nice post, but it only displays what Realtors and real estate agents should be telling their clients in the case of selling a property.
Unfortunately, the real estate agency business is changing dramatically and has not found its feet yet in regards to what a quality agent will do for a client. With Redfin, trulia, zillow etc, buyers are now exposed to a good majority of the MLS info before even stepping foot to speak to an agent for "profesional advice and guidance" throughout the home buying process.
When I was in the process of buying my house, I worked with a friend agent who had been in the business for well over 40 years in SD. We had a great relationship where I would basically house hunt on sdlookup and watch the daily changes and fire off a series of houses in an email from the desired zip codes. She would give me her $.2 and if it looked decent, we would check it out. But I knew what I wanted in an agent which was someone that stuck up for my interest and knew how to write contracts and negotiate. What I learned from her was her deep knowledge about houses, the SD market as a whole, but also how rude and disrespectful the "new" breed of agents have gotten. Zero business acumen and they treat the sale (especially if they are working with an investor) as a transactional sale, not a complex sale. Sellers have been reluctant to "giving in" so to speak to current trends. In other words, what people are willing to pay is not what they are willing to sell it for.
I think its both parties that are at fault in what you described in your post. On the one end, the agent is trying to work with the client and possibly giving sage advice on maybe lowering the price or disappearing when there is a showing and the seller may not want to budge.
Houses priced especially in the 500k-700ish bracket are at a real disadvantage right now in N County from East of the 5 to the west of the 15. Why? Simply because of price shock and cookie cutter inventory all throughout. With the exception of a school dividing line in some areas, there is not discernable difference in a large majority of "new" North County....some sellers that are underwater didnt get that memo though.
Reminds me of the 90s during the internet boom. People that had no idea on what they were doing were jumping into the game with no exit strategy when things came down and they lost all their savings and more from it. When sh*t hit the fan, because they were emotionally attached to the gains they saw, when it came down they just didnt want to let it go.
My advice is to work with a good, well experience agent that specializes in the areas you are looking at. Of course that is you plan on working with an agent. Diligently, keep following the MLS listings because well priced inventory isnt lasting more than 30 days or less.
Its the wild west out there, but if you are prepared and do your due diligence, I am certain you will hit a winner.
Last edited by shmoov_groovzsd; 05-03-2011 at 09:25 AM..
All great advice and spot on target. Really much of this is common sense but as Mike mentioned, some sellers are clueless. Yeah, some of it might be realtors too but a realtor can't force a seller to listen which can be difficult.
I agree with the technology of the internet, you get much of the information that the realtor has on the front end which totally makes things easier. Traditional realtors are going to have a harder and harder time with commissions when it comes to Redfin, Ziprealty, etc. In fact, some of the realtors I'm talking to, I've mentioned that I probably will just use Redfin and I found it interesting that they would agree to rebate the same amount as Redfin if I used them. I think that's the real indicator that things are changing in that market.
I foresee a day when traditional realtors are almost obsolete or at least the high commissions they charge. That business model is on it's way out.
Mike, nice post, but it only displays what Realtors and real estate agents should be telling their clients in the case of selling a property.
Unfortunately, the real estate agency business is changing dramatically and has not found its feet yet in regards to what a quality agent will do for a client. With Redfin, trulia, zillow etc, buyers are now exposed to a good majority of the MLS info before even stepping foot to speak to an agent for "profesional advice and guidance" throughout the home buying process.
When I was in the process of buying my house, I worked with a friend agent who had been in the business for well over 40 years in SD. We had a great relationship where I would basically house hunt on sdlookup and watch the daily changes and fire off a series of houses in an email from the desired zip codes. She would give me her $.2 and if it looked decent, we would check it out. But I knew what I wanted in an agent which was someone that stuck up for my interest and knew how to write contracts and negotiate. What I learned from her was her deep knowledge about houses, the SD market as a whole, but also how rude and disrespectful the "new" breed of agents have gotten. Zero business acumen and they treat the sale (especially if they are working with an investor) as a transactional sale, not a complex sale. Sellers have been reluctant to "giving in" so to speak to current trends. In other words, what people are willing to pay is not what they are willing to sell it for.
I think its both parties that are at fault in what you described in your post. On the one end, the agent is trying to work with the client and possibly giving sage advice on maybe lowering the price or disappearing when there is a showing and the seller may not want to budge.
Houses priced especially in the 500k-700ish bracket are at a real disadvantage right now in N County from East of the 5 to the west of the 15. Why? Simply because of price shock and refusal.
Reminds me of the 90s during the internet boom. People that had no idea on what they were doing were jumping into the game with no exit strategy when things came down and they lost all their savings and more from it. When sh*t hit the fan, because they were emotionally attached to the gains they saw, when it came down they just didnt want to let it go.
My advice is to work with a good, well experience agent that specializes in the areas you are looking at. Of course that is you plan on working with an agent. Diligently, keep following the MLS listings because well priced inventory isnt lasting more than 30 days or less.
Its the wild west out there, but if you are prepared and do your due diligence, I am certain you will hit a winner.
Thanks for all the advice. Luckily, we have teamed up with a good husband/wife team of realtors that have definitely 'been around the block' in SD in general and specifically in the areas we're looking. They're thankfully quite tactful when it comes to things like dealing with owners who don't leave the house for showings (the husband usually politely corners them to one area of the house and gabs their ear off), but they're just as amazed at some of the things we're seeing as we are. Like you said, it really does seem to be a different world out there than what they're used to seeing. Lack of quality real estate agents may certainly be playing a part. More than once I've heard them utter how they can't believe an agent would let their seller show the house in the condition it's in. Of course, this all seems somewhat counter-intuitive to me since you would think all the free advice found both on television programming and on the internet would make a seller more savvy, but I digress.
Mike, thats great to hear you are working with a good team. There are some good ones in the PUSD area that know their stuff.
Here is a tool that I used. Basically the house was listed for 1 hour before I drove over and sent over the contract.
The daily updates typically ping the MLS servers ever 2 hours or so and are split into morning, afternoon and evening.
This is an example for an aera like Poway. Just bookmark it or look for another zip code that you are considering and check it out once or twice a day to see what changes have happened in the area.
I've bought two homes in the last two years so I've spent a fair amount of time looking at places. I'm not sure that this applies to the above poster but most of places that we looked at were short sales, foreclosures, bank owned etc... Anyway - I don't think that the short sale folks were all that motivated to clean or stage their homes...
I seem to always have some sort of horror story...
I was driving along and saw this cute looking house in a VERY sketchy area for sale. As these are the only areas I can seem to afford, I stopped to write down the info from the sign. On the sidewalk out front, vandals had spray painted "officer down" on the sidewalk with a cartoon outline of a person.
So here is another "no duh" tip for anyone trying to sell a house:
Remove all graffiti from area around your property!!
No wonder this house had been on the market 180+ days and it was still $172K!! You would have to PAY me a considerable sum to buy that house.
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