Talked to one realtor who said that we need to have a major kitchen remodel… Or the house will not sell. Plus, the price needed to be set way below what we think it should be based on the “comps” that were 10-20 years older and smaller than our home. I have actually been to some of those “comps” 18 years ago - they were dumpy back then and still are. Come on, I looked at every sold house nearby, and that proposal just did not make any sense! You don’t want our business… Just say so. The realtor keeps pestering us. How would one politely tell them we are not interested in their service? I don’t want to have any bad blood here because they might represent a buyer for our place eventually. Hmmm…
Have you hired an agent yet? Or are you interviewing to select your agent?
If you are interviewing… print out the comps you feel are comparable and ask them to review those comps and explain why your house is different in the market.
If all of them believe your house has to be priced lower than you thought, then just go with the one that charges the lowest commission (easy for me to say!). Today, properties are marketed through photos and listings on the Internet. Those photos are what everyone is looking at and everyone has access to all the listings today through Zillow, etc.
Insist on high quality photos and possibly twilight photos (if they will be relevant to your setting). And then insist that it gets listed into Zillow (because some areas the agent has to type up listing into Zillow). And, make sure there is a broker caravan relevant to the local brokers with food. One marketing ploy that my agent uses is to offer a $100 gift certificate drawing with business cards thrown in a bowl during the caravan. The agents have to write down what they think the property will sell for and then we review the guesses after the caravan to see if we are in the right ballpark.
It is just one realtor that came recommended, but I think this realtor is nuts. 
The price floated was based on the assessed value… duh. No, I would not hire that person - no knowledge of my local market. The remodel suggested was based on what they saw in the new consruction priced 1.5x higher than our value. One of the other suggestions was really nutty - to stage the remote wooded corner of the almost acre backyard with a firepit!! Mr. just shook his head. I doubt many buyers will even go there. We are now talking to several local folks that have been selling homes on our area for 20+ years. Including the guy who sold the house to us!
Glad you are looking at local folks, BB.
In certain areas realtors really work in microzones. DD and SIL used one realtor to sell in SF; someone else to purchase in Berkeley, 15 minutes away.
I was able to use the same person to sell my house and purchase my condo; different ends of the same county…
Some realtors here a zone-independent, but in my neck of the woods, there seems to be a group that lists exclusively. I have a suspicion that the realtor mentioned might have had some potential buyer in mind who wanted a house priced at X with a white kitchen with a specific countertop… Nope.
How bad is that kitchen? Sometimes, the idea is to lull buyers into loving the place, with nothing to stop the enchantment. As it is, you’re replacing that refrig, no? Or am I confusing the two properties?
The kitchen is NOT bad. Modern layout, open, has new Miele ovens (steam and regular), a warming drawer, the new French door fridge… I am not painting solid maple cabinet doors - it is sacrilege. Not a scratch on the wood - I am very careful with my wood. Nope, that demand was unreasonable - to put $15k in to get $10k back. It does not take an MBA to get that. The fridge was replaced just for the photos. Plus, everything that recently sold in the area has very similar layouts and much worse appliances. Schools are what sells here!
I looked - the realtor has not listed a single home in my area and mostly dealt in new construction… That explains the obsession with modern trends. LOL. I am just saying that not everything a realtor says has to be taken as a must do.
OK, Redfin says the sale/list in my area was 105-115%. We will list slightly under “list”. Buyers can paint the cabinets and get a single bowl sink if they wish and the second bar sink.
I trust your judgment, BB.
Just saying this, not so much to you, cuz I agree: sometimes, there are changes one makes that do not recoup enough of the cost of that project, but pay off in other ways.
I will let you know what the local guys say! I am solidly convinced that the other guy was clueless.
An update: the local realtors laughed at the remodel idea. They also said the house is in pristine shape for a house of its age compared to the other similar homes they have listed, and some things we did over the years are considered luxury upgrades. The recommendations aligned well with our strategy: make the house look inviting and leave cosmetic stuff to the buyers. One realtor was enthusiastic about our off-white paint throughout. No red walls or flower wallpaper, lol. Fingers crossed it will sell in 2 months barred any wars with North Korea or Syria invasion.
Speaking of, I saw a listing for a very expensive home here with a lime green DR and violet LR. What were they thinking? At that price, they could have afforded a repaint.
If we were putting our house on the market I would not paint the whole place white. It just would not look good, especially with our furniture.
Maybe people will like the lime green and violet. Or maybe they will realize that they can paint it themselves with very little effort.
When we bought our house, it was covered in el cheapo vinyl 70s wallpaper and several rooms had all of the trim and doors/built ins covered in turquoise enamel, oil based naturally. THAT was an ordeal…I definitely factored in having all of the wallpaper removed in the price.
They were thinking buyers who didn’t like the colors on the wall could paint the walls whatever color they want once they buy the house. Makes perfect sense to me.
OK, I know that real estate agents say over and over that buyers/shoppers can’t see past the paint color, and won’t buy a house that isn’t move-in ready. They say it enough that I mostly believe it. It just still boggles my mind because it makes no sense. Lots of true things make no sense, and this is probably one of them.
Maybe we’ll get a great deal on the next house we buy because we’ll buy the one with the royal blue kitchen and crimson great room, because we know how paint works.
We DID get a great deal on a recent house buy by recognizing that with a full house paint job the house would be stunning. The realtor didn’t imagine it, and the vacant house had been languishing. After the fact, and after our updates, he was amazed that we got such a great deal.
My house had high gloss pink, green and purple paint on walls of bedrooms. Living room was stark white, but filthy dirty. Dining room had 4 layers of wall paper. Wall to wall carpet was orange and green shag. Things like window cranks were held together with duct tape and twist ties and they were all stripped so we had to go outside to close the windows all the way!
Yard was overgrown and owner hadn’t raked any leaves in a number of years. In places the fallen leaves were knee high. The siding was orange cedar and the roof shingles were pink.
The price was great - especially as interest rates were about 15% when we bought. It was all we couid afford at the time. Fortunately, I’m one of those people who can see behind the hideousness and had a vision of what house could be.
We did simple cosmetic changes (paint, paint and more paint) until we were able to afford it into the vision I had all those years ago. Only took 26 years to complete and we had to renovate in phases. I love my house. We plan on staying here at least 20 more years if not forever.
I think lookingforward’s point is that when people see the lime green and hot pink, they are expecting a bargain. So if you are asking top price for the area, the home should be in top condition for the area.
These days, photos of the home are posted online and can drive traffic to the house. If it looks great in the pictures, it might get more people to look at it. If it looks bad, it may get the bargain hunters but might deter those looking for a turnkey property.
@bunsenburner- glad to hear your instincts were right! Here’s hoping for a quick sale at a great price.
^Well, if people don’t spend a bit of money sprucing up their home so it is presentable they should know they aren’t going to get as high a price and list accordingly.
In my town now (which has suddenly become a very hot market) I can tell which ones are asking too much for the condition the house is in, because they aren’t selling. Everything else is on the market for only a few days right now.
A house almost exactly like mine down the street from me sold very quickly last fall for $150k less than mine is worth because it was so dated (I’d been in it when it was being sold a few years ago.) The young couple who bought it had painted but that was about it.
It’s been completely gutted, inside and out and is almost completed. New owners have not moved in yet.
I too, have never understood the obsession by some folks who DEMAND a “move-in ready” home, meaning all the existing the colors and cosmetic features of a ‘for sale property’ must match their tastes. That’s why the staging phenomena never appealed to me me. Call me a curmudgeon, I guess. I’ll be purchasing a home for retirement soon and I am giddy with anticipation on personalizing it. I don’t care what a present owner’s personal taste is. Sure the inside could be hideous (ages ago my parents bought a house with orange/green shag carpet, which dad and I completely removed before move-in day), but I consider an “open house” event a blank canvas.
Consolation, I’m of the view to let them see a clean palette. The present owners may love lime and violet and it may go with their furniture. But they’re not staying. They listed the home.
Sure, some of us are rehab capable and bought amazing deals despite, in my case, wallpaper hanging in sheets, enamel and latex used on the same wall or trim, 60’s door frame used as chair rail, and calcimine paint issues througout (if you don’t know what that is, count yourself lucky.)
And for a ridiculous fire sale price. But it sat for 6 months because- like it or not- people don’t want to work so hard to envision it meeting their needs and preferences.