<p>Don’t forget that phrase someone came up with - “penny-wise, pound-foolish”.</p>
<p>There are several shows on HGTV about home selling - “Real Estate Intervention” and “Get it Sold” are worth watching. They are fascinating, real life situations that will help give you a good perspective on home selling. </p>
<p>The take away from these programs is that if you don’t put an effort into sprucing up the joint - cleaning, painting, staging and making repairs, your house will sit on the market for a long, long time without any realistic offers. Do you really want to only get low-ball offers which may end up actually costing you much more than the cost of the repairs? For a minimal investment - much of which can be elbow grease, you’ll sell your house more quickly and for a better price.</p>
<p>Cleanliness and de-cluttering really matter when selling. Remove half the furniture, the family photos, the papers, etc., and make the house look as good as you can. You want to make it really easy for someone to imagine THEIR life in the house–not YOUR life. </p>
<p>CLEAN everything. ABSOLUTELY EVERYTHING. Make it look like Monk lived there.</p>
<p>Clean up the yard, spruce up what you can inexpensively, wash the windows, empty the garage or at least make sure all the boxes and furniture you moved in there look neat. I would paint ( nice neutral color, I’m afraid) but I would not re-carpet (and I wouldn’t give an allowance either). I would clean the carpet, and I would make sure that the dogs don’t have the run of the house until the house had sold.</p>
<p>Then I would price the house fairly but with a margin that would allow me to accept a 10% lower-than-listing offer (because everyone likes a deal, and in this market who knows what the right price is anyway?). And be prepared to negotiate.</p>
<p>Note that I have sold two properties in the last two years using this method, both of them within two months of listing. The two-bedroom condo in Oklahoma (summer 2008) took two days to clean, a day of yardwork, and another two days to repaint; the house in the Seattle suburbs (summer 2009) took four days of intensive cleaning by two people, a day of carpet washing, and three days of yard work.</p>
<p>I would also suggest those “little things.” Two places I helped to sell re-painted a neutral white. We also got cute soap dishes with glycerin soaps, new cheery shower curtains (sunflowers for one & fish for the other). Houses look MUCH larger if there is no clutter and less furniture. Bake cookies/bread (you can just pop in frozen cookies and/or bread dough) on open house day or when house is being shown. People respond to smells. Because the carpet was bad even after cleaning, it was replaced as well. Cabinetry was also repaired. The places were immaculate!</p>
<p>Both properties sold BEFORE they were even listed by the 1st families that saw the units and at full list price for both.</p>
<p>Great ideas…Thanks HImom! I want to keep this “Thread”.</p>
<p>Interesting question OP. Will probably have to sell mom’s home soon. It is 20 yrs old and is dated. Carpets are stained from cats. How much do we fix/change?</p>
<p>I watch HGTV a lot. It makes me think we should fix to sell and stage. Small changes might make a big difference in price asked and ability to sell.</p>
<p>We got a great deal on our current house because the owners were selling it as is. It spent over a year on the market. It was truly hideous - pink walls, pink (stained) carpets, pink curtains. I think a lot of people couldn’t see past that. We pulled up the carpets, refinished the hardwood floors and got rid of all the pink stuff. If they’d spent the money on paint in the first place, they wouldn’t have been paying two mortgages for over a year. toneranger is right about decluttering - we put a whole bunch of stuff in storage temporarily when we were selling our previous house.</p>
<p>Bad carpet is a HUGE turnoff. If you can put in good, high density padding, even with lower cost carpet, it really makes a HUGE difference in sales appeal of the carpet. Houses that smell of animals & accidents are not attractive to most buyers, even animal lovers. IF they sell, they would sell for a big discount. That was one of the reasons the carpet had to be replaced in one of the units we sold. Realtors can give you their best estimates as to costs of the various repairs as well as the likely effect on sales price.</p>
<p>“Carpets are stained from cats.”</p>
<p>In this case you will need to put in new carpets.</p>
<p>Our house sold relatively quickly in a bad market, and I am convinced that it did because we did paint and fix the floors (on the advice of our very good realtor). We had carpet that we threw out, and then had the hardwood refinished. We also made many repairs. Even though the house was then in good shape for a 40 yr old house, we still got a laundry list of repair items on the inspection. We fixed only one thing -“termite” damage - it was not from termites but water;nevertheless in a small area the wood was fixed and treated. We still had to give a price credit for other items, but it sold, and quickly enough for our tastes. We had multiple offers, and did not think it was worth it to hold out. If you have competition in the neighborhood, you may find no buyers interested if your house does not look really attractive. Just my opinion.</p>
<p>Be careful of using the words “as is” when selling real estate. To a broker or a buyer “as is” often / usually signifies that the owner will be unwilling to make repairs or offer allowances for any defects found during inspection. “As is” is most often used for sales from estates, foreclosures, etc., and the buyers usually conclude that the seller is extremely motivated and that there must be hidden defects, usually making it unlikely to get top or even market pricing for the home.</p>
<p>Three stories:</p>
<p>The last time we sold a home, we explicitly asked the real estate agent to recommend what improvements we should make to increase our chances of getting a good price, and we followed that advice. (For example, we refinished our hardwood floors and replaced all our carpeting, but we did not replace old applicances in the kitchen because the realtor advised against it.)</p>
<p>Several years later, I was in the position of having to sell my father’s home after he died. The prospect of getting the necessary work done was formidable because I lived seven hours away. Fortunately, the realtor had a colleague in her office who wanted to buy the house “as is” because he wanted to do his own updates. He offered a reasonable price and my sister and I (who were co-executors of the estate) jumped at it because of the inconvenience we would avoid. But I think this is an atypical situation.</p>
<p>A couple of decades ago, my mother had enormous difficulty trying to sell a house. She attributed it to the fact that the house had two bedrooms, and two-bedroom houses are difficult to sell. But a realtor suggested another possibility: the living room had dark paneling, which my mother loved but which had become unfashionable. The realtor suggested painting over the paneling in white. My mother cringed and had it done. The house sold within a week.</p>
<p>I think the realtor is the best person to trust in these situations.</p>
<p>I did not mean that we would advertise the home “as is,” I was just using the term loosely here. </p>
<p>My last agent has recommended painting, carpeting and refinishing the hardwood floors; she hasn’t been in the house in year, so I am sure she will have other suggestions!! We have an agent that lives in our subdivision who list most of the homes here; while I have a personal relationship with our old agent, I think I will use the neighbor, or at least get his opinion. The two agents have worked together in the same office in the past, but I think one has moved to a different office. I will have to see have that will work out. </p>
<p>What do people do with their dogs when showing a home? I sold the last By Owner, so my husband or I took the dog out for a walk while showing the house; with a lock box, I won’t know when someone is coming. I know the agent will call for an appointment, but when people come in from out of town to look at home, I might not get enough notice to vacuum and get the dogs out of the house. My two manage to bring in every bit of dirt from the outside with them. I could vacuum and dust twice a day and within hours there is dust everywhere. Of course one of them is a big shedder and I feel like his hair is everywhere. Other than shipping the dogs off while the house in on the market, what are some suggestions for keeping the house clean?</p>
<p>Repaint and have the carpets cleaned. Make sure the windows sparkle and there is NO clutter in the house. Bathrooms must sparkle, too. (Make sure grout is clean.) Plant a few flowers around the front door, if your landscaping is not up to snuff. Make sure your front door is clean/repainted, too. First impressions are everything. As far as pets, have the real estate agent put in MLS notes that you need 24 hours notice, if possible, so you can have dogs out of there. 24 hours notice is not unreasonable. Price is what sells a house. Make the price attractive and it will sell.</p>
<p>Oh, yes - Provide a 1-year home warranty on the HVAC and appliances to the buyer. You don’t have to pay for it until closing and will give you and the buyer peace of mind.</p>
<p>As a realtor, I can tell you that when buyers walk in and see the need for new paint and carpeting they immediately lower the price in their mind, and generally more than the actual cost.</p>
<p>I tell my clients if they can afford to, buy the lowest grade carpeting in neutral colors and paint because you don’t want to give the buyers an excuse to lower the price. Also because others will be doing that and you may lose the sale.</p>
<p>Additionally, here is the bigger reason to me. The buyers subconciously think that you have let the house go, and they start looking for other issues. They start looking more at the appliances, hot water heater, decks, fence, etc. </p>
<p>My adage to buyers and sellers: “Don’t be so busy picking up the pennies that you are jumping over the nickels”.</p>
<p>Also, the number one thing that brings an odor in the house is dust. If the carpet is old it will have trapped odors. You are accustomed to the smell, but trust me others can smell it immediately.</p>
<p>If you opt not to replace the carpet, I would suggest hiring a company to steam clean and make sure they remove all of the furniture away from the walls since this is the prime area for dust collection.</p>
<p>Realtor hints:
- Do not FRY anything while the house is up for sale
- Ammonia ALL of your light fixtures (grease sticks and creates an odor)
- PLANT flowers…Curb appeal is important
- Bleach any mildew off of the home, including gutters (1 part bleach 3 parts water)
- FEBREEZE every morning
- Leave lights on
- Buy new towels that will match your new home and place them in the bathrooms. Ratty towels give a negative feeling about cleanliness.<br>
- Clean the oven and fridge (people always check them)
- Remove clutter from closets…pack up the winter clothes.
- Keep blinds open…people get turned off if the house feels dark.
- KENNEL the dog in the garage. People are afraid of dogs and keeping them in a kennel in the house makes them ANTSY. They will rush throw the house out of fear if the dog is kenneled in the kitchen and barking the entire time.
- ALWAYS leave when any client shows up, if you stay the buyer feels uncomfortable.</p>
<p>Finally, choose an agent that you feel comfortable enough to vent at, because you will vent! A listing agent should be chosen based on your repore and what they will do, not because they are the most popular lister in the neighborhood. Once they place it in MLS, it is a free for all for any agent. You want the one that will do Broker’s open houses and other marketable things. Many top listers are the worst because they know no matter what they are making money and that people are buying their name.</p>
<p>I do disagree with colmom, never ask for 24 hrs notice because when we meet with clients we pull houses in front of them. If it states 24 hr notice, the typical response is “well, if we don’t see anything we like today, we’ll see it tomorrow”, you don’t want to put yourself in that position. You could also lose the buyer who drives by and wants to see it, but can’t because of the 24 hr. Buy a dog kennel, and place the dog in the garage. </p>
<p>I do agree about the home warranty, it costs about 400, the beauty of it is that your home is covered also while it is on the market. For example, you sell it, but they want an inspection, the inspector finds the faucet has a leak…you pay 50-100 bucks and it is covered. The inspector could also say that the AC needs to be replaced in a yr, it gives peace of mind to them.</p>
<p>We would like to move a little closer to my folks, my MIL, and another couple for whom I am responsible. They are all about twenty minutes away from us and it would just make things so easy - we are looking, but not driven to buy.</p>
<p>We had a realtor look at our place to give us suggestions. We had new tile floors put in our bathrooms - very simple tiles - that immediately made the rooms look much fresher. We removed some border and painted walls vanilla. The big project time wise is removing wallpaper in the kitchen. I hate removing wallpaper, but I understand wallpaper is a big no-no so I am trying to get myself psyched for this project. I have found a paint color that I would love in the kitchen, but I am still jumping on this job.</p>
<p>As someone who has just looked at several places, I would recommend getting rid of a carpet that has any signs of water damage or evidence of pets. I don’t think hardwood floors that need work are as detrimental as carpet. Get rid of clutter, especially any personal items.</p>
<p>Bullet- </p>
<p>You are so right about the odors. I am sure every home has its own “essence” but buyers want it to smell clean. I hate walking in and being overpowered by some scented candle. EW. I find myself sniffing and thinking, what are they trying to hide?</p>
<p>I don’t think my home “smells” until I come back from a vacation; when I walk in I think, is this what others smell when they come into my home? Obviously my home has a smell, I just would like it to be more appealing to others!</p>
<p>Bullet, you mentioned no frying; my house smells like brisket for days when I cook for the Jewish holidays! I wake up in the morning to the smell; I would prefer the smell of coffee that early in the morning!</p>
<p>I don’t know if I agree about using air freshener; there are people like my mother that hate the smell or those like worknprogress that wonder what you are hiding. I think this falls under the damned if you do and damned if you don’t!</p>
<p>Snowball - I did not mean to imply your house was smelly :)</p>
<p>I think the frying suggestion is spot on. I use very little oil when cooking, never fry, but I do saute lots of veggies. Yesterday I made a wonderful dish with peppers, baby eggplant, onions, tomatoes - but today when I came back from my walk, the house smelled like last night’s dinner. IF we put our house on the market I will tell DH I cannot cook for fear of losing a sale and thus we are resigned to eating out.</p>