Still On The Market?
5. Bad Smells
If you have smelly dogs, cat odor, must, mold, or cigarette smoke constantly filling your home, most buyers won’t even view the entire house before turning out to leave.
There ARE ways to have animals, and smoke and not have the smell lingering around. Keep your pets and their living areas very clean. Clean carpets often with dry absorbent formulas like baking soda. Keep them off furniture. Carpets hold in more than 75% of the odors in a home. If you got new carpet, your home would probably smell 75% better. If you think animal waste may have seeped through the carpet pads, a coat of paint on the concrete beneath the pads will eliminate all pet odors from the flooring before installing new carpets. If your cat sprays or has trouble using a litter box, speak with your veterinarian about possible ideas.
If you are a smoker, before listing your home, decide to limit the smoking area to outside and keep discarded cigarettes in an out of site trash can in the garage or outdoor shed. Have a commercial grade air purifier run through your home for 2-3 days, and as needed after that. Curtains and textured home items (like carpet or curtains) hold in odors. If you can’t replace it, have all the drapes, couches, and carpets thoroughly cleaned, and again, do not smoke in the house. Buyers are trying to imagine YOUR home as THEIR new home; calming, peaceful, clean.
If you can’t tell if your house is stinky, bring an honest friend who does not have pets or smoke come over and tell you. People become disencitized to their own environment.
If your home is musty or has mold, the mold should be cleaned from the home immediately by a professional or your local department of health and safety. Have the textured items cleaned, and replace all rotten wood. If areas keep getting damp, find out why, and repair that issue.
4. “Bad” Schools
This is something that can not be changed. BUT, you can do some homework and highlight the GOOD features about your community if it has a struggling school district. Find out what private schools are in the area. List the ones that provide financial aid. Find out if your local public schools have received any awards, recognition, noted improvments, future plans, successful sporting teams, honorable arts, or succsessful alumni. For districts with several elementary schools, find something special about yours, highlight the good things because THEY ARE THERE!
3. Too Much Stuff
So the afgan collection was your great grandmothers, and the figurine shelf is one of your most prized possessions. I have seen so many homes cluttered up by shotglasses, doilies, hundreds of family photos, plants, nic nacs, toys, papers, and…junk.
When buyers view a home they immediately try to imagine how it would look with their furniture, their style, their taste. Sellers should make their best effort to accomodate the imagination of the buyer.
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keep counter, dresser, mantel areas clear and clean (save for a vase or easy accent piece)
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pack away anything smaller than a foot ball like figurines, shotglasses, nic nacs
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remove bulky space hogging furniture to maximize visible floorspacetake down half of all family photos or any distracting art. You want them to notice the charming fireplace not the “nude woman” lounging above it. ahem.
2. Too Much “Work”
“Work” is not the same to everybody. For some, it is stripping down the patterned wall paper in your kitchen, to others, it may be “gutting out” the whole kitchen. Do your best to make the home feel updated.
Easy inexpensive revamps:
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Fixtures: get rid of the 80’s gold knobs. Replace with pewter or oil rubed bronze handles, door knobs, faucets.
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Drapes: Fold away keepsake heavy and complicated drapes. replace with something modern that lets in light.
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Paint: Painting is the cheapest way to update a home. Browse websites for color ideas. Painting trim and moulding white really gives a house a face lift.
1. Price
Make sure your Realtor advises you on the price. And, make sure you do what your Realtor advises. Sometimes it is hard to hear what homes in your neighborhood are selling for. You bought your home when prices were high, and now you may not even get your down payment out of it.
Have an open heart. Take a deep breath. More time on the market at a high price is just going to cost your more money in the long run. One positive thing to think about is that ALL prices are lower. So if you are selling with the intention to buy, you’ll be able to find a home for a lower price too.
Ask your Realtor to perform a Comparative Market Analysis. From this information of homes that are active, pending, and sold, you will be able to better judge where your home should fall in price point.
If you are not getting very many showings, and very little interest from the showings you DO have, it is time to drop price. No question about it.
You will be shocked at how buyers see price points. Many of my clients will choose a smaller home that needs more work because it is $5,000 cheaper than the home with updates selling for $5,000 more. Buyers are out to get the best deal, and most of that comes down to price. For the right price, it is pretty funny how quickly buyers will overlook numbers 2, 3, 4, and 5.
If you are thinking about going on the market… stop thinking about it. With the new extended tax credit, buyers need to have a contract on a home by April. You should be on the market yesterday.
If you have questions about real estate, need guidance, or need a more customized answer for why YOUR home isn’t selling, feel free to leave a comment or send an email to: Emily@InfinityRealtySells.com or visit me at my new website coming soon! http://www.emilygalbraithrealestate.com
Thanks for reading!
-Emily Galbraith