Archive for the 'Home Sellers' Category
I Know How Stressful Buying and Selling Your Home Can Be
January 18th, 2010 categories: Home Buyers, Home Sellers
For the last few months, I’ve been busy buying, renovating and furnishing a new home.
It took me 3 years to find this house (looking regularly).
It took 4 months to close after we had an accepted contract and after the deal almost fell apart multiple times.
One week after we owned the house, we had a major plumbing issue in the house. Of the backed-up toilet variety.
It’s taken 3 months to renovate it enough so we can move in. In fact, we don’t officially move for another two weeks. I’m literally surrounded by boxes.
I know how stressful and all-consuming buying or selling a home can be. I haven’t written a blog post in three months…just no time.
I know you have doubts about the decisions you’ve made. I know that sometimes you don’t trust everyone involved in the sale/purchase. I know you’re feeling a lot of pressure to be in the new home by a certain date or that you need to be out by a certain date. I know how stressful it is to have people walking through your house day after day and no one seems interested in making an offer.
We’re not done working on our new house yet. Maybe we’ll never be done.
For now, I’m getting back into blogging and hope to share some things I learned along the way.
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5 Simple Reasons Your House Isn’t Selling
November 2nd, 2009 categories: Home Sellers
Back in school, I was always among the last picked for sports. Coordination has never been one of my qualities. So, I know how homeowners feel when their home isn’t selling and other homes seem to be. Why me?
Why is the real estate market as cruel as the schoolyard these days? It’s often very simple. The real question is - can you change it?
1. Your Photos Are Terrible
Have you actually seen the photos your Realtor took? If they look like they were taken by a five-year-old tilting his head while standing in the dark, then you have a problem. The photos should help to sell the home. And if the photos would scare away buyers, then it’s time to insist your agent take different photos. Buyers are spending hours online looking at photos and if yours look like this, you won’t be attracting any buyers.
2. Your Home is Inaccessible
In order to buy your home, people actually need to be able to see it. This may be a no-brainer for most of you but I actually saw a listing recently that indicated the only time prospective buyers could do a showing was between 12 p.m. and 2 p.m. on Saturdays. Or how about the sellers that follow buyers around the house? Or don’t plow the driveway after a snowstorm? Or leave a snarling dog in the living room?
Buyers don’t need to have unfettered access to your home. However, try to make every effort to let people in with a reasonable amount of notice.
3. Your Home is Cluttered
How many times have I heard, “They’re not buying my stuff. They’re buying the house. They can decorate it any way they want after they buy it.” It may seem silly to home sellers that home buyers today cannot look past your stuff.
Maybe it’s all the HGTV shows but most buyers will focus on your stuff if it’s in the way of them seeing your house. And if they can’t see your home, they won’t buy it.
4. There Are No Buyers for Your Home
While some segments of the market are buzzing, others are dead. Even though there is a tax credit available for first time home buyers, the middle and upper ends of the real estate market have slowed. Financing for investors is also hard to come by.
It’s crucial for you and your Realtor to have a discussion about this. Are you prepared to lower your price to attract buyers? Are you prepared to wait a long time? Is your home as attractive as possible so as to tempt any and all buyers who are looking.
5. Price, Price, Price.
Is your home priced well for condition, location and what’s comparable on the market? It’s not enough to look at past sales - it’s crucial to know what else is on the market that other buyers would be looking at and price at or below those.
Do you dig real estate news, tips and advice? Sniffing around for pet-related information in Connecticut? Get Unleashed - the blog that’s helping to find homes for people and pets.
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CTMLS Says Goodbye to Hubbard
June 22nd, 2009 categories: Central Connecticut News & Information, Home Sellers, Real Estate Listings
Beginning June 24th, CTMLS, the multiple listing service that serves most of CT, will finally do away with the Hubbard (HUBRD) status for listings.
All I can say is…finally!
Actually, I can say a few more things.
If you don’t know about the Hubbard Clause - HUBRD refers to properties that have been sold to a buyer who needs to sell another home before purchasing the one under deposit. The property is shown to buyers and the sellers are looking at other offers, so it is an active listing. Read the rest of this entry »
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Don’t List Your Home For Sale on Monday…If You Want to Stand Out in Greater Hartford Real Estate Market
June 17th, 2009 categories: Home Sellers, Real Estate Listings
Monday night, I was looking at new listings and it seemed to me that there were a lot of new listings. 88 condos and single family homes in the Greater Hartford area.
Just for fun, I looked back one month. With the exception of Memorial Day, May 25, the highest number of new listings was always on a Monday.
One of several homes in your neighborhood for sale?
One of many homes for sale in your price range?
If so, you need to do everything you can to stand out from the pack.
Maybe one way to do that is to list your home on any day but Monday, but especially on a Saturday or Sunday.
You may also enjoy reading:
Two Bedroom Homes Not Always Harder to Sell in Central CT
Some Thoughts on Pricing Real Estate
Do you dig real estate news, tips and advice? Sniffing around for pet-related information in Connecticut?
Get Unleashed - the blog that’s helping to find homes for people and pets.
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Surviving Showings - Basic Showing Etiquette for Home Sellers
June 8th, 2009 categories: Home Sellers
Putting your house on the market invites criticism, inconvenience and disruption.
Agents and their clients show up at the wrong time. Agents ask you questions you weren’t prepared to answer. Buyers knock over a treasured piece of pottery. The agent accidentally lets your cat out or knocks over your driveway lighting.
I know it happens because I and my clients have done all of these things and other buyers and agents have done this and more to my listings.
Sure, good stuff happens too - like people give you money for your house. But there can be some aggravation along the way. Expect it. Plan for it. But whatever you do, don’t get angry at the buyers and their agent.
Want to survive putting your house on the market? Here are some basic tips for showing etiquette:
If an agent & their buyer shows up late to a showing…
Unless it’s really inconvenient, the agent is several hours late, or you have some kind of emergency, just grin and bear it. Agents do their best to schedule showings and sometimes we’re early and sometimes we’re late. For your own sanity, leave the house a half hour before the showing and plan not to come back for a half hour after the showing. If they’re sitting at your dining table writing an offer, you wouldn’t be too put out by the extra time, would you?
Whatever you do, don’t get an attitude about it and don’t do what a homeowner did to me this week - throw me out of a house (after I had asked permission to enter and was granted).
If an agent or their client damages your property…
Accidents happen. If you’re selling your house, you should try to remove anything that’s valuable to you or is in a bad location (a vase on a small table by the front door, for example). Unless the agent or buyer was grossly negligent and it caused significant damage, just let it go.
And it’s best to keep all pets in a secure location, like a crate. Doors to rooms are opened and left open. And buyers are annoying in that they want to see every room of the house before they buy it. So, keep your pets locked up or remove them from the house altogether.
If an agent shows up without an appointment...
Politely ask them to use the lockbox (if they’re an agent, they either have an electronic key or called the office for a combination) and ask them to give you a business card. If you can’t accommodate a showing, then either ask them to wait outside or ask them to reschedule as you’re not prepared for a showing. But be as nice as pie when you tell them - it may not be their fault. It may be that they called your agent’s office and the showing was logged incorrectly or not at all.
If you insist on being present during all showings…
It’s best to only speak when spoken to. And if you are spoken to or asked questions, be courteous. If you have nothing to say that will help sell the house, say nothing. A builder I met recently at a house he has on the market installed low quality/out-of-style kitchen cabinets in new construction in an upscale area. When the buyer asked him if the builder would replace the cabinets with something else, the builder asked, “Why? What’s wrong with these?” When the buyer said that he preferred something else, the builder rolled his eyes.
The Etiquette Lesson - Frasier
You may also enjoy reading:
9 Home Features That Sell in Central Connecticut
Do you dig real estate news, tips and advice? Sniffing around for pet-related information in Connecticut?
Get Unleashed - the blog that’s helping to find homes for people and pets.
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