To continue our previous discussion from July 3rd, here are the rest of the so-called quick fixes! Let’s get right into them!

3. Patching holes in the wall by hanging an art or mirror frame

It seems odd that people would still do this, but I’ve seen it in a few homes. No matter that they are bank-owned homes. And because the bank has never lived in it, it is even less attached to it. But you wouldn’t do such a thing. Would you?

This “fast fix” bothers me more than the others perhaps because it’s possible it could never be discovered until the day the new homeowner moves into the house. It’s one of those things that could be missed by the home inspector, perhaps because it’s so obvious. And then you can imagine the trouble you would be dealing with. Why not sell the home and be done with it? Why not actually get the wall patched? (By the way, how did you make that hole in it anyway?) Why leave a bad taste in the homebuyer’s mouth at the end of escrow? And then have to talk to your real estate agent and theirs and also deal with small claims court?

4. Using better curtains and light fixtures to make the place look better and then taking them down at close of escrow

While technically this is not a quick fix, I think far too many home sellers are unaware of this rule in real estate: basically, anything attached to the home like curtains and light fixtures goes with the buyer in the sale. In other words, it is included in the sale of the house. Which means you cannot put expensive curtains up and then take them with you to the new house. You also cannot change light fixtures towards the close of escrow.

If you do intend doing something like that, you should clearly spell it out in a counter offer to the buyer. Better yet, spell it out right in the beginning as soon as a homebuyer expresses interest in the home and thinks about making an offer. That way, all your cards are on the table and you avoid a potentially problematic escrow.

5. Leaks and Eeks

One thing I always do when I take a homebuyer into a home and they are especially concerned with leaks in the home (Remember: whether water or fire do more damage is debatable!) I always check under the sink in the kitchen and around the tub and the toilet seat in the bathroom for leaks. What do you do if you’ve discovered a leak in your home and it is on the market? If you have read so far, the answer should be obvious. Get it fixed!

Homebuyers are nothing if not terrified of leaks. Remember that the minute they see one they will run for the door. Especially if the majority of homes on the market are bank-owned and they don’t know what’s wrong with them, it is especially important that you distinguish your home as better than the others by fixing everything that’s wrong with it. Owner occupied homes get paid a premium especially for the reason that they are more cared for. Don’t cheat your homebuyers out of that!

So the idea is that whenever there is an issue that needs to be fixed, either bite the bullet and get it repaired by a professional or disclose it to your potential homebuyers. When in doubt, disclose!

We’ve all seen them – the little snickers that come from the home staging shows when someone lifts a piece of carpet or leans against a supposedly solid wall and it falls or – in the case of the carpet – completely lifts it off like it was the skin of a cat. Even if this is not a horror story or a home staging show, when it comes to selling your house, you want to be careful not to indulge yourself in these quick fixes.

Yes, all Realtors recommend you get the house ready for sale fast (I don’t really know why it has be to be that quick!) but try and avoid the following quick fixes. Because, seriously, they are not. Fixes, that is. You might get away with them during the Open House, but the same Realtors and real estate brokers that recommend you get your home ready for sale in a hurry because summer doesn’t last forever also recommend that your homebuyers get a home inspection. And the home inspector is being paid approximately $100 an hour to find flaws and uncover your badly hidden mistakes! So do it right the first time and don’t bother with these quick fixes!

1. Carpet / mat over broken tile or missing hardwood

This is my personal pet peeve, which is why I mention it first. Way too many people indulge in this one, especially when the open house is days away and they want to clean the house and get it ready without making any repairs to it. What we see most often is missing hardwood or cracked tile and the homeowner – as if he’s had a brilliant idea – decides he has an extra bathroom or kitchen mat to cover the area. What an idea! Except here’s the problem – sooner or later, that little mat will be lifted. Homebuyers are getting pretty smart when it comes to these things and know your tricks. It’s one thing to carpet the entire floor space, (Although I have come across many bank-owned homes with uneven floors with carpet on them. Homebuyers see right through these cheap tricks!) and quite another to cover it with something that resembles a place mat.

You’re almost better off to just leave the area uncovered and let them see the flaw. At least they will know you are not lying or trying to deceive. If the home seller covered this little thing up, they think, what else am I not seeing? Their trouble radar goes up. So avoid the homebuyers from thinking that. Because they might just decide the risk isn’t worth it and look elsewhere. And with homebuyers being almost as scarce as some endangered species around here lately, you really want to do your best to keep them in your home, safe and happy enough to want to buy it from you!

2. Electrical “fixes” by cousins

This supposed fix is not just a problem, it’s a fire hazard and an electrical hazard. Let’s say the day before the Open House the central air in the home decides to go kaput. And all this happens in the sweltering heat of August. You’re considering serving ice cream at the Open house to get more people to come in, just drawn by the enticement of something cool. What do you do? Do you decide it’s not worth getting it fixed right away and let the potential homebuyers know that it will be fixed before the home is in escrow? Or do you invite your cousin who you think might be able to fix the issue because he’s supposedly handy around the home and doesn’t mind fooling with some wires until he gets it right.

Seriously, I have nothing against cousins. The same goes for in-laws, siblings, whoever doesn’t have an electrical contractor license and offers to fix something for you for half the price a professional would charge. Again, remember the home inspection. While we have in the past found bad wiring in the attic of a HUD home we had bought and fixed it, (thanks to the fact that my husband is an electrician) there are still switches around the home that power things we have never found – a fact that still scares us a little bit! In the above scenario, it would be better to leave the air conditioner off and let your potential homebuyers know that you are willing to fix it before close of escrow.

Come back tomorrow for part 2!

The good news about living rooms is that people live there and spend most of their time there. The bad news about living rooms is that people live there and spend most of their time there. Get the idea? The living room is usually the second impression home buyers get of the house they might potentially buy. (The first is the exterior of the home.) The living room is as important as the bathroom and the kitchen.

I once showed a home that was perfect in every way – the bathrooms looked great, the kitchen was cozy and pretty – everything was fine, except the living room could maybe seat a love seat. That was all the furniture it could hold. While there’s little you can do about a bad floor plan (one wonders what the builder was thinking!) most living rooms can be shown in their best light with a few tips. Follow these and showcase the most lived in area of the home to your homebuyers.

1. Avoid big furniture

Interior decorators and professional home stagers will suggest that you get minimal furniture for your home. It’s one thing if you have a large family and need the furniture for everyone. Also specific members of the family like specific items. So Grandpa enjoys his la-z-boy seat but it doesn’t need to stick around when you’re moving. Make it a point to remove excess furniture so your home is the showcase.

In addition to removing extra furniture, also pay attention to the fact that the size of the furniture is in keeping with the size of the living room and the wall it is set against. For example, you don’t want to set a big couch against a small wall or a seat against a long wide expanse. Less furniture and proportionate furniture make a room look tidy and right in terms of square footage, so be sure to give that impression. Not one of an over-cluttered small home.

2. Keep it light and bright

If you need to turn on some lights as soon as you enter your living room or your eyes need time to adjust so you don’t accidentally fall over something in your path, something in your living room is wrong. It may seem like it’s only orchids that need a lot of sunlight, but those are not the only living things that do. Humans (yes, yes, your homebuyers are human, even though at times it may seem like they’ve transmuted into electronic signatures and faxes and numbers!) like sunshine too.

One of the favorite real estate statements in MLS advertising is “light and bright.” And it sells homes. So take a close look at your home and see what you could do to make it light and bright. Add some skylights? Those might have the extra appeal of saving on electricity and making the home “greener.” How about just cleaning the windows and opening all the curtains? Buyers love sunlight. So give them some natural light and see the looks on their faces change!

3. Pay attention to focal points to set the mood

All too often, the focal point of a living room is the television. Again, it seems fine when you live in the home and watch TV often. It seems comfortable enough to arrange the seating around it. After all, how many quiet evenings do we really sit around the fireplace and meditate into it? Come on, admit it. None, right? But here’s the thing: we still like that idea. And we still buy into the image of that idea. We like the thought of cozy family dinners and quiet evenings in front of the fireplace. Rarely do we fantasize of loud evenings in front of the television set. (Sorry sports fans!) So why not make the fireplace the focal point?

Other ideas for focal points are a piece of artwork. I had seen this done exceptionally well at a listing once. There were track lights installed on top and the art caught the light. It was only later that I realized without the art work, the wall would have seemed like an odd obstruction and an oddly placed part of the old construction. Another idea I saw was a screensaver-like image on a flat screen TV which was obviously going to remain the focal point of the living room. But it looked so much better than the black screen that I admired it. So think about focus. Think about where you want your buyers’ attention to be when they enter the home.

4. Remember current trends and draw attention to them

This is where accents come in very handy and is really the only excuse to need home staging. If you have something in your home that is current and trendy, you definitely want to play it up and draw attention to it. Homebuyers sometimes do marathon home viewings of more than 10 – 15 homes a weekend. It can get worse if they’re traveling from another city and are only in town for a few days. While these relocation clients can be seen as the most serious and dedicated home buyers since they have to move and soon, it can be hard to get their attention.

Don’t let your home blend into the others they see that day. If you want them to come away with more than just a fleeting impression of your living room, draw attention to its best features. Do you have skylights? Then make sure you leave the lights off (and pray for a sunny day!) and let them see how much natural light you get in the living room. Does your living room open into the kitchen and create a nice flow for family gatherings, parties and get-togethers? If that’s the case, ensure that everything is sparkling clean and place a few glasses or even a vase of flowers in the kitchen to draw attention to it. Subtle hints with accents can draw attention to most missed features. Don’t let them miss them!

5. Don’t forget paint

Last but not the least and perhaps the most obvious factor is paint. If your home will be on the market, it is imperative that you paint it. Even if the previous paint job doesn’t seem too bad and there are no obvious stains on the walls, a fresher coat can make a world of difference. Not only does a new coat of paint help clear out the corners and brighten crown moldings that can otherwise look dull and worn, the fresh clean lines make the features of the home bolder and clearer in the eyes of the homebuyers. Paint will also cover up smells (cigarette smells for instance) and create a fresh, clean, new smell in the home. Just be sure to maintain it!

Paint is also a great way to set the tone for the home as soon as the home buyers walk into the living room. Is the home classic or modern? Is it suited to a fast lifestyle or a slow lazy one? Paint can create that dream we were talking about earlier, so use it wisely. Also, this is not the time to experiment. Stick with what most people would prefer. You can try your wild ideas in the new home you move into when this one is sold.

Follow these tips and you should be well on your way to moving out! Good luck!

(If you’re wondering why you would sell just the bathroom and not the entire home, please refer to the earlier post about “selling” a kitchen.)

Oh good, you’re back. I hope you’re beginning to get the idea that selling a home is more than just selling the real estate that the home seems to be. The reason why homebuyers really pick one home over another can be pretty complex. Just for a small smattering of choices in a home buyer’s mind, let’s name price, floor plan, location, proximity (or distance!) from friends and / or relatives, childhood nostalgia for an area or type of home, size of home, features and amenities, neighbors, and so on. And these are just the ones they admit to. Or even are aware of! There could be hundreds or thousands other reasons that lurk just under the conscious mind of the supposedly always-searching-never-really-finding-just-the-right-dream-home home buyer.

But this post is about bathrooms, isn’t it? So let’s get to the top five ways to entice this elusive home buyer into seeing your bathroom as superior to all others he or she has seen.

1. Sell the Dream

I don’t know if, in the past, bathrooms used to be a room that was mainly considered in a practical manner. Did home buyers ever walk in to one of these and think, Great. It has a shower and a toilet and a mirror. Oh, and a sink to wash my hands and face. Perfect. Done. The point is, no one today thinks of a bathroom as a particularly practical place. Remember the kitchen and the fantasy of the gourmet cook? Well, a similar fantasy pervades the bathroom. But it is one of relaxation. There isn’t a single person who doesn’t want a bathroom to resemble a spa. Okay, well, maybe my husband is one. But as a homebuyer, would he deny me that if I wanted it? Of course not.

The fact that home buyers want a bathroom to be a place of relaxation and comfort might be a new phenomenon but it is one you should not overlook. In fact, knowing this is an inroad into the mind of your home buyer. Do what you have to to make the bathroom as relaxing and peaceful as you can. Accessorize without overdoing it. Use a spa theme. Create the fantasy. Home buyers love it!

2. Banish Clutter & Messes

True story: I once found a blender in a bathtub. Don’t ask me what it was doing there. Suffice it to say it was a spare bathroom and listing pictures were not taken that day. Unless you want to be a source of humor for the home buyers to recall at every housewarming – including their own – don’t use the bathroom for storage. Even if it is an extra bathroom, you don’t want to give the impression of it being derelict. In fact, a bathroom can be worth thousands of dollars! Just ask an appraiser. If you have an extra one of these, consider yourself lucky.

Every bathroom must be clean, however. Any trace of any of the following will make the potential home buyer turn tail and run: mold, used floss, pet hair, human hair, dandruff, old band-aids, used cotton swabs, ear swabs, well, you get the idea. Clean might as well mean disinfected. Just don’t go crazy with the bleach. You want the bathroom to smell clean, but you don’t want to give the homebuyers the impression that they’re in a hospital!

3. High End Fixtures Sell

Part of the reason the little soap and shampoo sachets in upscale hotels are so attractive to bring home are not because you’ve paid a lot of money to stay there. It’s because the impression they give you is one of opulence. And you feel like you’ve brought a little bit of the opulence home by using the shampoo you brought with you while you stayed there and “stole” the little packets. Don’t worry – you’re not a kleptomaniac! You were taken in by the luxury of the place.

Creating luxury in a home for sale is easier in the bathroom than anywhere else. If you do have a sizable budget, that would definitely make it simpler, but again you don’t have to be extravagant. A singular piece like a bowl wash basin or a particularly large beautiful mirror with details carved on it, or even a high end light fixture that draws attention to itself can add to the feeling of opulence. And don’t think of it as unnecessary, either. One Realtor® I knew had a listing with a claw-foot tub and he very nearly sold the house because of that tub! In the advertisement, the lady who asks that architect to “build a house around around this” sets down a faucet, she seems ridiculous, but it might not be too far from the truth. Choose your fixtures wisely. It can be the difference between your home and an REO with the same floor plan.

4. Remove all Signs of You!

This can be a tough one and no one likes to hear it, but it’s so important. Especially in the bathroom. Home buyers usually look at resale homes because they are less expensive and less of a gamble in terms of being in an established neighborhood than new home developments. But they don’t necessarily like the idea that someone else has lived in the home before them. Why are newly remodeled homes so attractive? For the same reason: they ensure that they are not going to find anything that belongs to the previous owners in there.

So when home buyers do come through your home, you might want to find a safe spot outside the bathroom (maybe a storage cabinet somewhere that’s not as likely to get opened) to put your shampoo, makeup and whatever personal effects you like to use in the bathroom. My personal pet peeves include razors and lipstick, but there are a host of others. So hide those! Remove all signs that you are selling a place where you still live and get clean every morning. It’s tough but very important to a selling a home.

5. Make Necessary Repairs First

Nothing will put a potential home buyer off like a leaking faucet or a water stain close to the edge of a bathtub. You can have a spa theme and the bathroom can smell wonderful. You can even have high end appliances, but home buyers have a special vision I like to call “problem oriented” and spot red flags like leaks and water stains before they see the features. So unless you have fixed everything that needs to get repaired, I would advise against putting your home on the market.

Sometimes it’s a very simple fix and sellers might not even think about it, but it’s a good idea to walk through your home and be critical to the limit of it. Remember you won’t be living in it any more, so why not consider it critically? Fix everything that needs to get fixed. If it’s in question, it must be repaired. And bathrooms are where most of the repairs need to take place because water damage can develop into a serious problem very quickly. Don’t scare your home buyers away!

If you have a home improvement budget before you put your home on the market, it’s a good idea to pay the most attention to the bathrooms and the kitchen. Next time, we’ll be discussing the living room and the extra bedroom, so come back!

(Of course I know you’re not just going to sell the kitchen!)

This is part of a series on “selling” various aspects of a home. We know that in the current real estate market, it is even more important not just to add value to your home as a home seller but also to showcase it. While lowering the price is the single most effective way to get more foot traffic through your home when it is on the market, it is also important to show the home buyer just how much more you are offering than, say, the bank-owned home on your block.

The recent dearth of good inventory of REOs might just be your ticket to a move out of your house! Just recently we are beginning to see a tentative interest in owner-occupied homes again. Ask any Realtor® and you’ll hear that kitchens are the most important part of the sale of a home. They can make buyers fall in love and pick a more expensive but better home over a less expensive but plain one. So how do you shine your kitchen and really “sell” it to the buyer? Read on!

1. Think Gourmet

Even though we know we’re not the best cooks in the world (barring some of us at some parties that we can’t stop talking about!) we like to imagine that we are. If your kitchen inspires the word “gourmet” you’re halfway into your new home. All home buyers like the thought of a well thought out, open kitchen where they can whip up a meal in minutes while entertaining ten of their closest friends. Believe me, it’s a fantasy like a sunken tub. Even though all the kitchen ever sees is a take-out every single night of the week, homebuyers still like to own the gourmet kitchen. And their fantasies! So why not give it to them?

If you have appliances that you can boast about, make it a point to showcase them. If you have under cabinet lighting, leave it on during a showing. Little tweaks in lighting can set just the right mood. You don’t have to go and spend thousands of dollars to create a gourmet kitchen; just setting the right things on the countertops like an espresso maker can give a buyer a nudge in the right direction. Think about setting a mood, creating an ambience of luxury. It will go a long way in the mind of the homebuyer and make them more likely to remember your entire home in that very different light.

2. Spit Shine Everything!

This one is a bit of a pet peeve. Homes must be clean and the cleanest area has to be the kitchen. If you are still living in the home I understand how hard this can be. But it is not impossible. You are brave to have your home on the market at this time so it’s even more important to be brave when it comes to work. Clean the area after cooking or eating. If a kitchen looks dirty, home buyers have a visceral reaction to the listing and decide immediately that they will not buy it. They might not even know it, but when they’re with their agents deciding which home to put an offer on the dirty kitchen goes first. Trust me on this one.

Same goes for smells of food and cooking trapped inside the home. Take it from me: you do not want to cook fish in your home ever when the house is on the market. Ever means ever. Go out for sushi if you have to. But don’t dare cook fish. This is especially true in the winter months when houses remain closed for long amounts of time. Steer clear of the fish, clean the kitchen well and air it out after using it. That’s the safest thing you can do!

3. Say “no” to Clutter

I have never seen sales fall faster flatter on their faces than when there is too much in a home where there should be very little. Confusing? Not really. See, in the same way that you wouldn’t put a huge bed in the middle of a tiny bedroom so that you have to walk sideways or even on the bed to get around in the room; in the same way you can’t have all the appliances you have collected since you were in college on your countertops. The countertops need room. Think of it as breathing room.

I was watching a show on HGTV once where the Realtors® talk about a one appliance rule. They say you have one appliance out when the home is on the market. While that might be a bit extreme, I think it’s a good rule of thumb: when it doubt, leave it out. Don’t clutter your counters. Room is important to home buyers. If they see too much junk they’re not going to think, “Wow – look at all this house can hold.” They’re going to think, “Where does our stuff go now?” We are not all blessed with the creative imagination, especially not when we’re shopping for a home. Join the dots for them. Leave out the clutter.

4. Don’t Forget the Nose

We went over this somewhat in terms cooking fish and other smells that can linger in your home. And while we are on the subject, let me reiterate the importance of getting rid of garbage every single day. Well, let’s make that before anyone comes over as well. So maybe two to three times a day. When we live in our homes, we forget that they have smells. But they do. And you don’t notice until you come in from the outside. The best thing you can do is keep the windows open at all times or use a good exhaust fan.

In our family I’m the one with the nose. And I can smell something from miles away. It doesn’t help that we have a child under one year old as well, so suffice it to say if our home ever goes on the market, it’s going to be quite an ordeal keeping the house from smelling – well, rotten. Remember some people have a better sense of smell than you do, so get one of those plug in scents in the kitchen, air out the home and definitely get rid of the garbage before it starts to smell! You might not smell anything but in this case it’s better to the safe that sorry!

5. Details are Everything

Small touches can make a big difference. Ever hear the term less is more? It’s true, but only partially. Less is more if the less is well chosen and well placed. In the kitchen, this could apply to a fruit basket sitting perfectly on a counter top. (Make sure it’s real fruit, by the way. No one likes the idea of a plastic grape!) Using specific items that are well chosen you can draw the attention of a potential home buyer to specific features of your kitchen.

Here are some simple examples: Have a wine chiller? Why not place a nice bottle of wine out with two glasses close to it? A dining table in a nook can be made into a statement with some bright flowers in the center. Remember the details and you will leave the home buyer longing to be part of the life your home promises them. Never forget you are not just selling a home but also the idea and fantasy of living in that home. And details are your best friends.

It is said that kitchens and bathrooms can sell homes. I think every room is just as important as the other. Come back for more great ideas on decorating and staging your home for sale!

In the first part of this series, I wrote about how bad smells in a listing can ruin a good home sale, even if the house is priced right and shows well in general. I actually intended for this post to be just one post, but the topic of bad smells is such a pet peeve with me, that it seemed never to end. I can’t tell you how many homes I have stepped into with clients and the first thing they say when they enter the home is something like, “They have cats!” or “Smokers!” or “What’s that smell?” I can pretty much lock up and leave right then, because I can tell the outcome is not going to be good – and it never is. Anyway, on to the other things that ruin home sales.

It’s Not Just What They See…

Many home sellers live by the adage, “Out of sight is out of mind.” In my experience, that is not true when it comes to potential home buyers. If you are one of those people that just stuffs the junk into a junk drawer and then every drawer becomes a junk drawer, it would be a good idea to do a major spring cleaning before putting your home on the market. Just because you’ve stuffed your… er… “entertainment reading” into a drawer in the furthest laundry cabinet doesn’t mean no one will notice. They will.

Just assume that all closets will be opened. All dishwashers will be opened. All refrigerators, ovens, hallway closet doors will be opened. Believe me. I’ve walked with home buyers when they are in your houses. And they do check how much room is in these. And when they do see something you’ve stashed away, it’s not just your home that’s being judged, it’s you. And then, by extension, how well you may or may not have taken care of your house. So don’t give then any fodder. Get rid of it, or move it to a public storage facility. Ask yourself what you would keep in plain view and if it’s not going to be in plain view, it shouldn’t be there at all.

Soft Music is a Good Idea, Especially if…

Remember there used to be a time when real estate agents would actually bake cookies at Open Houses to make the home smell good? That’s because research shows that people are actually nicer to one another when the smell of baked cookies is in the air. Try to remember back to malls and how they smell just before the holidays? Heck, think of how malls smell every day of the year! Even if you can’t recreate the smell of freshly baked cookies (I mean, really, is it mandatory to get fat eating cookies when your home is on the market?!?) there are other things soothing to the senses you can create just as easily, perhaps more so. Like music.

Play soft, classical or semi-classical music in the background when home buyers are expected. Keep the light dim. Set a mood. The mood should be one of relaxation, calm and comfort. That is what home buyers want – not just a house, but somewhere they can call home. Some place that is quiet and comforting.

Another reason to play soft music in the home is to drown out other distractions that might occur unexpectedly at the time they are viewing the house. Like brakes squealing outside. Or the occasional passing car with loud blaring music (if you can call it music!). Restful sounds within the home can keep home buyers centered in the space and help them focus on the positive aspects of the house without distracting them. It’s almost as if the house becomes a world in itself and invites them in – exactly what most people want from their own home!

Clean Surfaces

This could be a female pet peeve. And if it is, you should pay even more attention to it since most home buying decisions are made by the women in the family. Call it sexist if you want, but most husbands will agree with me. The surfaces must be clean. Bread crumbs on kitchen counters, random pieces of string (or worse, hair!) on the carpet, these are strict no-nos. Not because they are necessarily disgusting (okay, the hair is!) but because they ruin the appearance of clean, untouched-yet-touchable surfaces.

The same rule goes for pet hair on the couches. Even if you’re going to take the couch with you, it makes the home buyer wonder what else in the home has been ruined by dogs. Trust me on this one – surfaces are important. Many home buyers are kinesthetic, which means they depend more on touch than any other sense. Don’t turn them away with dirty countertops. Make sure to clean the home and then clean it again to ensure it feels clean.

There. I think we’ve covered almost all the senses that really matter. Fortunately, you have only four to worry about. Taste is not one that home buyers depend on. So you get a free pass there! Happy home selling!

Okay, the potential home buyers have been walking through the home. Your Realtor® has warned you about the price and you’ve decided there is too much competition out there to push your luck. After all, just the other day, another foreclosed property has popped up for sale in your neighborhood. You wait much longer and the your concern is that your home is going to lose value as well. So you price the home under what you think it’s worth. Everything’s ready. And here come some potential home buyers. Do you drive them away by what you do?

Ooh, that Smell! Can’t you Smell that Smell?

After living in a home for a long time, some homeowners don’t even notice the smells in the home. But that doesn’t mean the home buyer doesn’t. When a person enters an unfamiliar setting, I believe that their senses are heightened and they are usually hyper-aware of things like smells. This is even more true if the home has been closed up for a while. Whether you are aware of it or not, remember that all houses have smells. The idea is to make yours have a better smell that invites people in, rather than makes them run for the car holding their noses.

Culprit #1: That lovely Persian cat
Yes, we all love our pets, but if at all possible, move the cat out of the home when you put the house on the market. If that seems too drastic, at least change the litter box daily and try to stash it away from public view. Get a room freshener in the area the litter box sits, so that its smells are quashed. There’s nothing worse than the smell of cat urine to home buyers and don’t think they won’t notice! More likely that they won’t notice anything but the cat’s… er… doings. And the brand new cabinets, the granite counters, the fresh paint – none of that will matter.

Culprit #2: The Dog!
And before anyone names me a cat-hater, (I own 2 cats and a dog, by the way) let me also say that man’s best friend can be a problem too. If your dog is used to laying on the couch and the bed, please be sure to vaccuum every single day your home is on the market. I know it seems unfair, but there are a lot of people out there who don’t like animals in their home and they will be bothered by the smell. Sure, he rescued your child from a traffic accident last year, he also still needs a bath before people arrive. Better yet, take the dog for a walk when home buyers arrive to look at the house. That way, he won’t distract them by jumping up and down or barking either.

Culprit #3: Dirty Dishes
There will be days (weekends, mostly) in my home when dishes pile up in the kitchen sink. Really, the dishwasher is just a few inches away from the sink, but sometimes it seems like miles. But my home is not on the market. And you can be assured those are cleaned up and put away before guests arrive. So dirty dishes in the sink are a strong no-no. Apart from the fact that they are visually unappealing, they also smell if left too long. Get rid of them. Wash dishes as soon as you finish eating if you’re selling your home. Yes, even if it is just one. Don’t pile them up and wait for a full load. And don’t think hiding them unwashed in the dishwasher is a good idea, either. Homebuyers do open appliances to see if the insides, believe me!

Culprit #4: the Garbage
Okay, this one should be obvious, but perhaps not. Get the garbage out of the home every single day, sometimes twice a day, especially if you like seafood or chicken. Or if you have a baby, like I do, who wears diapers. There’s nothing worse than a potential home buyer wanting to hunt down the source of a bad smell. And yes, on the surface of it, it might not seem like a big deal. It’s only garbage – of course you’re not going to leave it behind when you move for them to take care of, but we’re talking of first impressions and in my experience, home buyers know in the first five to ten seconds if they like the house or not. Those five seconds are hard to get back once they’ve been ruined with smells.

Other Random Culprits
Yes, there are more. Many more. Cigarette smells, unclean bathrooms, mold under the sink, random unknown blobs of dirt on the floor, old beer containers, unidentified spots on the carpet, fertilizer in the house plants, dirty shoes, old laundry, smelly socks, stinky undershirts, food in the sink, rotting flowers in a vase, the list goes on.

Yes, we’re a dirty species. But when our homes are on the market, we must give every pretense of smelling good. Remember you’re selling the home devoid if your selves and that’s how it must appear to every potential home buyer, or you’ve just ruined a home sale!

Picture this: You have to sell your home. Perhaps your company asks you to move to another city. Quickly. The real estate market is a buyer’s market, but you hope to recoup the costs in the place you relocate to. But you still want to make a good sale. Thankfully, you have been judicious in the purchase and the sale will not be short. You have some cash on hand to spruce up the place you currently live in before you put it on the open market. What do you do? Hopefully, you don’t make these three biggest errors when remodeling for a sale!

Painting Everything White

This seems to be a favorite mistake because it appeals to everyone’s sense of cleanliness. If it’s white, you can spot a speck of dust, we think. And so, if it’s white, it must be clean. While that seems like a good idea, usually painting the entire place white has just the opposite effect. For one thing, it looks like an attempt at sanitation. Like a hospital. People don’t like living in a hospital – it appears cold and unappealing to comfort and warmth – two things home buyers will pay a premium for. Why cold? Because it dulls all the little details. It hides the crown molding and it covers up the window design. It makes all the features of the home disappear! Why would you want to do that?

The only time whitewashing a house is a good idea is when the house is a short-term rental and one that is painted every 3 months or so. The landlord has chosen the cheapest paint available and one that requires the least amount of work and attention to detail. You want to create the opposite effect. So pick your paint with care and pay attention to detail. Use paint to accentuate the trim, the molding and the wainscoating. These are features. Don’t hide them!

Making Changes Based on Personal Preferences

I don’t know why it is that moving (or potential moving) brings out the finish-it-all-now monster out in all of us. Suddenly, we feel the desire to set everything right, become more organized, clean up our act, so to speak. This nesting instinct is a good thing – especially once we get to the new home – or we wouldn’t unpack and would live in boxes all our lives! But in the home that is going on the market, the nesting instinct is completely misplaced. While finishing projects is necessary, getting them to fit your personal preferences is not! Sometimes, it’s hard to draw the line, but you must!

Most home owners have projects. They have ideas of how the home should look and what it should feel like. Unfortunately, only a few homeowners ever get their home to look like that picture in their mind. And it’s a worthy endeavor, just not one to engage in while the home is on the market. Sometimes, this involves abandoning projects and finishing them in a way different than one imagined, getting the home to appeal to a taste that is different from your own. But remember, you will not be living in the home any more! Save your efforts for the new place and save yourself some money, too.

Getting the Latest and Greatest

Many home sellers think that the more they remodel, the more money they will make in the sale of a home. That is simply not true. According to most research, kitchens, bathrooms and siding gets the most return on investment. So watch for what remodeling efforts you want to put into the home before you list it. All of them are not created equal. Just because granite countertops are fashionable does not mean they immediately increase the value of the home – just look at the all the REOs on the market today. Believe me, a lot of them have granite counter tops.

A better idea is to look at how much you’re willing to spend and then take a good look at your home. If you can afford an interior designer, get one. The most important thing for a home to sell is not that it has the coolest, newest brand-name appliances or fixtures. It’s conformity. You want to stay within the style of your home and the houses around it. It’s called the principle of comformity. This is not to say that you cannot upgrade a 1940s kitchen. By all means, go ahead and do it. Home buyers love upgraded kitchens but be sure you retain a sense of the original style of the home. Then, when the home is on the market you could also play up the charm by staging it.

While I’m not absolutely sure these are the three biggest errors home sellers make, I’m pretty sure they rank pretty high on the list. So try and avoid these and hopefully you will hold on to enough of your money to be able to get the next home just as you like it!

This is part of an ongoing series of pitfalls most homeowners make when their house becomes a listing on the open market. So far, we have covered in the last post dealing with clutter, using a lockbox and having curb appeal. In the post before that, we went over pricing, competition and trusting your Realtor®.

As I have said before, it is imperative in this real estate market especially to be extremely careful when putting your home on the market. Studies into human behavior have repeatedly shown that the more options there are for a person to choose from, the less likely the person is to actually pick something. and today, there are so many homes to look at that a potential homebuyer can easily become overwhelmed. So, what can you do to stick out in the home buyer’s mind? Read on!

Not Leaving the Home during a Viewing

This is a pet peeve of mine, so bear with me here. You’ll see why it’s important. There have been times when I have come by as a buyer’s agent to a listing that is not my own with some potential clients and the sellers have killed the sale. Of course you know that Realtors® don’t get paid unless the potential buyers close escrow, so for the sale to be killed during the showing itself is pretty upsetting. But it’s not just that – it’s that the way the sale is usually killed just shows a lack of manners.

Let me explain. From the moment my clients walked into the home until the minute we crossed the threshold out of it, we were constantly scrutinized by an angry old lady who didn’t say a word. Now I don’t know that she was angry but she definitely seemed that way and she never took her eyes off my clients as they walked around the house trying very hard to ignore her.

This is a mistake, sellers! And it will ensure your home never sells. You don’t need to let home buyers run free in your home but putting them under a microscope and making them feel unwelcome will only force them our in less than 30 seconds. And decisions to make offers don’t get made in 30 seconds. Get a business card from the buyer’s agent and leave the home for about 15 minutes. Give the clients room to picture their belongings – and themselves – in that property. And please, please don’t stare at them! They’re not under scrutiny; your home is! There are many REOs out there that are vacant. The last thing you want them to do is go look at those because they don’t want to be made an object of when they’re shopping for a house!

Being Hard Headed when you Receive an Offer

Some homeowners still remember the good not-so-old days when they received a full asking price offer and then could counter asking for more money because the real estate market was headed up. And are chagrined when their home stays on the market much longer than expected and then they receive an offer way below asking price. What’s a seller to do?

For one thing, I would recommend a home seller determine if the offer is serious. If the person making the offer has taken the time to write it down with a Realtor®, has a good faith deposit and a letter of preapproval, chances are the offer is serious regardless of the amount offered. A home buyer who does all of the above definitely has an intent to buy and is not – the bane of home sellers everywhere – a tire-kicker. So, with that being established, the worst thing a home seller could do is get angry, get emotional, feel insulted and not respond to the offer or otherwise reject it outright.

Many home buyers today are confused. The real estate market is at any time made up of inexperienced buyers and sellers anyway. And with all the information coming at first time buyers today it is not surprising that they don’t have a clue what they are doing sometimes. So the fact that they made a lowball offer has nothing to do with your home or you and everything to do with what information they have received. The fact that they made an offer means they liked your home, now the next step is to work with it. Send a counter with your rock bottom price. Better yet, get your Realtor® to call theirs and see if he can guage anything about price. Or give them a verbal counter offer. Sometimes the buyers are just trying to get an idea of exactly what you want, so tell them. Getting offended and not working with an offer only leaves your home longer on the market and lowers the price at which it will eventually sell.

Well, that about sums it up for today’s rant. But I’m hoping the potential home sellers out there are learning something about this very tough market. Remember the old real estate adage: sellers sell in a sellers’ market, but buyers don’t buy in a buyers’ market. It’s true. And I hope these home seller tips help you bring in a buyer and get your home sold for a price you want. As always, we at Elite are here to help! Just give us a call. Happy Home Selling!

As part of an ongoing series, I am dealing with common mistakes home sellers make when they put their home on the market. As you already know, getting a house sold can be hard work. The current real estate market is making it even harder. So it is more important than ever to price the home right from the beginning, get a good Realtor® and take her advice, and learn to study your competition. We covered each of these in detail in the last post. Today we’ll go over a few more.

Not taking down Personal Items and Getting Rid of Clutter

There seems to be some disagreement between people when it comes to taking down personal items when the home goes on the market. The reason is this: some tastefully done artwork or photographs can actually enchance the look of the house. My personal take on it remains, “Yes, but…” Yes, but no one knows what constitutes tasteful when the house is on the market and we’re referring to personal items. Yes, but home sellers – especially if they have lived in the home – usually can’t distinguish their lives from it. They must take it all down, because they will inevitably leave something. And to be honest a wall of pictures never sold a home. Yes, you can quote me on that.

On the topic of clutter, it’s almost the same. You want to bring your house down to the bare essentials and box everything else up. This is what makes selling a home so hard – you have to live in it, but barely. I always recommend getting a storage place and storing most of your furniture, pots and pans, personal items, whatever you are not using and whatever is not essential to make your home look complete to the homebuyer in it. It’s amazing how much we leave in our home which we never use and when the home becomes a listing impedes the sale. Homebuyers get caught up in your stuff and get distracted from what they should be looking at, the house. They also want to see their own things in the home and cannot do so if you have too many things. They are trying to use their imagination – you just have to help them out.

Not Having a Lockbox

I mention this next because this point ties in very well with the previous one. Many clients do not want to use a lockbox because they have too many things in the home. Unfortunately, they have not mentally moved out of the listed home. Hence the recommendation for getting a storage box.

Lockboxes only allow access to a Realtor® with an e-key. They are coded with the time the access occured as well as the name, phone number and real estate brokerage the Realtor® was associated with. As such, there is an added level of security. If you have ever seen a lockbox you can tell that no one can get into one or get a key without using the electronic key used by Realtors®. Lockboxes also have a default time during which they do not open – I’m pretty sure it is between 9 p.m. and 8 a.m. so you can be assured that no one is going to be lurking around in your home when you are asleep.

Lockboxes make showing your home convenient. Remember your home will not be shown by your Realtor® alone. You can ask for a courtesy phone call before the buyers come by (called “Call first lockbox) but asking to make an appointment with you only when you are available severely limits the pool of buyers.

Not Pursuing Curb Appeal

If clutter is important to get rid of to encourage home buyers that walk through your home to make an offer, curb appeal is important to get the potentials walking by your home to come inside. “Curb appeal,” now a common term thanks to HGTV, literally means the appeal your home has from the curb. This includes landscaping, siding, windows and everything else that entices the homebuyer to come inside the home because he or she thinks it will be prettier or just as nice as what it promises on the outside.

Some sellers focus on the inside of the home so much they forget about the outside. Remember that most homebuyers first do a drive by properties they have shortlisted from the MLS. You want to then encourage those buyers to call their Realtor® and come see your home. It’s the only way it will sell! This is not to say that you should spend thousands on landscaping your property; just ensure that the lawn in mowed, plants are trimmed and the front door looks like it is in good shape. Dust the entryway and remove dead flowers and plants. If it is fall and your are lucky to have a centerpiece like a maple tree, draw attention to its color by removing distractions. Remove peeling paint and fix anything broken that can be seen from the outside. Repaint if you have to. You will see your return on investment by just the number of buyers who make appointments to see your home!

This series is of course by no means over. Come back for more! There are thousands of errors I see home sellers make and in this real estate market some of those errors can be fatal. So watch out for these pitfalls!

A friend of mine asked me yesterday about giving her tips for home sellers. Okay, technically the tips were not for her – she hosts an HD radio show and I was called in as the real estate expert but you’re not interested in shameless plugs right now, are you? Suffice it to know that I was left thinking about common home seller pitfalls that occur which essentially hurt the sale of a home very often. The unfortunate thing is that sellers sometimes have no idea they have actually caused the home buyers not make an offer. And some of these pitfalls are so easily avoided and / or fixed. So I want to dedicate a series to them. Home sellers, listen up!

Not Listening to your Realtor®

Maybe this should have come in last. I don’t like making a plea that requires you to trust someone right at the outset, but I think in this troubled housing market it is necessary. Many sellers desperate to sell in this real estate market won’t be able to. Unfortunately, that’s just the truth. The number of bank-owned homes out there are mind-boggling. Not to mention the fact that they are priced at outrageously rock-bottom pricing. Even if the intent is to get multiple offers and hence drive up the actual selling price on these homes, they are nonetheless your competition. So listen to your Realtor®. Ask him to use all the tools at his disposal: first, to give you an idea of the absolute truth about the real estate market today and then, to market your home in the best way possible to get a home buyer who will not just make an offer, but actually follow through and buy the home – YOUR home.

Realtors® are professionals who have to sell homes for a living. If there is a Realtor® in business today, chances are she is good at it. Since we don’t get paid unless and until a home sells, it is impossible for Realtors® to stay in business unless they are aware of the current market and are able to guide buyers and sellers through real estate transactions and to a successful close. So listen to your Realtor®. Chances are she has been there before.

Not Pricing a Home Right from the Outset

In a better real estate market the strategy of let’s-price-it-high-and-see used to work. Today, you couldn’t come up with a worse idea to sell your house. When a new listing comes on the market, it shows up with a “new” tag in the MLS and immediately gets emailed to anyone who is looking in the area in that price range. If it isn’t priced right, you’ve missed your buyer base completely! Sure, when the price drops it will still remain under current listings that match the prospect’s criteria, but then it isn’t a new listing any more. And, believe it or not, I still get asked the question, What’s wrong with it that it’s been on the market so long?

Why not price the home right from the beginning? It creates excitement – even a sense of urgency in the mind of the buyer that they might be competing against other buyers. And a sense of urgency leads to sales, as any Christmas shopper today will tell you. Much better than letting the home languish on the market and then just be grateful to receive an offer, any offer. One caveat, however: the price you think your home is worth might not be its market value in today’s market. Be prepared for the truth.

Ignoring your Competition

This seems like a repetition of the previous point, but it’s not. That’s because I’m giving you specific advice here: when you look at the CMA (Competitive Market Analysis) that your Realtor® hands you, be sure to look at not just the sold properties, but the active listings as well. When the market is going down, it makes little sense to look at the sold comps and base your price on them.

When the market was headed up, sellers considered the sold homes, then priced their houses 3% – 5% higher than the latest sold comp and got the price they wanted. Unfortunately for you we must do the opposite today. Keep an eye on the sold prices of homes and then take a look at the active listings. Chances are your home will sell somewhere in line with the sold comps, but your competition when your listing is on the market are the active listings. Most buyers don’t look at the CMA until they want to make an offer. What they consider first is the relative price of the listing with regard to the others on the market. If you price your home like the solds, you will miss out on the pool of buyers looking for a bargain home and your listing may stay on the market longer, until it’s time for a price reduction. In reality, you will be following the market down.

That’s it for today. This is part of an ongoing series, so do come back to read more common home seller pitfalls. Sellers in this market need all the help they can get! And with the holidays approaching people walking through your home are quickly dwindling into shrewd bargain hunters or simply tire-kickers. So make every day your home is on the market count. Avoid these pitfalls. Get your home sold. And if you need to sell fast, give us at Elite a call. Our professionals will be glad to help!

After I wrote the recent post on how you should react to offers as a home seller in today’s market, a few clients asked me to follow that up with what a home seller could do now to get their homes sold. Are there any other tips a seller can use to compete with the bank-owned homes? As we’ve seen, foreclosure sales have almost tripled in Sacramento county from last October to this October. While that might seem like a dead end to many sellers in this market, it is important to remember that some buyers are still interested only in homes that are not bank owned. How can you reach these buyers? Here are some ideas.

It’s Still About Price, But…

You cannot avoid the fact that price is on everyone’s mind these days. Even if your home is not bank owned, you will be competing against homes that are either short sales or REOs. Not to mention the reality of depressed prices in your neighborhood due to less expensive homes selling before all others. Banks can afford to drop their prices to get rid of inventory. Maybe you can’t drop your asking price to rock bottom, but you must price the home as close to an REO as you can handle. Leave some room for negotiation (because there will be some!) but I don’t have to tell you that overpricing your home in this market is essentially like not listing it at all.

That being said, be aware that just because the REO next door to you sells for say, thirty thousand dollars less than where you are priced, that it’s all over for you. Appraisers do have to take into consideration that your home is not a distress sale. Chances are also that REOs have deferred maintenance, thus reducing their value. Ask your Realtor® if you can see the pictures inside the homes listed around yours – that should give you a pretty good idea of where your house should be priced.

Accessibility is Important

Besides just price, bank owned homes have another thing going for them: accessibility. Almost all of them are easy to show. Buyer’s agents love showing REOs because there are never appointments to make and all of them have lockboxes and are vacant. While it might not be possible for you to move out (and sometimes a vacant home can be negative, because buyers don’t get an idea of furniture placement), it is a good idea to have your Realtor® use his lockbox on your door and indicate in the showing instructions that just a message on the phone is enough notice to show the home. This is called “Call 1st lockbox” and is easier on most buyer’s agents and the buyers than making an appointment with you or waiting for a call back. Remember, the home buyers are not in love with your home yet! You have to let them into the home first.

It is also a good idea to leave the house when the Realtor® and the potential buyers come by. Take a walk around the block, go to the store, take the dog for a walk. Give the buyers room. Definitely do not sit and stare at them as they look around the house. That will ensure they run out in within two minutes. And buyers that leave in less than five minutes almost never write offers!

Language & Negotiation

I covered this in detail in the previous post about how to deal with a purchase offer, but it bears repeating: ensure that your Realtor® is telling every buyer inquiry that all reasonable offers will be considered. When you do receive an offer, read it carefully and don’t rush to answer. Chances are it will be low. Learn to negotiate with it. Read this before you do anything. Also, another thing worth mentioning here. Don’t take too long to consider an offer. Your competition, banks, take anywhere from 72 hours to a week and are getting quicker. The best already have a counter offer written and they take very little time in getting it out. Sleep on the offer you receive, but don’t be caught snoozing. The home buyers don’t want to wait forever – there’s a lot to look at!

Ensure Clearances

This is arguably the best advantage you have over REOs and short sales. You have money. I know, it sounds crazy, but hear me out. You, as a homeowner, have lived in the home and chances are you have made repairs where they were necessary. You have taken care of the house. REOs are priced at wholesale prices because they have not been kept up. The people who had their homes foreclosed on definitely did not fix leaky faucets, torn roofs and the banks will not offer clearances for pest work, roof certifications or fix anything else that’s broken. In fact the first line in any bank owned home sale counter offer is, Property sold as-is, where-is.

You will not do that. In addition to making your home look pristine, inviting and warm, in addition to pricing it right, you can get pest inspections and clearances done ahead of time. In other words, your home is turn-key. In spite of what you see around you, there are buyers for turn key homes. Not everyone wants to add their own sweat equity; some people are just fine paying others to do so.

Sweeteners

No, I’m not talking about Splenda. Sweeteners have been largely forgotten in the strong seller’s market we had and could come back in a big way today. These include letting buyers customize their preferences in carpet, paint and so on. If you are considering painting anyway, let the potential home buyers know that they can pick the paint color. Same for replacing the carpet – let them pick it. Most home buyers will change some aspect of the home to suit their personalities anyway and your buyers might appreciate the opportunity to be able to move in without changing anything.

I hear often that to sell a house in this market you must think like a bank. I disagree. I think distinguishing yourself from the rest might be the key. Good luck!