We are currently deep into round two of trying to sell our home. It’s frustrating. The market is tough and trying to keep a home show-worthy with an 11-month old and a giant, hairy dog is even harder. But we do it, because we’re motivated and will do what it takes to sell.
We’ve been fortunate to have a lot of showings lately and have our fingers crossed that one of those showings will lead to a buyer, but nothing yet. The experience has opened my eyes a lot to the whole buying/selling process, though, and I thought I’d pass on what I’ve learned to make the process go (mostly) smoothly for both parties. Some is a little snarky, I’ll admit, but most is just some good ol’ advice.
* If you’re the buyer:
- Know that the seller is rearranging their lives to show their house. This includes serious cleaning and hiding of every day items such as toiletries, dish drainers, and other items that you wouldn’t think you need all the time, but you do. Not to mention, they might have young children on schedules, pets that need to be removed, etc. Because of this, making an appointment to see a house in an absolute necessity. Preferably at least a day in advance. Sellers are well aware that this isn’t always possible, but it should be attempted most of the time. When you do make an appointment, try to have a back up time just in case the seller isn’t able to show that house at that time.
- Try to view the house with an open mind and know your market. I think HGTV has seriously skewed potential buyers and has given unrealistic ideas of what homes offer. I’m a House Hunters junkie too, so don’t think I haven’t been lured and teased by the pretty, pretty pictures of granite countertops, big bedrooms with master baths and giant, walk-in closets. But here’s the truth: your price point will offer more or less depending on where in the country you are. $300,000 in the Midwest will go a lot farther than it does in New England. You might not get that granite countertop today, but you can always put one in later. Instead, look at the great property, the spacious living room, the great light, whatever. I’m not saying to compromise on everything you want, just know that some things can be added (additions, hardwoods, etc.) and some things can’t (big property, great neighborhood, easy commute, etc.). Try and look at the big picture and if it’s not perfect to you today, think about whether it could be your dream home down the road. (I’m not saying settle, but you get my drift.)
- Following that same idea, paint colors can always be changed. Seriously. If your biggest complaint about the house is the paint colors, that’s a pretty good house.
- Sellers understand that you might be looking at their house even if you’re not totally ready to buy. I mean, we do that. We’ve toured potential houses even though we can’t put in an offer yet, because if our house were to sell, we’d like to know what’s out there so we can move quickly. This is all well and good and part of the house-showing process. However. If you’re not buying any time soon, don’t stay for an hour. Don’t tell the realtor how much you love it and how you would put in offer in today…if only you didn’t have to wait an entire year before you move. Don’t put yourself in a position where the realtor has to kindly push you out the door. You’ve wasted a lot of people’s time by doing that.
- Don’t go #2 while you’re there. Seriously, that’s just gross.
* If you’re the seller:
- Be as flexible as possible. I know I just went on and on about how buyers should be courteous of their showing times, but as the seller, it’s your responsibility to make showings as convenient as possible for all. After all, you want to sell the house. You’re really at the buyer’s mercy, not the other way around.
- Keep the house clean and remove a lot of personal items. Since we’re not only sellers, we’re also potential buyers, we’ve been inside a lot of other people’s houses and I can tell you, if the floor isn’t vacuumed, the bathrooms are dirty, there are dishes in the sink or random crap on the counters, it takes away from the house. Not all people can go into a house with a critical eye and see the potential. I’ll be the first to admit I’m not great at it, but with the coaching of my mom (who is GREAT at seeing house potential), I’ve gotten a lot better at looking past the obvious. However, some people will just see the mess. Or smell…the smell. A house can go from a possibility to a big fat no in a heartbeat. Don’t make it too easy for that to happen.
- If you have a pet, do your best to remove the evidence. That means no pet hair and no…pet. Whenever possible, make sure the pet is gone, or at least completely out of site/earshot when the house is being shown. You might be a dog person, but certainly not everyone is. (Kodiak’s toys and bed are always put away and Kodiak is loaded up in the car with us whenever we show the house.)
- Here’s where I get all contradictory again, but hear me out. If you’re serious about selling, sometimes doing some small repairs can make a big difference because buyers will see it as one less thing they have to do themselves. (And it’s one less reason for them to offer less money!). To go along with that, painting can do wonders as well. That magenta bedroom that you love so much? It can be a real deterrent for potential buyers. Painting over it in a neutral color gives the buyer a blank canvas in which to imagine themselves living in your home.
- If at all possible, do not be home when there is a showing. We once saw a house and when we walked in, the tenants were sitting on the couch with their feet on the coffee table, eating food and watching TV. They grunted at us as we walked around. Now granted, it’s not their house, they were just renters. But still. Not only is it awkward, (and it would certainly have been more awkward if it was the owner watching us instead), but just like crazy paint colors, it makes it hard to envision it as your home when other people are right there, occupying it.
Those are my tips from me to you. I hope they can help a little. Feel free to share your own home buying/selling tips in the comments!
And, um…anyone want to buy a house? I’ve got a cute one for you.
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May 31, 2011 at 7:46 am
brandilicious
Oh boy! Now I’m reminded of our house hunting experience (where I swear we looked at over 100 places!).
One tip for buyers is to ask before taking photos. When we were leaving our apartment and the landlord was showing our apt, we noticed some people with cameras. We still had our stuff in the apt so I felt a bit violated. Not to mention that each apartment looked the same and the complex had a website with photos on it so there was no need!
It is mostly annoying when the owners are there, but it worked in our favor. The second time we looked at our current house, the owner was there and my real estate agent talked to her and found out how desperate they were to sell. We used that to our favor and threw out a low offer which was accepted immediately!
And yes! Look past ugly paint and see the bones of the house. If we based our decision on the flooring/paint of our current house (SPONGE PAINT in the colors PEAS AND CARROTS. I wish I were joking!), we wouldn’t have bought, and apparently many people couldn’t see past that as we were the first offer after being on the market ~9 months. And it smelled like cigarettes but after a full day of airing out and using Kilz primer, it’s long gone.
May 31, 2011 at 8:44 am
J
This is not scientific but I felt I had to share my owner present story. In high school, my best friend’s mom’s house was on the market for a while and after a few past issues, she got fred up with the realtor and told us it was fine if we stayed in the house making pizza (we had bought the ingredients and planned to do that before a last minute showing was scheduled) but warned us that the realtor was showing the house. We stayed in the kitchen the whole time and didn’t get in the way of the family touring. A couple of days later, that same family put in an offer and bought the house. At the time, we joked that our pizza smelled so good it sold the house. However, after reading your tips, I think there could be some truth in that as the family saw the functionality of the kitchen and the house smelled very nice. You should try making Italian pizza or some other nice smelling food next time the house is being shown
May 31, 2011 at 10:48 am
KT
Tip for buyers: if your realtor shows you a place that doesn’t met your specifications, don’t see it as it gets the seller’s hopes up. When I was trying to sell my condo out west I had a couple of buyers come through that wanted a two bdrm condo when my condo was only a one bdrm. So why did I clean for you???!!!
May 31, 2011 at 10:51 am
Stephanie
I am clapping at your post right now!!! Everything you said I completely agree with. I am not a Realtor, but this totally reminds me of when we were buying our house. I can’t tell you how many that I saw that it was just dirty or smelled bad because of pets, or the pets freaked me out (barking or whatever) I wish I had enough time and space here to tell you my stories LOL. Our Realtor told us when we were selling the house not to do any more fixing up to it than a can of paint if we wanted, unless of course it was something that we didn’t mind doing then leaving it behind (like a new kitchen floor that we wanted in order to get rid of the orange carpet YUCK! LOL) He told us that he could market everything in a way that it would appeal to people, and he did, our house sold in 2 weeks (granted several years ago), but for a bachelor’s place with an archway in the wall to make room for the pool sticks while playing, or the fishtanks embeded in the walls, he got it done. Oh yes, and definitely cook something before showing the house, I always loved the ones that smelled good (and had the food to eat too, even if it didn’t always look the best.
May 31, 2011 at 11:12 am
Marie
Someone used your bathroom to take a poo while looking at your house? That’s so not ok!
May 31, 2011 at 11:36 am
schmei
OK, the “don’t go #2 while you’re there” made me laugh out loud, and then I wanted to apologize to my husband. See, this weekend we were looking at apartments, and around place 3 or 4 he really had to pee. He asked if I thought the guy would mind if he took a pit stop in the bathroom of the (not even lived-in at the time) apartment we were standing in, and I was horrified. “No – that’s totally rude! We’ll stop somewhere afterward!”
Dude wasn’t planning to take a poo, though. That’s just… ew.
It sounds like you don’t need any tips, but I remember the folks at Young House Love posted a lot of helpful hints for people trying to sell their homes, including baking something before the potential buyer shows up so the whole house smells nice. Pretty smart.
May 31, 2011 at 9:49 pm
skinny
Hi, I don’t usually post comments but my husband and I just sold our smaller 10-year townhouse and switched to a bigger one earlier last year in North Carolina. This is what my husband did (because he mainly did it all!).
We are big HGTV fans, so before we even listed it, he did a lot of minor repairs, like replacing all the fixtures for the doors and outside lights, painting a little (fortunately most of our rooms are already in neutral colors), rented a commercial carpet cleaner from Lowes to clean the carpet, he even detached all the window screens and spray washed the outside window frames inside and out. We also went to Ikea and bought a few modern and neutral decorative accessories, bed linen and other stuff to make the house even more model home looking. All these were done on top of the usually cleaning and de-cluttering. So when we actually listed the house, the agent told us there is nothing we needed to do and told us we had the best choice in the townhouse complex of close to a hundred of them, at the time, I think we had about a dozen in competition.
Another thing we did was we listed at the similar price as all the others out there on the market, our frame of mind was for any potential buyer who look at that price point to realize our house was the best for that price point. Our goal was not to gain back the few hundred dollars or a thousand or two we used because we had the best house in the market, but to “get rid” of the house. If we had to put in some money to do it, so be it.
We got an offer from our first viewing, we accepted it, before knowing the second viewer wanted to make an offer too. Unfortunately the first buyer’s mortgage fell through after she was pre-approved! Shit happens and we listed it again and showed it again a month or so later. Market was dead the second time around and there was no viewing at all for a while, but as soon as there was one viewing, we got an offer and sold our house.
I’d have to say it was a lot easier for us, having no kid and no pet. But I have to give big credit to my husband for putting a lot of time and effort to make the house looked like it was a new model home and actually move-in ready when it was in fact 10 years old. Him being a neat freak himself doesn’t hurt either. He actually want to fix everything there is to fix for the new buyer, especially after we found out she is a single retired lady. We didn’t have granite counter top or hardwood floor, but a meticulous house doesn’t hurt in showing.
Good luck!
June 1, 2011 at 1:41 pm
prettylittlereckless
Great post! I’m (hopefully) considering buying a house within a year and this helps
I’m definitely one of those “see the potential” people and don’t mind a little clutter. I’ve searched for homes online and with each one, my head is swimming with ideas! The only thing I’m scared about is the REAL process of it all. Inspectors and loans and all the paperwork etc. Luckily an extended family member is a realator in my area and will help me find a great place when I’m *really* ready. Good luck selling your house!
June 2, 2011 at 3:36 pm
Marie
Buyers should not only try to overlook things in order to see the potential but also overlook some of the good things. Houses can be staged really well but you’re not buying their furniture. You need to imagine the rooms with all your own stuff in the rooms.
June 24, 2011 at 3:42 am
geboon
nice tips,there is another tip for the buyer that he ALWAYS use an independent lawyer to represent your interests when purchasing overseas property. post free classified