Buying or selling a house is a human process. It is also a mechanical process. When we try to sell our house, there are many factors involved. We are heavily invested in that house, sometimes financially and emotionally.
But the time has come that we need to sell it for whatever reason. There are factors that affect the speed and ease of that sale, some we can control and some we cannot.
We may put the project in the hands of a real estate agent, who will at least give us some hints if there are items that we should address concerning the house. They would be a bit less emotionally invested in the property.
But sometimes, if we attempt to sell it ourselves as a FSBO, our vision may be clouded as to reasons the sale might be slower coming than we expect. We know the weather can be a factor in the winter, but there is very little we can do about that. We use our concentration best looking at things we can change.
Causes
Poor Maintenance
I, personally, am the King of Deferred Maintenance, so I know a thing or two about it. I know it’s very easy to get into that habit. It’s the brother to Procrastination. And I sometimes hate myself for it. I know I should do better. I know it is not in my best interest or the best interest of whatever I am ignoring.
But I must draw the line. I pledge I will NEVER buy a house from a Deferred Maintainer! And it is easy to see by looking at the house that the seller is a DM.
There are a few things you should consider early-on to keep you from looking like one.
- Clean your windows
- Clean your baseboards
- Replace your HVAC filters
- Clean the Fireplace if you have one
- Replace any broken windows or torn screens
- Make sure all your doors and windows work properly
- Repaint outside trim if possible
- Touch-up/repaint inside if possible
- Make sure all lights and switches work properly
- Consider having a Home Inspection done now.
- Consider having a termite inspection done now.
- An appraisal done now would help you price it right.
These twelve items bein done in advance might save you a lot of money and a lot of time. The last three may cost a good bit, but by being done in advance, they may save you a good bit, too. And the BEST surprise is always NO surprise!
Outdated Rooms
Fads and fashions in rooms come and go almost as frequently as fads in clothing, and it can get easy to over-do this item. You can a pile of money here only to end up with something you like but buyers might not.
Of course the two logical areas are the kitchen and the bathrooms. The appearance of these rooms can look as though they are straight from the period when the house was built. There are so many choices and variables, I can’t begin to address them all here, but SHOP AROUND. Whether you are dealing with a big-box store, or a kitchen boutique, just remember s few faucets, fixtures and drawer handles will always be a lot less expensive than a makeover, and the effects can still be mighty.
No Curb Appeal
The exterior of your house can be OK, or it can be nasty. We are going for OK here.
You can spend a fortune landscaping here, but I’m not sure it will return your investment. Look at what you have, then tidy it up. Then look at it again before you spend too much.
Trim those shrubs up. A lot. Trim them back from around your front door.
Let the world see the feng-shui magnet you have created by painting the door a brighter color. And, for goodness sakes, trim the lower branches of the trees in the front yard so the world can see your house at all!
Insufficient Exposure
If you increased your exposure by trimming your front trees, then remember, even if you are selling you house on your own, a la FSBO, you still need the exposure of having it in the Multiple Listing Service. Check into a Flat-Fee MLS broker who can do that for you at a fraction of the cost of conventional listing, but with a lot more work on your part.
Difficult to Visit
Be prepared to deal with the public. The public can be on different schedules. They may need to visit your place in the mornings or the evenings or the weekends. Make it easy for them.
Some sellers tell me “I only want to show my house to people who are bank pre-approved.” I suggest to them that they should not run off the other half who may not be savvy enough yet to get pre-approval.
Maximize the number of people looking at your house. You will minimize the number of days your house will be on the market.
Overpriced
This is the number one all-time killer of property sales. The temptation is to price your home high, because a) people will offer me less, b) I don’t want to leave any money on the table, and the granddaddy of them all, c) it’s MY house, tied with I don’t HAVE to sell, and maybe they can’t tell I went totally upgrade ballistic on this stair-rail… etc.
Be real from the beginning. An appraisal will help you do that.
Effects
Overlook any or all of the previous items at your own peril. Some will be worse than others but there is no special combination that becomes the perfect storm in the mind of a buyer. It may take a lot. It may take a few. But there are some consequences to deal with and endure.
Few Showings
If your property is hot, and your price is right, you are going to have showings. The best interest will be at the first, when a lot of people may be looking for a house just like yours or a house in your neighborhood. Even in the dead of winter, it would not be uncommon to have several showings a week or even day. Even at that time of year some people’s situations are such that they really need to move, as unpleasant as the weather may be.
If you are not having a significant amount of interest, especially in the beginning, you should do a quick self-examination as to your sales structure.
No Offers
This is the kid brother of Few Showings above. You may have a lot of people looking at your house. You may have Open Houses that are well-attended. But something is just not clicking. Nobody is getting to the point where they want to sit down and get serious about your house.
That one couple said they would be back, but so far nobody has made a real offer in writing.
Too Long Listed
Kind of the cousin of the last two, this one happens easily, but it can be insidious in its effect. It can submarine any offers. It can decrease any offers that may come up.
Yes, there are ways to get new MLS numbers so your house LOOKS like a new listing, but a serious looker, buyer, or agent who likes your neighborhood will know. There are ways to know.
In the End
There is an old saying- “your price or your terms.”
Buyers and sellers can rarely get both. Of the few things we have touched on today, most of them the seller is able to change. One in particular, sellers are sometimes unwilling to change, and that is the price.
If you need to get your price, as the seller, you need to be ready to take care of all the other items. Absent that, you are insisting on your terms. You need to be ready to live with a less than perfect price.
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Photo by Eric Muhr on Unsplash