If you are planning on selling your home there are a few basic requirements and one of those is a picture! A current one at that. And while you are at it multiple pictures of the inside of the house might get someone to go see it.
There is a house I showed this week that has one picture of the front of the house and since this is the second – third if you count the rental – time on the market the agent might have taken the time to present the house to get more folks in. The pricing on this home has been dropped three times. They should be planning for yet another drop according to my buyers who saw it. And it probably is still over by $50K.
And if you are planning on selling your home you need to ensure it can be shown. The showing instructions on this house allowed for showings 2 hours each week. One hour on Thursday and one hour on Sunday because there are tenants currently in place. Really.
And if you are planning on selling your home you need to make sure it looks good during those precious 2 hours! This should go without saying. A home for sale is a product and it needs to stand out especially if it’s lacking in basic charm and good looks. So of course this house had the triple whammy and was also a mess.
The owner resides elsewhere so he undoubtedly has no idea of how poorly his home has been marketed and likely has been told that it’s a result of the weak economy. While the house is not a stellar example it’s in a fantastic neighborhood with a great flat backyard and no steps up the front walk. It’s against our code of ethics to tell the seller any of this but I’m really surprised to find someone has paid so little attention to his asset and has allowed this to go on for so long.
So if I were asked what needs to be done to sell this house I’d say:
- don’t try to sell the house while there are tenants who are uncooperative
- once empty, clean it with industrial strength cleaners
- repaint in a fresh, neutral color
- buff the wood floors until they gleam
- clean out the yard clutter
- replace the last old appliance with a new black one to match the other newer appliances
- take 100 pictures
- create a great tour so people can see if for what it is
- price it for exactly what it is
- market the house for its potential to create a great home in a neighborhood with fantastic schools and proximity to trails, shopping, mass transit
- put the house on every Internet site available to bring in traffic
- hold it open all weekend and invite all the neighbors
- make it as easy to show as possible
- sign a ratified contract in short order
None of the above is rocket science or particularly hard but it takes hard work and consistent effort to ensure the house is ready for market and can be sold. The listing agent has listed one house before. New agents who are well trained can do equally as well as veterans if they really care, but someone who’s either not well trained or just doesn’t care will probably never do a good job. And his bad job unfortunately costs not only the seller a decent price but the neighborhood values can suffer also if this never sells or sells below value and becomes a comp.
Too bad the seller didn’t ask for more references to understand that his agent knew how to do his job. As my dad said when he was visiting, " boy if you don’t know how to do your job well, I end up paying for it, don’t I?" (His language wasn’t so tame 
My guess is the agent reduced his commission and the seller thought he’g get a bargain but it’s no bargain if a house never sells. Or possibly the agent told him what he wanted to hear in price even if it was never a possible price. Unfortunately agents use this old trick all too often and try to "buy the listing" with a high listing price they know can’t be achieved. It’s one of the biggest violations of the code of ethics we see.
Rant over. For everyone’s sake I hope this house sells in spite of the mistakes!
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If you are looking to buy or sell a home in one of the Bethesda real estate communites, please start your search by calling me, a Bethesda Realtor. I’m available to help you! Josette Skilling |
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