Listing Makeover 101

The first thing is to teach the seller how to show the house in a better light, but because they are friends and he wants to preserve the friendship he does nothing and does not sell the house.

The seller then decides to hire another real estate agent who has made a lot of sales in the neighborhood where he lives. The second real estate agent tells the seller to do some work on the house if he wants to show it to better advantage. The first thing the seller does is take his wife’s quilts down from the walls, and then he pulls up the carpet in two of the upstairs bedrooms to show the hardwoods floors. The following weekend the house sells to the first prospect that saw it after the improvements were made. The first real estate agent knew nothing about selling a home. If he had he would never have told the seller that he liked the quilts on the wall. He also would have never said that he thought the new owner might like the old carpeting. He would have put his friendship with the seller aside and given him the right advise. It cost him a sale, and over 3 months of time. It cost the client as well. A real estate agent should convey to the seller what needs to be done to show his home at its best. It’s very important and can lead to a quick sale, rather than having a house stay on the market for months or longer. Every real estate agent knows what needs to be done in order to have a quick sale. But do they do it? Unfortunately, many of them do not. To sell a house, a real estate professional knows that less is usually better than more, less furniture, less pictures, less on the walls, less on the counters and less on the floor. Lighting is important too and lighter is usually better than darker. The highest wattage recommended is what is best in darker rooms. Turn on all lights and open all curtains, so the house is shown to its best advantage Freshening up the paint and shampooing the rugs can also lead to a faster sale. Expose hardwood floors and wash the windows too. Make bathroom fixtures and kitchen surfaces shine. Another good idea is to place a few planters with fresh flowers near the entrance, mow the lawn, trim the hedges and during the winter keep sidewalk shoveled and or sanded if you live in the North. On the outside, paint the most street visible areas. Stand in the street and look at the paint and the siding, shudders, curtains, plants, grass, driveway, roof, and chimney and decide what you think needs work. Real estate professionals should be able to give seller ideas on how to improve the appearance of their home and make selling it easier. These suggestions will also probably make the house sell for more money. None of these suggestions should be made until after the paperwork has been signed. Sometimes when a real estate agent makes these suggestions too early he can offend the seller and loose business. Every year real estate professionals are coached about making more sales and those who take this advise sell hundreds of homes. Prior to this most of them made much fewer sales. The process of turning a stale listing into a buyers dream takes some planning. A touch of paint, a little light and some well placed flowers can go a long way! If you don’t have time to facilitate these necessary adjustments, hiring a staging professional!

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