That's right - I said it. Selling a home should be uncomfortable. Not in a painful, pulling nose hairs sort of way, but it's not realistic (for most of us) to keep a home in showroom condition all the time. Life happens, and that's okay. But in a market like this, with lots of inventory and choices-choices-choices for buyers, sellers that they need to keep a home in pristine shape, that the beds should be made and the floors clean at all times. You never know when that buyer will walk through the door, and I can tell you from recent firsthand experience that it makes a difference.
I was out with a family last weekend, looking at lots of homes, and it was surprising how they reacted to homes that didn't match their criteria as well as some of the others might have. Lots of "oooh" and "aaah" in the houses that were well-kept and really gleamed, while the homes that matched every one of their criteria on paper, but lacked that pizazz, were just kind of "ho-hum". It was an interesting study for me personally; I realized rather quickly that it didn't always matter what I had in my notes regarding the buyer's criteria ... all that mattered was how they felt in the home.
Sellers - how does a buyer feel in your home?
I heard somewhere that a buyer decides within the first 7 seconds of seeing the home from the outside how they feel about the house - and how they feel about it is much more important than what they think about it.
It's like a guy who wants a garage falling in love at first sight with pegboards and space - it doesn't matter what the house looks like - just the detached garage.
Posted by: Mona Pittman | June 28, 2007 at 04:04 PM