My clients wanted to buy your house. They really did. Or at least they thought they did based on the description and pictures they saw on the MLS. Unfortunately, we couldn’t get in to see the house in person due to your “24 hour notice required – NO EXCEPTIONS” showing instructions. So now they have left town again, having put in an offer on another house that they liked almost as much as yours.

You see, my buyers are relocating from another state for a new job, and they only had this weekend to figure out where they wanted to live and find a house to buy. Once we’d done our area tour and they had identified two or three North Shore communities to focus on, I went about setting up appointments for later that day. When I called about your house, the appointment desk told me we could not see your house because of your showing instructions. When I explained about my out-of-town buyers, he said he was very sorry, but no.

Believe me, I understand how stressful it is to have your life disrupted by people traipsing through your home at the drop of a hat. And I know how difficult it is to keep your house in showing condition at all times, especially when time on market drags on and on. It is certainly your prerogative to decide when and under what conditions to show your home. However, I noticed that your home has been on the market for 97 days and has had one price reduction already, so I respectfully suggest that, if you really want to sell your house, you may want to consider being more flexible with showings.

The more accessible you can make your home to potential buyers, the more quickly you are likely to get an offer. And the faster you get the house under contract (the data shows) the more money you will get for your home.

Mr. and Mrs. Seller, I had a qualified and highly motivated buyer who, in all likelihood, would have made an strong offer on your house this weekend. But once you said no to a showing, you lost them. They won’t come back at a more convenient (for you) time.

Please, for your own sake, try to be more flexible the next time someone wants to see your home. You may just get an offer.

Here are some of the highlights:

After being on the market unstaged for 277 days on average, vacant homes then sold within 63 days after being staged.

After being on the market unstaged for 233 days on average, occupied homes sold within 53 days after being staged.

284 homes that were staged before being listed sold in 40.5 days.

You can read the  full RESA report here.

If you’d like to learn more about staging your home to sell, please give me a call at 847–687-5957 or email me.
I am a certified home stager and staging is part of my service for all of the sellers that I represent.

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1. Spend your money where you can see it.

When you go to sell your house, you normally have a long list of things to do to get it sale-ready. Some of these are fixes, some are updates and some are replacements. If anything is broken or damaged or not working properly, you need to get it fixed. Otherwise it will show up on the inspection report and could end up costing you the sale or dragging out the negotiation. But beyond the fixes that are absolutely necessary, you need to be strategic about what you do and where you will get the most bang for the buck. Spend your money on the things that the buyer will see. Don’t replace the hot water heater (unless it’s broken) or put on a new roof (unless it leaks) or buy high-end bathroom fixtures – because the buyer won’t know the difference between the $150 faucet and the $800 one.

Instead, spend it on removing the wallpaper, repainting, or on new knobs to replace the dated hardware on your kitchen cabinets. Spend it on curb appeal: mulching and edging the beds, planting flowers, painting the front door. Spend it on the things that will help your house win the beauty contest. Spend it on the things that will make buyers feel good.

2. Don’t offer credits.

Short of remodeling the kitchen or putting on an addition, don’t expect your buyer to do anything you don’t want to do. In a nutshell, your buyer doesn’t want to trade their dirty carpet for your dirty carpet. And (unless they are dyed in the wool do-it-yourselfers), they will have a hard time imagining that a house with peeling paint and stains on the carpet could be the kind of house they want to pay good money for. They’ll reject your home and move on to the next one. There are plenty to choose from right now. Besides, you will probably end up spending more on credits than you would if you went ahead and got the work done yourself…and the buyer will still make their offer based on the current condition of the house. So you pay twice.

3. Find one purpose for each room and stage it accordingly.

No combo family room/office/play room. No combo guest room/office/junk room. Whatever you may have used the room for, figure out what your target buyer will likely use it for and turn it into that room. Young families? Turn that third bedroom/office back into a child’s room. Did you replace your dining room table with a pool table so you could get more use out of that room? Time to turn it back into a formal dining room. The new people may not end up using it as a dining room any more than you did. But they THINK they will.

4. Make sure each room has a focal point

Then arrange the room so that this is the first thing someone notices when they walk in the room. In the living room the focal point is often the fireplace, sometimes the view or sometimes a major piece of art. In the dining room it should be the dining room table. In the bedroom it should be the bed. In every case, make sure the focal point is staged to draw attention and wow the viewer. Doing this will also help distract the eye away from less appealing features in the room.

5. LightenUp

Light and bright houses are universally appealing. They make people feel happy and happy people want to buy. To maximize the light in every room, do the following:

• Paint rooms with low natural light a warm, light color like Benjamin Moore Windham Cream (HC-6)
• Trim bushes and trees that are covering windows.
• Open curtains, blinds and shades. If you have heavy and dated draperies, remove them.
• Change the light bulbs in every lamp to a higher wattage. And make sure every room has enough lamps.

6. Blend and weave (some of) the same colors throughout the house.

I’m not saying to paint every room the same color. That would be boring and forgettable, which is the death knell for a sale. What I’m saying is carry at least one or two some of the same colors into every room, whether in the paint color or the furniture and accessories.

7. Be neutral without being blah

Home stagers always say to go with neutral colors.  And you should, for the walls and large pieces of furniture. But don’t go overboard on the neutrals. You don’t want your home to be blah and boring. Be sure to add back some color to each room in the form of accents and accessories.  Artwork, pillows, flowers and other accessories can add a punch of color that will make the difference between blah and brilliant. One of the easiest and cheapest ways to add color is with a bowl of brightly colored fruit like lemons or oranges.

A final tip: put one of the lemons down the garbage disposal right before your open house and it will give your kitchen a fresh and natural scent.

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Right now you have a narrow window of opportunity to get a leg up on your competition when it comes to curb appeal. Put planters full of bright blooms on either side of your front door to welcome prospective buyers. If you have beds in front of your house, add some flowering annuals.   Since the weather will be “iffy” for a while yet, most people (including the home sellers you are competing with) don’t get serious about their yards until mid to late May. This is especially true when it comes to planting flowers, since there’s still a good chance we’ll have a frost that can kill most annuals. If you are the only seller with freshly edged and mulched beds and planters filled with welcoming blooms, your house will win the battle for curb appeal.

So, what about the problem of frost? You certainly don’t want to have a bunch of dead plants in front of your home. The answer is to select hardy annuals that can withstand a frost without being killed. Some that can take the unpredictable North Shore climate are: cornflower, foxglove, larkspur, pansy, stock, sweet alyssum and viola. The easiest, most readily available and most reliable is the pansy. They come in several colors, are available at all home centers and garden centers and are extremely cold tolerant.

Make sure you buy big, mature plants that will provide strong impact NOW.  They are more expensive than the little ones but you don’t have time to wait for the little ones to grow. Besides, once the weather gets hot, they will wilt and get leggy, and will need to be replaced by heat tolerant flowers.

Color psychologists suggest that yellow is the best color flower to use because it makes people feel happy and positive. Some go so far as to say that it puts people in a buying mood. The main thing is to choose colors that stand out against the background so they are visible from the street. You can add height to your planters by combining flowers with a taller plant, such as a boxwood (see photo above) or by adding a few pussy willow or curly willow branches to the arrangement.

On the other hand, if your home is filled with wallpaper, is painted with vivid colors or hasn’t been updated in awhile, you should seriously consider repainting. It can have an enormous impact on how well your house shows and how quickly it sells.  Your goal is to make it as broadly appealing as possible, which is why home stagers and real estate agents tell you to go with a neutral, non taste-specific color.

Neutral Does Not Mean White

But people often assume that neutral means white or off-white.  Problem is, white tends to be cold, harsh and not very inviting as a wall color. And, contrary to popular belief, it will NOT make a small room appear larger. It will just make it look like a small, sterile room. Likewise, painting the entire interior of the house the same bland beige color may not offend anyone, but will guarantee that your home is totally forgettable unless it has some very distinctive architectural features.

What you’re going for is a color scheme that elicits positive emotions and enables potential buyers to visualize themselves living in the house with their own furnishings.  It should look stylish and up to date without being too taste specific. One way to achieve this is to select a paints in the same color family for the main rooms so that the rooms flow together visually.

Warm Colors Make People Happy

When staging a house for sale I recommend warmer neutrals for the main living areas like the family room, dining room and kitchen, because warm colors stimulate the senses (as well as the appetite). Buttery, creamy, buff and tan colors will warm up any room and will to work well with red, green or brown furniture.

Cool Colors Soothe and Relax

For bedrooms and bathrooms you should be trying to create the feel of a spa retreat. Using cooler neutrals like pale blues, sage greens and grays will help accomplish this.

When selecting colors from a paint strip remember that the color will look darker on the wall than on the strip so it’s usually safer to go lighter. The best thing to do, however, is to get sample jars of 2-3 color choices and test them on a section of wall at least 2′ x 2′.  Make sure to test and compare colors in daylight hours, as that is when buyers are most likely to see them. Remember also that the same color can look dramatically different from room to room depending on the room’s exposure and how much light it gets.

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Usually, after I deliver the bad news about where I think we should price the home, I hear one (or more) of the five “buts”:

1. “But the other agent  said it was worth x” (a higher number)

2. “But my neighbor sold his house for x” (a higher number)

3. “But my house is much nicer than the ones you’re comparing it to”

4. “But if I price it that low now, then the buyer will still negotiate it down and I’ll make even less money.”

5. “But why can’t we just start a little higher? We can always reduce it later.”

All of these are natural reactions under the circumstances. But these “buts” can lead to pricing decisions that will ultimately cost you money. Here’s how to avoid these five pricing pitfalls:

“But the other agent said it was worth x”.

I don’t want to say that there are agents who will inflate the price to get the listing, but it can happen. More likely the agent is throwing out a ballpark figure without having (yet) done an in depth competitive market analysis. Don’t ever hire an agent based on the price he or she gives you. Your choice of agent should be based on experience, track record, knowledge of your specific market and the marketing plan for your property. Above all it should be based on trust and confidence that the agent has your best interests at heart.

“But my neighbor sold his house for x”.

When? Three years ago? The fact is, unless his house is almost the same as yours and he sold it last week, it’s an irrelevant comparison. The market has changed and the hard reality is that your house is almost certainly worth less now. You need to do (or make sure your agent does) the research to determine the value of your house today. You should only be looking at comparable homes that have sold in the last three months. AND you should be looking carefully at the homes that are on the market today, as this is your competition.

“But my house is much nicer than the ones you’re comparing it to”.

We all become emotionally attached to our home. It’s our refuge and our haven.We’ve added our personal stamp. We’ve made lots of wonderful memories there. But when you go to sell your house, you have to emotionally disconnect. This is not your home anymore. It is a product for sale and you need to look at it objectively vs. its competition. Then price it accordingly.

“But if I price it that low now, the buyer will still negotiate it down and I’ll make even less money” .

This is one of the most common “buts” and I have to admit I’ve been guilty of it myself.  The problem with pricing a house higher than it should be because you “can always negotiate” is that it will attract less buyer interest because it doesn’t measure up to the other houses at that price point, and you won’t end up having anyone to negotiate with. It seems counter-intuitive, but pricing it lower may actually net you more money in the end, because it will attract a lot of interest and potentially multiple offers and a bidding war.

“But why can’t we just start a little higher? We can always reduce it later.”

This is the slipperiest slope of all if you are in a depreciating market, because you end up chasing the market down and are always higher than you should be. You will end up months later with an unsold house at a list price that is much lower than the price you could have sold for if you had only priced it right from the beginning.

The other thing to keep in mind is that a new listing gets the most buyer interest and activity in the first 2-4 weeks after it goes on the market. If it is priced too high, you are only helping one of your well-priced competitors make a sale. And your home will be invisible to those people who are its most likely buyers, because it is out of their price range. When it doesn’t sell after a few weeks it becomes “stale” and people begin to think there’s something wrong with it. So you reduce it, but you’re still behind the market, and so on.

Like it or not, in this market pricing will be the deciding factor in whether or not you sell your house.  If you really need to sell your house, then you need to price it so that it is the best house at the best price, and not a penny more. End of story.

Usually, about halfway through the show Lenny and his partner solve the murder and arrest the suspect. They read him his Miranda Rights and drag him off to the interrogation room for questioning, where they roll into their “good cop, bad cop” routine. Sometimes the perp is smart and lawyers up right away, but often he is (inexplicably) so eager to please the “good cop” that he ends up spilling his guts and incriminating himself.

That’s when it struck me that agents should read their sellers their Miranda Rights before they are allowed to talk to prospective buyers or their agents. Sellers want so badly for buyers to like their home, and are so eager to build rapport with them, that they divulge information they shouldn’t. We need to remind them that “Anything you say can and will be used against you”.

Here are some things that sellers will reveal that can undermine their negotiating position with a buyer:

• They’ve already bought another house and are closing on it next week.
• They’re being transferred to …(distant city).
• Their mortgage is all paid up.
• They’re facing foreclosure if they don’t get their house sold soon.
• They hate all the barking dogs or screaming kids in the neighborhood.
• They can’t go below x on the price (or they need to make x)
• They’re getting a divorce.

Any knowledge that can give buyers negotiating leverage should be kept under wraps. Savvy buyers will ask innocent sounding questions in an attempt to find out about your situation, why you are selling and how desperate you are. One of the agents in our office even had a buyer tour her listing, see (and read) a letter from a divorce attorney lying on the desk, and then try to use the knowledge of the sellers’ impending divorce against them in negotiations.

Obviously you need to be honest when answering questions about the condition of the house – it’s the law – but otherwise it’s a good idea to keep mum and refer questions to your agent. Better yet, be gone when buyers are touring your home. Things will work out better all around.

Does this photo entice you to buy?

If I like the pictures, the house stays on my list.

If I don’t like them, I click away, never to return.

Common sense, right?

So…it baffles me why home sellers and their agents (who should know better!) continue to commit the three deadly sins of real estate photography:

1. No photos when a listing goes onto the MLS

Here’s a common scenario: an agent gets a listing and immediately puts it into the MLS, even before taking photos of the property, figuring that the pictures can be added later. Or, the sellers pressure the agent to get their property into the system as soon as possible, thinking that the sooner it’s in the MLS, the sooner they’ll have an offer.

A bathroom, I think

Here’s why that’s a mistake: most people beginning  the home-buying process set up online searches with automatic daily alerts for any new listings that hit the system. So, in the case of the aforementioned new listing, they get the alert but, since there’s no picture, they immediately eliminate it from consideration. Later, when the photos are added, they don’t get another alert, so those buyers never see that property again. Yes, agents will show the home to their clients if it meets their search criteria, but the sellers have inadvertently cut their buyer pool in half. The sad thing is, they don’t even realize it.

Give your home its best shot at finding the perfect buyer. Make sure you have your photos, floor plan and virtual tour ready before your listing goes in the MLS.

2. Not enough photos

In the old days, each real estate listing had one photo of the front of the house. But then again, in the old days people relied on their agent to show them all the homes that met their search criteria. Now, since home buyers are ” touring” homes online first, they want to see as many pictures as possible. At a minimum they expect to see the main rooms: kitchen, family room, living room, master bedroom. So, if they notice that some of these rooms are missing, guess what?  They assume that the seller is hiding something…that there must be something wrong with those rooms… and poof! The house is eliminated from consideration.

Would you leave the kitchen like this for an open house?

Make sure your house gets on the “must see” list of every target buyer by including great photos of all the key rooms of the house.  Try to include at least 9. You can also include some photos of your garden, neighborhood or nearby parks, beaches and other local features. Remember, you are not just selling a house, but a lifestyle, so use the photos that can accomplish this.

3. Bad photos

Bad photos come in two flavors: photos that are  bad because they’re dark or blurry and photos that are bad because the rooms are not staged or properly prepped for photography. Heck, some people don’t even bother to straighten the room they’re photographing. I’ve even seen one MLS photo where there’s a dog in the foreground licking himself.

I am always amazed at some of the pictures that people will include, thinking that these will help sell their home.

Do yourself a favor. Make sure your agent hires a professional photographer to shoot your listing photos. Believe me, it is worth every penny. A professional photographer has both the equipment and the expertise to show a home off to its best advantage.  A good agent will often include the photography as part of his or her marketing package.

The bottom line: think of the Internet as your first “showing”.  Just as you’d make your house shine for an open house or a showing, make sure your photos shine for that first virtual showing.

1. The extension of the first time buyer tax credit and the expansion of the tax credit to existing homeowners until April 30 means that there will be a continued influx of buyers into the market during the first quarter of 2010. Buyers who want to take advantage of the tax credit will begin looking for a new home earlier, to make sure they can find a home, arrange financing and close before the June 30 deadline. Here’s a good chart outlining the rules of the tax credit.
2. Interest rates are at or near 40 year lows right now, further stimulating buyer demand. But these rates are not likely to hold for long. While there probably won’t be a big increase in rates this year, they will start to   drift upward somewhat in the next 3-6 months.
3. Because many people will follow traditional wisdom and wait to list until later in the spring, you will have less competition if you can get a jump on them. People who are willing to brave single digit temps to look at houses are SERIOUS buyers.

If you’re thinking and hoping that prices might improve  if you wait a little longer, forget it. There’s a good chance that prices still have a little bit farther to fall before stabilizing.  And, even if prices are at or near the bottom, it is unlikely that we will see any upward movement in prices until later in the year. Real estate prices don’t tend to rebound in a “V” shape but rather in a  “U” shape with a wide trough before slowly starting to climb again.

You’re busy, you’re stressed, you’re way behind on your holiday shopping. Keeping the house neat 24/7  is taking its toll. The last thing you want to be bothered with is keeping the house show-ready for potential buyers when you’re trying to cook, clean,  decorate, entertain, shop and wrap for the holidays.

“Can’t we just take a break for a couple of weeks?” clients always ask me. “Surely no one is actually looking at real estate in December. Do I really need to keep my home on the market over the holidays?”

The answer I always give is: “How badly do you want to sell?” Because here’s the thing. It’s true there are fewer buyers at this time of year. No one in their right mind wants to look for real estate during the holidays. Unless, that is, they HAVE to buy, and buy SOON. So that brings me to reason #1 for keeping your house on the market:

1. If people are looking at real estate in December, they are SERIOUS  buyers and not the lookie-loos who have been traipsing through your house for the last few months. If you can gut it out for the next few weeks you might actually get an offer when you least expect it. Wouldn’t that be a nice Christmas present?
2. The corollary to reason #1 is that many sellers do go ahead and take their homes off the market over the holidays, which means there is less inventory on the market. Which means you have less competition for those few SERIOUS BUYERS.
3. Although it’s stressful for you to keep the house tidy with so much else going on, the fact is that your house will probably show better now, with holiday decorations up, than it will during the bleak months of January, February and March. Plus, all the warmth and cheer evoked by (appropriate) holiday decorating can strike an emotional chord with your buyer, subliminally conveying the wonderful lifestyle they will enjoy in this home. Just make sure you decorate the right way to evoke those positive emotions.
4. Think about this: if you are able to sell your home now and plan to buy another, you’ll be able to take your pick of the vast inventory of homes that will hit the MLS in the spring. In all likelihood, interest rates will still be low early in the year so you’ll win on the financing end too.
5. If the first four reasons didn’t convince you, just remember:  It won’t sell if it’s not on.