Listing the House
Billy and Kim needed to sell their home. They were in the Service and were beingposted to Japan in two months. They’d triedto sell it on their own, but finding a buyer in today’s market seemed impossible. Kim pointed out that neither of them had theexperience to price or market their home effectively. But Billy noticed that the people who hadcome to their showings had seemed uninterested. They decided that the few percentage points they might save didn’t mean anythingif they couldn’t sell. “Also,” they toldme later, “we would still pay the Buyer’s broker a commission if the buyer wasrepresented, so we were really just cheating ourselves out of our ownrepresentation.” That’s when they found me.
I suggested we market their home online with a focus on youngprofessionals. More than 80% of allbuyers start their search on the web. Mysellers hadn’t really thought beyond Craig’s list. They were pleased to see how I could populatetheir listing to all the search engines in a few days, and set up a dedicatedwebpage for their listing. We talkedabout price but Billy and Kim had done their homework. They had realisticexpectations based on a professional appraisal they had received. They were nervous about pricing their home atthe appraised value, but understood the logic once I showed them theircompetition. They also agreed to placethe house under a home warranty. Ipointed out to them that a warranty would protect them from any system failureswhile the house was listed (a water heater or HVAC). Also, they remembered how important a policyhad been to them when they bought. Thelast important item was to prepare the house for showings. Kim had a hard time with this.
The two of them were collectors of art, pottery, rugs andall kinds of interesting memorabilia. Ihave been in many houses and look past my client’s personal effects, but thishouse was a museum curator’s dream. Isaw items everywhere which distracted and fascinated me. I told them everything must go, that weneeded to simplify the house. I toldthem we wanted people to feel free to make their own space in the house butthat now it reminded me of a crowded rickshaw, no room for anyone else. Kim objected and insisted we leave theirpersonal items in place. We agreed to try it their way first and learn from theexperience of our first visitors. We heldan open house and I kept all the contact information. Most agreed to fill out an anonymous form viaemail and the results were conclusive. Ninety percent said they could barely remember the house, only thewonderful artwork and collectables.
The next day week we removed all of their personal effects,so potential buyers could imagine their own pictures and artwork on the walls. We left just enough furniture to give thespaces definition but not so much as to make a room feel cluttered. We gave the house a thorough cleaning,replaced every broken light bulb, and simplified all the window dressings. No surface had more than two items on it, novisible products were allowed on the counters and shelves. Kim thought we had turned their house into anice hotel. I laughed and said that wemust have succeeded, since the idea of a hotel is to invite new guests in tostay.
I called everyone back for a second showing, just like thatprogram on TV. That week-end we had two offers, one over our asking price.