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I went on a listing appointment about two weeks ago, and as I walked up the driveway to the house I noticed that someone had bumped into the side of the garage, knocking off the stucco down to the lath. The crumbling stucco was laying in a pile on the ground below it. I made a mental note to mention this little blemish to the sellers after we?d had a chance to sit down and get to know each other.
I knocked on the door, introduced myself to the property owners, and began to tour their home. These sellers had called me becaue they were trying to decide whether or not to list their home for sale in the fall or stay in Albuquerque for awhile longer. They wanted to get an idea of how much I thought the house could sell for.
As a Realtor, I am often invited into peoples homes for this reason. It can be a very uncomfortable situation when they are difficult things that need to be said when you are a guest in someone?s home. Frequently, you?re telling people about things they don?t know already know about.
On this particular day, the appointment I had was different. The sellers were very aware of the problems I was pointing out to them.
Our tour started in the kitchen. As I stood there looking at the mismatched appliances, one white and very old, ?one black and only kind of old, and one brand new stainless steel refrigerator, I was about to suggest that they invest in two new appliances when the sellers said ?If we?re going to stay, we?re going to buy all new matching appliances.?
I raised an eyebrow, and gently said ?buyers are going to want matching appliances too.? The sellers didn?t react, I wondered if they didn?t hear me or if they were ignoring me.
The kitchen and living room were tiled, which is always very desirable, but when we walked into one of the bedrooms, I saw large pet stains on the carpet. This time I has to speak up more forceably and tell them that buyers are not going to buy a house with carpet that has large pet stains. Their reply? They?d bought a home once with pet stains on the carpet, surely other buyers wouldn?t mind. I patiently started to explain that the market is different now, and that in their part of town it is sill difficult to sell, but I could tell they weren?t listening. They did say that they had been planning on doing the carpet, but only if they stayed.
Realizing that this appointment was going downhill fast, I asked if ?could see the backyard that they has spoken of so glowingly on the phone about with me. Surely it would be as beautiful as they had said, right?
Indeed, parts of the backyard were very nice, but there was one problem. At one time, they had started to build an outdoor kitchen. Great idea, right? They had poured and concrete slab for the kitchen and installed some cabinets, but there were no doors on them. There was also no sink or no grill, it was like a shell of an outdoor kitchen with a large piece of concrete sticking out of the ground.
Their plan for this eyesore? Put up a rod and hang a curtain in front of the disaster. If buyers wanted to see it, they could pull back the curtain, if they didn?t care they wouldn?t bother.
By this time I was no longer interested in listing their house for sale. You see, this is serious business.Selling a home is not easy and these kind of things need to be done. You can?t have beat up old appliances that are mismatched and ugly in your kitchen. You can?t have carpets that look bad and smell bad, and you can?t leave half done home improvement projects for the next owners. It just won?t work.
I cut to the chase and told them what their house was probably worth. Needless to say, that didn?t go well, surely I should have priced their home 20% above the market because they had a nice wine rack in the living room and a new tool shed in back. Hadn?t I considered those important items in my estimate???
At this point I politely excused myself, explaining that I only listed homes that I thought would sell in their current condition and that their house didn?t meet that criteria.
They must have thought I was crazy. But I?m not, I?m realistic, and that is not how you sell your house.
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Source: http://www.albuquerquerealestateplace.com/blog/for-sellers/bad-listing-appointment/
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