Article Surfing Archive

This article was written to answer many of the most frequently asked questions on this topic. I hope my story will be helpful and will help you reflect on your own personal situation as you contemplate about realtors and the sale of your house. Afterall, we have been informed our homes are overall our biggest investment we'll ever make, so it behooves us to take care of it especially if we want the "big bucks" when we sell.

Personally speaking, I have had great experiences with realtors. It's all about attitude, I think. I expect a lot from any realtor because they take a huge chunk of change by way of commission, so I expect them to get out there and sell my house and I mean, right now! Lest we not forget though, in saying that, I also need to do my part. "What's that,?" you may ask. Well, from my prospective, it isn't fair to make demands of a realtor to sell our house unless we have done all we can do to give him or her the tools of the trade to make that quick sale. Here are some suggestions

- this is no longer your home, it is now a house for sale. It is now a piece of real estate or property. Your focus is to get other people to envision this house as their home.

- Go and look in some show homes to help give you ideas, but overall, go through each room and remove any and all personal items such as family pictures, mementos, knick-knacks; box them up and store them if required. Remove any extra furniture.

- get rid of the clutter, you know, the things that hang around forever gathering dust and don't look nice, but we don't admit it.

- The kitchen is number one. Sweep everyting off of the counters. Home buyers will go through all the cupboards and drawers to see if their things will fit. If everyting is stuffed with your stuff, they won't be able to envision theirs and could cost the sale of the house.

- Check your walls, flooring, windows and doors. What do you feel like when you look at them? If you're walls are dirty with old paint, your doors squeak and your carpets are old and dirty, don't expect a high price for your house. Make a decision to fix them or be prepared for a fixer-upper-price and don't blame your realtor.

- Check your entire house and yard for curb appeal. Be honest. When you drive up to your house, is it inviting or does the house need paint, the lawn need mowing? In that first few seconds that potential buyer will make that decision whether they have any interest in that house or not.

- Don't over- price your house. I know you think it's the best on the planet, but it isn't, no more than ours was. This happened to us. We looked at a house to purchase and we learned from the realtor that the owners wouldn't listen to his suggested list price. They wanted to pay off their loans so they added that cost onto the price of the house. We as buyers are buying a house, not the owners troubles and woes. Trust me on this one; price right!

We made a spontaneous decision to move and the realtor wanted to list our house. I told him he could if he could sell it in a week. He laughed as I live in a small community with not a great market., but I was serious. I told him he was up against realtors who literally sold properties out from under us and I expected no less of him. I told him he could do it.

Having determined we would not be dragging our clutter from one place to another, we gave away a few truck loads of nice things to the Salvation Army. The house emptied out and we found the more de-cluttered it became, the better we liked it. We were glad to see the stuff go. Even the garage took on a whole new meaning with its new found empty look. My husband actually called me from work because he was afraid I'd throw or give away things he wanted. His mind was put to rest because I knew what to keep for him. When he came home, I gave him the guided tour and he was pleasantly surprised!!

Done just in time; there were two showings scheduled the same afternoon so I left the house with the intention of selling and celebrating. Mid afternoon I returned, put a roast and potatoes in the oven on my way to celebrating The phone rang and a home buyer wanted a second look. Wandering aimlessly and celebrating, I picked up a bottle of bubbly. I learned that one didn't pan out. Undaunted, I was still envisioning my husband and I toasting to our new future. To my surprise, within a few minutes I received another call and there was an offer made with the full asking price. We countered with additional money as our lot had also been included. We always like a win-win in our real estate dealings; this one is no exception. The buyers are hysterically happy and so are we.

You never know what will happen in real estate. The buyer saw our house on the internet and they live in another state. However, the husband was a truck driver in our state. Our realtor went and picked him up in the city and brought him here with an Engineering friend in tow. They both loved our house, however, they went and looked at another. Apparently the husband went nuts over the other house as it was 2200 sq.ft on each floor fully developed. My great realtor reminded him that both he and his wife had specifically stated they wanted to downsize, so this wasn't the house for them. The Engineer friend told the husband he was nuts to choose that house over ours as ours was a quality house even though it is only 1375 sq.ft. He reminded the husband that the wife wanted a quality home and didn't want all the housework anymore. To drive the sale home, our realtor informed the husband that we owned the lot next door, perfect to park his truck. It sealed the deal! When we countered with the offer, I said to the realtor, "Make it a win-win and make it happen tonight." He did. We were signing papers at midnight.

You can find good realtors. Do yourself a favor and get your house ready to market first. Then call a reputable realty company and ask for the best realtor they have. Ask him or her to check out your house to see if there are any changes required. If they suggest you do something to better market your home, do it! Our realtor suggested we add a door which we did immediately. It helped sell the house. He actually told us the house would not have sold without it for these home buyers.

I hope you have found this article of help to you as you get ready to market your house and choose a realtor. Real estate should be just as much fun and excitement for you as it is for us! The most helpful tip I can ever give you is to do your part in the sale of your house as mentioned above. A realtor can truthfully only do so much. Take personal responsibility for the condition of the house and you're well on your way to that quick sale you wanted. It's important to note that most houses on the market are out-of-date and unkempt; this is a sure-fire way to get noticed.

I want to thank you for visiting. Go ahead and look around to find additional helpful tips and information.