As exciting and scary as shopping for new homes seems to be, selling your existing home seems an even more frightening and stressful prospect.
Of course, a lot of that stress often doesn’t have to be there at all, and is sometimes a result of stupid choices on the part of careless owners.
One show Kathy and I watch ocassionaly is called “Buy Me”, which looks at the experiences a home owner has to go through when selling a house, aided as much as possible by an experienced realtor. Unlike other shows, this one doesn’t feature a team of experts coming in and telling the owner what to do, how to do it, and then doing it within a budget staged specifically for a television show. No, this is a show that just plops a camera team into the fray and lets the drama play out before them. Hence, reliant only on the realtor’s prowess and the buyers’ willingness to do what is necessary, we are often in for a treat.
The biggest mistake we see people make, and one which causes an inordinate ammount of stress in the household, is that of purchasing a new house without first finding a buyer for the old one. This means that, more often than not, there’s a heavy deadline looming over the homeowners’ heads as the day of downpayment draws ever closer, and they have to sell the house to have the money to pay before then. If the house is not in good sellable condition, then you can imagine what kind of stress ensues.
Remember: SELL before you BUY!!!
Now, there are a lot of factors that go into selling the house, most of them technical things like making sure the plumbing and electrical are in good working order and so on and so forth. But one thing I noticed when it comes to selling (and buying for that matter) is thinking about the emotional impact that the house will have on potential buyers right from first impression.
There are many savvy buyers out there who know to look beyond clutter and outdated furniture to see the potential any house has for their needs. But there are many more out there who can’t, and end up being stuck mentally with the surface image that they see.
These are the problematic shoppers, and these are the ones homeowners must design their open houses for, by removing personal items, posters, clutter, and choosing the right furniture pieces and, sometimes, renovating.
It’s a lot of work, but it’s worth it.
And remember: SELL BEFORE YOU BUY!
