Home not selling? Some tips to move it along.

Without a doubt, the Real Estate Market in Charlottesville and the surrounding area is picking up. Just this last weekend I did an Open House at one of our Brokerage's Albemarle Homes for Sale and in just 2 1/2 hours had EIGHT couples come in to view the home! That's an amazing amount of traffic and a wonderful sign for the local Real Estate Market Conditions. Of those eight visitors, five were couples who were renting who had decided that they could no longer pass up the amazing mortgage rates we are enjoying right now and had decided to stop paying too much in rent and invest in their own home.

But what if your home for sale in Charlottesville isn't selling? The most recent CAAR data is showing homes in the area are taking an average of about 110-125 days to sell. Some of the lower priced homes are going much faster, higher priced homes taking a touch longer, but what if it has been six months and your home is still on the market? Here are some tips to help renew interest in your home and move it - and your life - along.

1. DO A VIDEO WALK-THROUGH
 Fire up the smart phone, iPad or digital camera and walk through your house with it. Look around and document the house as though you were potential buyers seeing the house for the first time. Now sit down with your family and watch the video. Does it look clean and uncluttered? Are you distracted from the main focal points that  add value to the home by too many items on the kitchen counters? Is the garage or storage area neatly done? Despite it being winter, does the lawn and curbside of your home look clean and cared for? Do you have a wall of family photos with children making funny faces that you (and only you) get a chuckle out of every time you see them? Take the time to clean up the items that draw attention away from your home's value. Potential buyers are not buying your industrial style mixer or your memories - they are looking to make their own. Providing a "blank canvas" gives them a chance to imagine their own items in the house and their own pictures on the wall. Any clutter should be cleaned up and put away - it makes the house "feel" uncared for and can effect you getting offers and the price that they come in at.

2. DO WHATEVER IT TAKES TO BE AWAY FROM THE HOUSE WHEN THERE ARE SHOWINGS OR OPEN HOUSES

We all want to stick around and hear what potential have to say about our home, but we shouldn't. You have an agent to give you any feedback they give. If you stick around the buyers are not going to spend enough time and look at the things that really interest them because they will feel too awkward. When you are at a friends house for a party you never search through their kitchen cabinets "just to see" because it would be too awkward. You go to their bathroom and sneak a peek in their medicine cabinet. That same social taboo holds true for buyers seeing your home. If you are gone they are more likely to ask their agent the right questions, right there and look at the things that are important to them before they leave. If they leave without having answers they are much more likely to assume the worst and rule your home out. This also lets them have any conversations they need to have with their agent without feeling a need to whisper. These are paramount to a successful showing to sell your Charlottesville home.

3. MAKE IT IKEA
When we go through ikea we see a perfect example of staging. There is furniture and other items set out to make us imagine the room, but it is all against a white backdrop and there are no pictures of the sales agents smiling at their cake-covered child at their first birthday party. If you really love love love purple and so you have painted the rooms in your house eight different shades of it, you might consider the investment of a couple weekends or $500 dollars to have someone come in and paint it a neutral color. Just like clutter, too much of a personal touch and the potential buyer can not imagine themselves in it. It may have been your home for ten years, but you are wanting to make it someone else's now, so give them the chance to think of it that way. No one will complain about seeing white walls, but you might pick up on their shuddering as they see the grape colored family room that really makes your heart pitter-patter. Research shows, homes with white exteriors sell faster. For internal colors, try white, off whites or pale greys.


4. ENLIST YOUR FRIENDS
We all depend on our friends for a multiplicity of reasons. Why not make them your very own free marketing team? In this age of connectedness when there are not more than six degrees of separation between us and the paper-boy in China, surely you are just two coffee chats away from the friend who knows someone who knows someone whose cousin is just DYING to live in your neighborhood. It really is all about networking and Real Estate Agents who are good do this all the time. Send your friends out and let them know how you "really need to get your house sold and do they know anyone who is looking to buy?" Remind them regularly (you can really drive the point home by always noting the great features of your home when they are visiting, "And these extra studs right here that we added stopped the car that UVA student was driving from making it into the living room. This house is SOOO safe!")
And when your friend does know someone who is interested, SEND THEM TO YOUR AGENT or give the information to your agent. You do not want to be the one trying to negotiate the sale of your own home. For one, you agreed not to. For two, agents can spend years building up experience that makes them able to get you the best deal for your house, don't throw that away in a moment of desperation.

5. AND FINALLY, IT'S ALL ABOUT THE MONEY

The one greatest secret to selling your home quickly is that it is ALL about price. Price fixes everything! In fact, I think that deserves saying again, it is ALL ABOUT THE PRICE! If your home is not selling you and really need to sit down with your spouse or significant other and talk about what you really want. Are you needing to move cause you are too far from work and the drive is stressing you out and making you want to do mean things to your dog with a fork every night after dinner? Do you need out from under the mortgage that is killing your finances now? Have you found the perfect home to move to but need the down payment to come out of the house you have? Figure out what you really need out of the house you are selling. Too many home sellers lay awake at night dreaming of what they will do with the money they get when they "make a killing on the sale of their house." They dream of an extra $5000, $10,000 or even $50,000 dollars and how that will make their lives so much better.
The truth is, you probably aren't an investor and the average sale price in the Charlottesville area is about $350,000 give or take a bit. You aren't going to be able to retire off of the extra thousand dollars you get by sticking to your guns and turning down offers or refusing to negotiate. You listed your Charlottesville home for sale for a reason, and you need to stick to that reason and not drum up others that make it impossible to accept reasonable offers.

Ask your agent to show you the comparisons that they used when they first talked about the price with you again. Look at other houses that are for sale on www.buyorsellhomescharlottesville.com and see what houses like yours are going for and then be realistic about the condition of your home. If the roof needs some fixing, you might need to drop that price some. Homes that are not listed with a competitive price get ruled out by buyers before they have even seen the home. If you can't get them in the door, you can't sell your home. If you can't sell your Charlottesville home, you can't get that new house you found that you really want.

Agents really do want to help you and have you feel good about your transactions with them over the years. After all, the best customer is one who would recommend their agent to a friend or relative. But agents can't do it all for you. Taking a bit of time and reviewing some basic tips can go a long way towards making your home sell and sell fast!

Wanting to Buy a Home In Charlottesville?
Looking to Sell your Charlottesville Home?
I want to help!
Contact me
Quinton Beckham
Keller Williams Realty
434.242.6212
www.buyorsellhomescharlottesville.com