June, 2007
In general, when I am working with buyers and they see the term “As Is,” it sends the buyers running off in the opposite direction. Sometimes that reaction is warranted and other times it is a missed opportunity.
The “As Is” situation is a cloudy one for most buyers and I am sure to several of our readers. So I wanted to address the issue and hopefully provide a little insight that will help buyers be more informed about these properties.
First, understand that most homes in the Fredericksburg real estate market are sold “As Is” to a degree…
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Time and again I am asked by potential sellers if they should do anything to the home to get it ready to sell. Most often the answer I am going to give them is yes.
There are some situations where I recognize that because of the house itself, the location, or other factors we are facing a ceiling on the amount a buyer is going to be willing to pay. Sometimes in those situations, the seller will not realize any net profit on the improvements they make. But most often, this is not the case.
In a hot seller’s market, when homes are selling as soon as the Realtor places a “For Sale” sign in the yard, making improvements to a home was essentially a non-issue. In the Fredericksburg real estate market now, we have a completely different situation.
Our market now is saturated with properties for sale and the competition is very stiff. In most cases, sellers are competing with hundreds of other properties to get their home sold. In most price points, only about 1 out of every 7 to 10 properties are selling each month. So, the question I always pose to my seller clients is…
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I am sure these lessons are universal across the entire real estate industry, but I am pulling from our experiences here in the Fredericksburg real estate market.
So, lesson # 2 on how to scare a buyer away… Give your pets free reign of the house during showings.
Don’t misunderstand my comments. I am not a pet hater, in fact I have an affinity for dogs. But understand that not every one likes dogs, cats, snakes, iguanas, etc.
Having them in sight and especially giving them free reign of the home WILL scare buyers away…
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A great fellow blogger, Ardell Dellaloggia posted an article on a topic that I felt merited attention here on our site. The topic of the article, buyers bonuses. Let me explain.
Many agents when they are struggling to sell a home they have listed, resort to a desperate tactic. The tactic? Offer a bonus to the selling (buyers) agent if that agent will get a buyer to bring a full price offer on the home. The example that Ardell uses and is one that I have seen countless times is a buyers bonus of $1,000 for a full price offer.
In other words, if I represent John Doe and show him a house that is listed for $200,000 and convince him to purchase it at full price. I will be paid my commission, plus another $1,000.
There are many problems with this type of scenario that could affect your relationship with your agent…
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I thought I would do a series of posts on how to scare a buyer away. That is said a bit tongue in cheek, but every day I see sellers who are doing exactly that… scaring buyers away.
So, we will go ahead and start itemizing some of the ways we see sellers putting these lessons into practice.
Lesson #1 – Make your home smell awful! Back on April 4 our resident Staging Expert Leslye Cushing posted an article called The Nose Knows…
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Most people who decide to sell their home on their home, or do a “For Sale By Owner” (FSBO) don’t realize that they appeal primarily to certain segments of the market. For instance, most don’t realize the following:
- Approximately 20% of the potential buyers they encounter are qualified, primary residence home buyers. Meaining, many of the people they speak with and/or show their home to are NOT qualified to buy the home. That is why many of those “buyers” are not working with a real estate agent
- Much of the remaining percentage of people they encounter will be real estate investors looking to make a great deal on the home.
So, the question is how does the real estate investor capitalize on FSBOs…
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Today I went to one of the Walmart Supercenters here in Fredericksburg. As I had pulled into the parking lot, I noticed a man who had parked a beautiful Harley Davidson motorcycle near me and began to walk to the door.
This gentleman was wearing what would be classified as typical biker clothing… bandana, blue jeans, chaps and a leather vest. I was walking a few steps behind him. As we approached the door, a young Army soldier exited the store.
The biker turned toward the young soldier and said, "I don’t look like much, but I would like to shake your hand." What happened next made tears roll down the biker’s face… and my cheeks were suddenly wet as well…
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Sounds simple enought right? If an agent wants to show your home, let the agent show your home. You cannot sell a product when the consumer can’t explore it.
I am amazed at the number of people who don’t make their home available to be shown. They put up many different road blocks…
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What? That’s what I thought too. What is a Massaponax Interceptor? Well the text below will clarify.
I just received an email from the Fredericksburg Area Association of Realtors with information regarding updates on issues in Fredericksburg and Spotsylvania. One of the issues was this Massaponax Interceptor.
Since I live in the Massaponax area, I took note of this and thought others of you might be interested as well. Read on…
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One of the things that I notice everyday as I take potential buyers to view homes is the great variance in curb appeal. Really what I mean is that some sellers understand the necessity of creating great curb appeal and others do not.
The Fredericksburg real estate market is a value driven market. If your home is not priced right, people won’t even look at it, let alone make an offer on the property. However, once the house is priced right, there are still hundreds of other properties from which they can choose.
Sellers need to understand that they need maximize the homes potential. That means the inside of the home is staged to sell and that the outside’s curb appeal has been maximized. As recently as yesterday, I pulled up in front of a home, only to have the buyers say, “We don’t need to go into this one.”
That house had potential, but had no curb appeal. I could have taken a day with a lawn mower, weedeater, mulch, flowers, bucket, hose, soap and water and the place would have looked tremendously differently. We WOULD HAVE gone in that house.
Maximizing curb appeal is not hard. It just takes a little work and knowledge…
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