Wednesday, February 13, 2013

Staging & Staying

I've decided I need to be more careful when a homeowner asks me to be totally honest in helping them get ready to sell their home.  I was recently at a home of a wonderful family that had what I think was possibly the worst experience in real estate.  They had a horrible agent - yes, there are some out there, no it wasn't me.  The agent didn't get their home sold.  Then they tried to sell the home themselves and had no luck.  They've lived in their home for just under 10 years and have made many improvements to the home, but it's just not selling.

When I called her up...out of the blue...she was desperate.  They so badly want to be in a newer home with more room.  They're a young family with young and energetic children.  They need more space.  She asked me to be totally honest with them about the things their home needed to sell quickly and for the best price possible.

As I toured the home I took notes, I made simple suggestions and wrote my bigger ones down.  We sat down at the table and I explained my suggested changes.  I had over a page of updates, room remodels, and staging suggestions for them.  At first their eyes were huge and their jaws were on the floor.  But I calmly broke it down room by room and shared with them why the changes needed to be made.

After talking for a few minutes about the benefits of making the changes and how I could present the home to buyers with the changes made, he sat back in his chair, smirked a little and said, "We make these changes, we'll have enough room and won't need to move!"

I didn't panic, I reminded them why they wanted to move and they agreed.  Whew!!