Here’s an interesting story about a for-sale-by-owner (FSBO) couple that came to me for advice. They initially tried to sell their own four-bedroom home in a Cincinnati neighborhood that’s selling hot right now. Because of the high demand, they figured multiple offers would come rolling in, right? Well, there are plenty of reasons why it doesn’t always work out that way, as it certainly didn’t for this family.
The FSBO owners had their home on the market for months with multiple price drops into the high $400,000’s. Many Buyers viewed their property, but no one made an offer. They met with various Realtor friends and acquaintances for advice. None of the agents offered any real suggestions in terms of preparing the home for sale, but rather focused on justifying their higher fees to “Market” the home as is.
Finally, a friend referred them to me. After analyzing comps of similar sold homes in the area, my advice was they were still slightly high on price, but that wasn’t the deal breaker.
After a walk-through, it was quickly apparent the home had a dated feel, despite having some unique and appealing features that buyers like. While it’s certainly possible to sell a dated home, buyers expect a much bigger discount. I noticed however, there were several easy fixes the sellers could make without making a major price adjustment. While it took some convincing to make some of the changes, the owners were grateful that a Realtor had finally shown some expertise on how to improve their situation.
1) There were numerous pieces of old furniture in the home. You can take a brand-new home, fill it with old furniture and voilà, the home looks older. One example in this case, was a large old-fashioned hutch which overwhelmed the dining room space. I knew getting the hutch out of the house and renting or buying something smaller and more modern would open up the room and give it a contemporary look. When they made the change, they couldn’t believe what a difference it made to the perception of the room. This was the case in several areas.
2) There were multiple paint colors throughout the home. Most people understand neutral colors are ideal when selling a home, but regardless of the colors, whenever you have many color changes, the floor plan feels “choppy” and compartmentalized, adding to the dated feel compared to today’s more open type plans. The Seller agreed to repaint with a consistent neutral color.
3) The upstairs carpet was heavily worn. Below the old carpet was highly desirable wood flooring, which only needed some cleaning and a new coat of polyurethane. Again, a small investment with a big payback.
4) The kitchen was old and the tile countertops exaggerated the outdated tone of the room. The Sellers had considered installing granite tops to give the kitchen a more updated feel but after getting a quote for about $5000, were struck by the high cost and decided against it. Knowing that kitchens can make or break buyer interest, the owner’s preference was reducing the price further to offset the countertops. I believed the price we’d landed on was appropriate and a drop of a few thousand dollars to account for a countertop was not likely to move the dial for buyers. I connected them with a supplier I’ve used in the past and they were able to install the new granite for less than half of their previous quote, making another noticeable difference.
5) Two huge, overgrown, evergreen trees in the front yard were killing the curb appeal. They hid the exterior charm of the house and touched the exterior of the home, giving the impression that the home had not been well maintained. The owners pushed back hard on their removal, concerned that an ugly downspout would be exposed. Eventually they agreed on the removal and were surprised at how much charm was revealed without the giant trees.
6) The last problem was perhaps the biggest hurdle to face in getting noticed by buyers. From the front, the home looked like a cute but small ranch home, when in fact it was a fairly spacious two-story. People who wanted a two-story were likely skipping to other homes online because they thought it was a ranch. There is not a lot one can do to combat this problem. I included the back-of-house photo prominently in second position online, which made it more apparent there was a second story—but many buyers swipe to the next listing if the first photo doesn’t seem to apply to their search. To boost showing activity, I held an open house after about 3 weeks. Normally open houses aren’t a particularly successful tactic for getting offers, but they can spark interest. In this particular community, the open house was a great way to get on the radar of buyers who were devoting an afternoon to showings. Now that the home was properly staged, it had a great wow factor in person. Out of seven families that came through the open house, three were interested in making an offer, including a full price offer that was accepted the next day.
You don’t always need to invest thousands of dollars to make a home sell at the price you expect, but you do need to make an effort to properly prepare a home for the market. If this couple had not made a few easy changes with a low-cost investment, it’s likely they would have needed to drastically reduce the price and likely extend the time on market as well. A lack of showings prior to the updates proved the point.
This couple needed the experience and guidance of someone who knew what buyers focus on—as well as how to accomplish it without breaking the bank. As a broker and Realtor, it’s extremely satisfying to help buyers get their price within their required timeframe.