I've Been Searching, and It Hasn't Been Pretty

Welcome?

We looked at ten houses yesterday. Some were staged very nicely. Some others? Not so much. As sellers, you absolutely have to remember that no part of "you" should be visible in the house. Of course, I don't mean you can't have a microwave, clothes in the closet or a cross stitched pillow on the couch. You need to live as comfortably as possible while you are engaged in the selling process. What I should NOT see and what you should NOT have in your house is anything that points to who you are as a person. Yesterday, we learned that one home owner has a mouse pad business, another is a Physician's Assistant and yet another is a big fan of huge, gas-powered model airplanes.

This third person actually carved a room out of half of the 2-car garage so that he could keep all his airplane stuff. Guess what? It's no longer a two-car garage, and any owner who wants to use it as such is looking at some serious demolition. Ridiculous.

Here are some other things we noted during our tours. First, the good:

• Clean, uncluttered counter tops
• Staged dining room tables
• Freshly cleaned carpets
• Mowed lawns
• Open blinds; lights on
• Beds were all made with extra pillows
• Toys contained in "kid areas."
  

Now, the not-so-good:

• Air freshener that was so potent we could barely breathe.
• Liberal display of religious iconography
• Odd paint color choices--mind-bending fuschia comes to mind
• Over-staging: a child's tea party setup in the corner of a loft that could have been more effectively staged as a small reading area.
  

And last, the downright awful:

• Dogs left inside in a downstairs room with a note saying not to go in there. There went 100sf we couldn't see.
• Closets crammed with all kinds of stuff that needed to be in storage
• Obviously dirty underwear on a shelf in a walk-in closet
• Half-finished bottle of Sunny D on the front porch

Sometimes, it's better left alone. This tiny TV looks
silly in the large cabinet.

There are no words. Wait! There are four: Buy a laundry
bag.

If you see yourselves in anything in this post, please take the time to depersonalize your space. It truly could be the difference between selling and not selling. With the glut of houses on the market, you have to find a way to stand out from the crowd. The good news is, there are still plenty of folks who are doing it wrong, as we found out yesterday. Narrow the field and increase your odds by doing it right.

For more information, or to order a copy of my ebook I CAN Sell This House: Secrets to Selling Quickly in a Buyers' Market, please visit. I CAN Sell This House.

A New Perspective

So, my husband and I are now in the market for a house! It's very cool, because it's definitely a buyers' market, as it was when we sold. Being on the other side of the equation gives me a whole new perspective, of course, and I've been trying to look critically at the houses that we have been seeing so I can pass on my observations to you all, as you are staging and selling your houses. I know that you have lost a bit of leverage, since there are so many houses on the market right now, but there are still things that you can do to help your house stand out. And frankly, I've been a little amazed at how some of the sellers whose houses we've seen haven't done those things.

First and foremost, and this may sound like a little thing (but it's not): Keep your infotubes full! I cannot stress this enough. When we are driving around and see a house that's for sale, we immediately stop to look for "words." If the tube is empty, our immediate reaction, fair or not, is "They don't really want to sell this house." A neglected infotube could be just an oversight, or it could be a sign of greater neglect. Either way, we don't even consider those houses. So, if you are still in the house you are selling, for goodness sake, keep that tube full! And if you're not in the house, make sure that your agent keeps the tube full. It makes a difference. Remember, I am now your potential buyer, and you've already lost me!

Depersonalize, please! I consider myself to be a fairly sophisticated buyer--one who is able to look beyond the stage at the bones of the space, but many potential buyers just see what they see. They see the pictures, not the walls behind them. They see the carpet, not the floor underneath. Make sure that what these buyers are seeing is the most tastefully generic stage you can possibly set. We went into a lovely home last weekend--2300sf, soaring ceilings, lovely staircase, immaculately kept. It truly was a lovely home. We didn't like the layout; it wouldn't work for us, so we passed. But the people who live there and are trying to sell have written off a large portion of their potential market. There were family photos all around the house and a lot of art--everywhere--that was very personal to them, because it was all religious art. Whether the art was Christian, Islamic, Hindu or Zoroastrian, it makes no difference. Many people will walk into that house and walk back out because they can't see beyond the stage. I'm not saying you have to be Peter and deny your religion, but you do have to be sensitive to the fact that not all buyers will believe the same things you believe, and many might actually be put off.

As we continue our search, I will continue to bring reports of what I'm seeing out there. I hope that this new phase in our lives will help to focus your resolve as sellers as you get your house sold!

For more information, or to order a copy of I CAN Sell This House: Secrets to Selling Quickly in a Buyers' Market, please visit I CAN Sell This House.

View Your House Through Buyer-Colored Glasses

If you've lived in your house for a long time and have raised your children and created wonderful holiday (and everyday) memories there, there is a good chance that you will not see your house clearly when it comes time to stage it to sell. Just as we see our beloveds through rose-colored glasses, minimizing the negatives while maximizing the positives, so we see our home. But when it's time to sell, it's time to take off those rose-colored glasses. Put on the buyer-colored glasses and really look at the house as an asset to be liquidated, not as a warm and personal home-environment.

This can be a difficult exercise, but I believe it is a necessary one if you are going to be able to dispassionately assess the strengths and weaknesses of the house and stage it neutrally but effectively.

Here is a handy list of items that we might overlook as happy homeowners but really need to focus on as determined house sellers:

• Keep the lawn trimmed and leaves raked
• Clean up bed lines
  
• Bleach or pressure wash the driveway
• Sand and repaint trim
  
• Wash the walls if necessary (You might even see that you need to paint)
• Polish or change out door knobs
• If you have wood floors, make sure they are in good condition
• Keep entry way swept and clean at all times
• Clean scuff marks off floors
• Clean and seal all grout
  
• Polish countertops
• Polish faucets and bath fixtures; change out if they are dated
• Make sure all window treatments are in good repair, not faded and dust/dirt free
• Corral kids' toys in one contained area

These are just a few ideas, based on some of the things that we did when we successfully sold our house. For more information, please visit I CAN Sell This House.