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.

Selling a House Using Squidoo

Want a new and unique way to market your house? Try writing a Squidoo lens about it! Visit Squidoo to get started, or check out this lens to see Squidoo power in action. I know this is a short little post, but I think you'd be better served by going to Squidoo and getting started than you will be by reading a really long post. I know you can sell--be creative; act with intention, and get 'er done!

Can You Sell a Friend's House?

I had someone email me yesterday wondering if my eBook, I CAN Sell This House: Secrets to Selling Quickly in a Buyers' Market, could help them sell their friends' house. That's a tough question. If you've been following along with me, you know that one of my main focuses is emotional detachment. I'll say it again, "It's relatively easy to sell a house. It's almost impossible to sell your home."

If you are trying to sell a house for a friend, you probably don't have that emotional attachment to the property that the friends might have. I suppose that it would really depend on the friends' state of mind: are they sad about having to sell? Do they wish they didn't have to sell? Would they rather hold onto the house? I don't know the answers to those questions, and the questioner didn't give me the back story.

I told the truth as I see it: I cannot guarantee that using my action plan can help you sell your house or your friends' house. I can only guarantee that I CAN Sell This House is a progression--from emotional detachment, through depersonalizing, to staging, listing and maintaining the stage through closing--that, if followed with intention, gives you the best possible chance for the house to attract its new owner.

Again, I must stress that in this down market, you are best served by hiring an expert Realtor who can advise you through all stages of the game. So--can my book help you sell your friends' house? I don't know. I do know that, if you are sincere in wanting to sell your own house and are ready to cut emotional ties to the house, your mantra must be I CAN Sell This House.

How to Stay Cool

"That's great, Jen," you say. "Keep cool. Riiiight." Alright, I know, I know. It's easy to say it, but how do you do it? Well, there are a bunch of ways; you have to find the way that works for you. If you are a religious person, you can ask congregation members and your clergy to keep you in their prayers. It always helps to know that people are pulling for you. If you're not a big church goer, you can still have your friends think positive thoughts, send you calming energy, etc--whatever fits comfortably into your world view.

Maybe you're more of an "I am an island" person. Someone who does not look to others. If you work out, you could easily incorporate a "Stay cool" mantra as you're doing your cardio. As a matter of fact, pairing positive talk that everything will work out with the endorphin rush you get from exercise is probably a really good idea.

"Gee, Jen. So far you've given us mystical assignments; where's all the information on the concrete steps I need to take to sell my house?" Well, friends, unless you have your head in the right space, your action plan isn't going to be as effective. I'm not saying that you won't be able to sell; I'm just saying that our negative thoughts are our own worst enemy when selling. Get your head in the game, and I promise the nuts and bolts are coming.

The Case for Keeping Cool, Part II

As I was saying, believe that selling your house is the right decision. Why? Honestly, because if you have come to the conclusion that you have to sell, you obviously don't have another choice. So, you may as well decide that it is the right thing to do. If you spend a lot of time wishing you didn't have to sell, wishing that things were different, wanting to stay in that house even though you can't, you've set up a war within yourself. A war between what is and what you want. So, no matter what you are doing externally to sell--hiring a Realtor, listing, putting a sign in the yard--internally your thought is "This sucks. I can't believe this is happening. Why us?"

If this is your internal monologue, how in the world can you even begin to focus on what you need to do? Folks, stop the madness. Cry, gnash your teeth, rail against the fates, but then pull it together, take some deep breaths, and just keep cool. Tell yourself that, no matter why you're here, you need to sell. You need to sell quickly so you can get on with your lives.

Do what you need to do to reconcile your internal thoughts with your external reality. The mind is a powerful thing. To paraphrase the NAACP, "The Power of the Mind is a Terrible Thing to Waste." Spending your time wanting something that is entirely at odds with your reality is a waste of time. And believing that you can't sell your house when you're going through the motions creates a kind of psychic deadlock. Look at our little pug friends up there. They're both pulling for all they're worth. If we could hear them, they'd be growling and doing that snore-breathing that pugs do. But for all the energy they're expending, neither is getting anywhere. Get it?

Now we get to the crux of the matter. In a nutshell, here's the case for keeping cool: if you don't keep your cool and surrender to what is, you will expend a lot of energy being anxious and conflicted and you really won't be able to sell. Settle down, reconcile yourself to your reality, and believe you can sell. I believe that you can. Still not convinced? More later...

The Case for Keeping Cool, Part I

When you know that what you're doing is right and that it will lead you to your goal, the anxiety goes away. You are left with your resolve and your action plan, and you are better able to focus on what needs to be done since you're not spending that time worrying if what you're doing is right.

So, how do you get there? How do you go from panic and anxiety to assurance and purpose? What people have tried to tell me for ever is true: It really is all in your head. At some point, you have to make the conscious decision that what you're doing is correct. I think a lot of the anxiety comes from worrying that all your plans will end in ruin. Gee, talk about a self-fulfilling prophesy!

The fact of the matter boils down to this: if you're here reading this, you want or need to sell your house. Believe that, no matter what events led you to this decision, it is the right decision for you at this time.

More later, but I do want to share this with you. It's my shiny new Press Release about my eBook.

Just Look at The Mess That We're In

So, here's the thing: there are thousands and thousands of people out there right now trying to sell their homes. On some streets, there may be several sellers competing for the same buyers. Sellers are stressed, and they become frantic as they watch the market slide lower and lower. In some markets, the slide is gradual, but in some places, sellers are on that big slide from The Banana Splits Show (fast forward to :55 if you don't want to watch the whole thing). At any rate, people are scared. Sellers are scared that they won't be able to sell; buyers are afraid to buy as they wait for the market to hit bottom. People are doing desperate and frightening things because of foreclosures and other financial problems. My Uncle Ray, who was a young man during the Great Depression and who remembers being told to walk on the extreme street-side of the sidewalks in New York to keep out of the way of falling bodies--seriously--says he's never seen anything like it and didn't believe he would live to see this. Where is the calm voice of reason in this storm?

Friends, I humbly present myself, as unlikely as that may seem to those who know me, as that voice of calm and reason. I recently navigated the shark-infested waters of the Central Florida housing market, deftly steering our sales course between the burst bubble Scylla and the sub-prime loan Charybdis with relative ease, if I do say so myself. And what did I have that others didn't? Not real estate know-how. Not business savvy. Certainly not deeeeep pockets. What I did have was the absolute knowledge that we would sell our house quickly, no matter what was going on around us. I didn't get the knowledge from a book, or a website or even my Realtor (although she was awesome). I knew we would sell quickly because that was our intention, and that intention was underscored by and reinforced with every action we took to sell our house.