With the number of people trying to sell their houses, about to put their homes on the market, or thinking about it, I thought that it would be worth it to start a thread where people can share ideas/success stories about marketing their houses.
While we haven't cleared all of the hurdles yet, we do have our house through attorney review and awaiting the buyer's inspector to come on Friday. It was on the market for almost exactly 2 months until we received our first and only offer. During that time, we had quite a few people come to see the house which indicates that there are buyers still out there (at least in NJ). However, our timing couldn't have been worse - the week that we listed it was the same week that the stock market started its dramatic dive. I think the economic conditions have turned most buyers into sharks - they smell blood and are looking for a kill. However, unlike sharks, many are being very patient waiting for prices to come down.
When we finally were able to coax our offer it came in as a low-ball offer $65K less than our current asking price and $80K less than our original price (which, even their Realtor indicated at the time was a "reasonable" price.) After over a week of negotiations, we were able to get them to come up into a more reasonable range, but still considerably lower than I thought that we would have to go back in September when we were first talking with agents and looking at comps. I chalk this up to the realities of the market collapse that occurred in that period. The few competitor houses that sold in this time period took a considerably larger hit off their original asking price.
With that as a background, here is what I think we did right:
- We had a number of issues where our house appeared "tired", including the kitchen, deck/patio and driveway. We opened the check book and corrected these areas. The results were quite dramatic and I'm convinced that had they not been done, we would not have received any offers and, if we did, not at nearly the final price.
- In the deck/patio area we took the low-cost approach and just replaced the old with a concrete patio. While not as elegant as pavers or some other options, it turned the area from a large negative (due to deteriorated condition of the old pavers and deck) to at least a neutral. I doubt that we would have recouped any additional expense of a higher-priced solution.
- We bought new (but reasonably inexpensive) bed covers and pillows, etc. to stage the master BR. We also painted the walls a neutral color.
- We de-cluttered the house and moved some of the furniture to the garage. Our agent even recruited and paid out of his own pocket some burly men that were hanging around the train station to move some of the very large furniture pieces.
- When people came to see the house, we would turn on every light to brighten it up. We also turned on the gas fireplace; turned on the surround sound system in the basement; and put some light music through the ceiling speakers in the eating area of the kitchen.
- While the grass was still growing, it was always kept neatly cut and trimmed and free of leaves - several times per week.
- We listed with an agent. Yes, the 5% commission that we will be paying is going to hurt, but I don't think we would have seen nearly the traffic that we did without being on MLS. There is a school of thought that if you just reduce your price by 5% that it will bring in additional buyers based on the lower price. I doubt this very much, but, even if true, what have you gained? You're still out the 5% and you don't have the benefit of an agent doing all the legwork for you.
One thing I wish we had done before listing it was painted the doors to the bedrooms/bathrooms/closets. After our second open house, we started to get feedback that the existing hollow-core, naturally stained doors looked "tired". I couldn't agree more, but none of the agents that we talked to, including the one that we went with, had ever mentioned it - even though I specifically asked them before listing it what they thought should be done to the house before putting it on the market. After getting that feedback, I looked into replacing the doors but concluded that it was too expensive and opted to paint them instead. While obviously not as good as new doors, the transformation was remarkable. Unfortunately, most of the traffic through your house occurs in the first 2 weeks and we missed that opportunity for a good first impression.
One other thing that I wish that we had a do-over on was the timing of putting the house on the market. If we had been on the market just a few weeks earlier I believe we could have beaten the "panic" of the credit and stock market collapse and sold faster and at a higher price. Of course, the trade off was to put the house on the market before all of the cosmetic improvements were done, which would not have been a good thing. If I were about to put the house on the market now, I would give serious consideration to waiting until March or April. Not only is the spring a better time to sell, but also I think the economic outlook may be a bit more stable at that point.
On pricing, I think the days of getting prices anywhere near what they were in 2006 are long gone and not likely to be back for many years. I see houses languish on the market for years because people cling to the belief that they should be able to get what their neighbor got several years ago ... or they think that by reducing their prices by a few percent that they are doing enough. That's not the case (at least not here in NJ).
I hope at least some of this is useful to others who are about to go through this process. Perhaps others will add their own tips or experiences.