[realmoxies]

Common sense dictates the obvious...

[claricecolin]

Originally Posted by rlcooper70

They say that the price of a house should make the seller feel he got slightly too little and the buyer feel he/she slightly overpaid. Seems to me that having it on the market for a couple of weeks before it sells means that the price was right - and having it sell in a day means it was underpriced.

Well that may be. The realtor I chose priced it higher than any of the others I met with. Aside from mature landscaping, new water heater and microwave everything else is original. House was cleaned and staged. It also had little competition in area and price range. Pleased with outcome.

[Boomer]

If you are thinking of selling your house in TV, you have a unique opportunity to get a feel for the market. Where else can you open the morning paper and see all those Open Houses, each day, find the model that is like yours, and in the same general location, and then go! See the competition.

There are always variables, of course, but this gives you a start as you plan.

But perhaps the biggest advantage to going to Open Houses, if you are planning to sell, is to meet the agents on duty. You can talk with them, ask them questions, see if you click.

I used to FSBO our houses, but I don’t do that anymore. The thing I do now is to choose the agents carefully, have them bring comps, and ask them to tell me anything they see that we need to do. (One time it was to organize the linen closet — took me maybe a half hour. — looked really good — sent a subtle positive message to potential buyers.)

Comps tell you a lot, but not everything. You do have to be in range though.

And don’t cling to your love for your personal decorating choices — at least, do not expect people to pay extra because you painted murals all over the walls. Most interested buyers would be doing the math and subtracting the cost of a painter, instead of embracing your beloved artwork and wanting to pay extra for it. (In other words, never love something that can’t love you back.)

Our houses have sold fast, but I am of the philosophy of doing everything we can on our end and getting it over with. Months and months on the market would drive me crazy — with all those people traipsing through our Open House, just to scout the competition and to look for an agent. Imagine that!