[oceangirl]

Ok, we are now in the stage to interview realtors. I spoke to the relocation dept in TV and two realtors are coming to look at our home. Now I'm getting nervous. I could sure use some advice on do's and don'ts. I have staged the house and nobody is allowed to eat at the dinning room table. Ha Ha . I do hope St. Joseph will look kindly on us. We are coming down in April to stand on our lot and picture the house. So if you see us in Buttonwood stop in can't offer a beverage but can share friendship.

Originally Posted by oceangirl

Ok, we are now in the stage to interview realtors. I spoke to the relocation dept in TV and two realtors are coming to look at our home. Now I'm getting nervous. I could sure use some advice on do's and don'ts. I have staged the house and nobody is allowed to eat at the dinning room table. Ha Ha . I do hope St. Joseph will look kindly on us. We are coming down in April to stand on our lot and picture the house. So if you see us in Buttonwood stop in can't offer a beverage but can share friendship.

Price it right and remember it is a buyers market. Your house is only worth what someone will pay for it. We went on the market here in RI in Oct. Two realtors had given me the same number to expect. I priced it with room to come down to that number. We are waiting to close on Feb. 28th. House went under contract first week of Jan. Took us 3 months or so to sell. Buyer is leasing back to us until we move in July which will be our move to TV. Good luck.

[Tbugs]

Be sure to look at the number of properties the realtors have sold. Some realtors specialize in different types of markets, so look at that, too.

Naturally, you have fresh paint on the walls in a neutral color. You have the flooring re-done so the old vinyl tile is now wood or at least a good laminate. You have put down new carpeting so the older worn carpeting is out of the house. Do not just plan to offer a "carpet credit" when you sell the house.

Price it right. The realtor will want to price it at the higher end so they get more commission. Price it at the lower end as you will make money anyhow assuming you have had the house quite a while. Do not go over threshholds that buyers have set. For example, if you price your home at $501,000, it will not be shown to buyers on-line who ask for "up to" $500,000.

If the comparables in the neighborhood have sold, price yours a little under them. You will still make money and you will sell faster. This is not a time to be greedy but a time to sell quickly.

I did these things and sold my house in 2009 in suburban Washington DC in 8 days.

[JenAjd]

Make sure your home is updated...it can be done w/o breaking the bank. Take all personal items out of the rooms and off the walls. Re-paint in neutral only if necessary. De=clutter as well and take out the larger item furniture especially if it over-whelms the room. If you have wallpaper that will have to be re-moved for sure. We knew of some people who had a beautiful house but it didn't sell because it had alot of wallpaper (think the 90's) Saw a home advertised on this site that was priced nicely BUT it was very dated due to wallpaper etc. I wonder if it will be on the market for awhile because of that. I know I'd not want to purchase with the idea of having to do the updates myself. Been there done that and it's alot of work plus expense. As someone else stated here it's definately a buyer's market.

[lynn22]

As a Realtor here in Ct and a Village of Lynn Haven resident I can tell you to listen to your Realtor. Interview three Realtors OF YOUR CHOICE. No Realtor in today's market will tell you to overprice your home so they will get "more commission". Who wants thier name attached to a sign for months on end. If the Realtor's are sent to you through a referral from the villages, most likely they are giving up 50% of their commission already.Good Luck you will sell and be in tv sooner than you think

[herbaru]

Originally Posted by oceangirl

Ok, we are now in the stage to interview realtors. I spoke to the relocation dept in TV and two realtors are coming to look at our home. Now I'm getting nervous. I could sure use some advice on do's and don'ts. I have staged the house and nobody is allowed to eat at the dinning room table. Ha Ha . I do hope St. Joseph will look kindly on us. We are coming down in April to stand on our lot and picture the house. So if you see us in Buttonwood stop in can't offer a beverage but can share friendship.

Do keep in mind TV relocation dept will get a commission if you list and sell with one of these realtors. Check with neighbors and friends or your credit union (if you are a member) for realtor recommendations. Good Luck!

[swrinfla]

It's a long time ago (my closing here in TV was 6 years ago today), and things have certainly changed a great deal. But, you may also want to look at selling "as is."

My guesstimate was that bringing my then-100-year-old 3-story house with full basement up to "snuff" would cost me close to $75,000, plus several months of hassle. With close discussions with local realtors and others, I elected to do the "as is" thing.

At the time (early 2005), I had an accepatble offer within 10 days and completed the deal a few days later. I ended up with little - almost no - hassle and some $25,000 more than my built-to-order home in TV cost me.

Very acceptable to me. True, the timing was undoubtedly a huge factor here. The buyer - a forward-thinking architect - flipped my old house within a year! Whether she made a profit or not, I rather doubt, but, by then, I didn't really care!

SWR

[LittleDog]

When we sold our house in NJ 6 years ago our realtor was my cousins wife. She basically told us to pack all our things and leave for Florida. We did that and she helped to pack us. She wanted to have some work done in the house, paint some rooms, finish the hardwood floors, plus a few other things like getting the garbage and leftovers hauled away. She did a great job but of course this is not typical of realtors but we were lucky. She got a good price for the house when it was sold. If we had known how much the house would have sold for we could have gotten a bigger house here but that's OK. We're happy with our present house other than the fact we have no golf cart garage. BTW, house selling was a lot easier 6 years ago.

John

[oceangirl]

Thanks for all the valuable information. I do want to price the house to sell. We can then start building in Buttonwood. I have even staged the linen closet. My other half said what for? My response is when someone opens the door hopefully they will say wow. He also would like to sit at the dinner table but like I said he can't it is staged. We have been in our home for 33 yrs. will I miss it no but will miss my grandson . Hope to meet some of you in April. If you think of anything else please Pm me.

[dwbevan]

Oceangirl,

Where will you be in Buttonwood - we will look for you in April. I understand the grandchildren part, but you will be soooo... busy once you get here, you will still miss him - but . . .
Debbie

[tsew22]

Oceangirl, We received some very good advice from TOTV. Hire a bank appraiser, and get the house appraised, it worked for us, gave us great piece of mind, that we priced it correctly. Received an offer in 3 months, within 10k of asking price. We are building in Buttonwood also, close Feb. 17th. Good Luck, St. Joseph works!!

[oceangirl]

I do have a name of an appraiser I think I will call. we really don't want to give the house away but are willing to put it at a fair price. I just hate the thought of people coming in and out. We are on TOTV every day enjoying all the posts.

Debbie , we are on Bachman Path. PM when you can

[natickdan]

Congrats on moving to the next part of your journey. You are moving in to a great village.

As you go through the process of selling your home, please keep us posted. My wife and I are putting our home in MA up for sale this spring and I'm sure there are many others in a similar situation that may benefit from your lessons learned.

[Bill-n-Brillo]

"Price sells" is the motto in the current real estate market. Getting an appraisal from a reliable source is, in my mind, the best place to start in determining an asking price. Tie that together with info on comparable properties that have sold in your area recently and you've probably got the bulk of the pricing formula addressed.

I wish we'd have gotten a reliable appraisal about 3 or so years back when we began the sales process for our previous OH home. Instead, I (foolishly) relied solely on pricing input from our realtor friend who was going to list the place for us. Long story short: After almost a year of having the house on the market, we got tired of getting some lookers and no offers. We'd lowered the price a couple of times (at our direction, not his, to the tune of about 15%) during the first 6 months while he continued to insist "There's no reason it shouldn't sell for that price!". He eventually grew tired of my growing disdain for what he wasn't accomplishing and encouraged us to switch realtors......which we did. New agent/company convinced us the house had been overpriced so we agreed to lower the price by another 15% and had a done-deal contract within 2 weeks. Shame on me for getting a marginally competent realtor friend involved at the start of thing and sticking with him for far too long. My bad - lesson learned.

Price it right and it'll sell! JMHO.

Bill

[Indy-Guy]

I once heard what I thought was great advise in picking out a realtor.

Drive past the 3 closest realestate offices to your home and look at the parking signs in their parking lot they all have them. There will be two one with the name of last months top selling agent in the office and the other with the name for the top listing agent in the office. If you do this a couple of months before you are ready to list your home you will see that the same names will pop up most of the time these are the producers. The one you want to list your home with is the top selling agent in the office. This agent will be happy to list your home even though this agent doesn't work at listings they work at showing and selling homes. This is the agent that will show your home (their listing) before they show others listings. The top sellers get more prospects and sell more than the listing specialist who works at getting listings.

Remember that when a realtor sells their own listing they don't have to split the commission with another realtor. That is the reason you want to list your home with the top sales producer in your area. And it is important to have a realtor whose office is in your area.

Just a thought.