Happy Mother’s day! We hope you find comfort in knowing that “a mother is she who can take the place of all others, but whose place no one else can take.†Cardinal Mermillod.
One of our good friends asked about the importance of how a property shows during a frenzied real estate market. His point was that it is surely not as vital how a home is presented to buyers when in many cases the house sells as soon as, and sometimes before the sign goes in the yard. The idea that “staging†a home, or getting it “market-ready†is somehow less important to buyers because they are just going to snap it up without caring about what it looks like, so this should make no difference to the seller. In fact, the seller could save time and money just putting it out there as it is, letting the buyer be concerned about to overall condition once they own it.
That would be a great idea, I said, if the seller doesn’t mind compromising on the sales price. In fact they are likely to leave money on the table if they don’t take the time to prepare their home for the sales process. We make all kinds of suggestions as Realtors® to our clients as to what they might consider doing to improve the presentation of their property to prospective buyers. It doesn’t matter if it is a good market or a stale one, the fact remains that if you prepare to sell your home by making improvements and staging, you are more likely to get a better price and sell it in a shorter period of time than if you don’t do it. It makes a significant difference in any type of market.
Not to mention that once a buyer has won the bid to purchase their home, the reality of walking through and inspecting a property that hasn’t been maintained elicits a sense of buyer’s remorse. They may feel they overpaid for the house, and then the wheels start turning as to how they might recoup their money, or even get out of the contract. There are multiple scenarios to these questions that a qualified real estate professional is prepared to discuss with you. It’s always best to choose your most trusted real estate advisor to be on your team when buying or selling your next home.