How long was your home on the market before it sold?

[canadiandisneynut]

@tcherjen As a realtor, I can recommend that you absolutely interview to see who is right for your family. My business is primarily referral based meaning my clients refer me often to their friends and family. Speak with family and friends, co workers and as for recommendations. Where are you located? I have an extensive referral network and can recommend a couple of names to interview of people who are professional and experienced.

 

[Budshark]

You've had the best advice already given.

We've sold 3 house. 2 days. 24 hours. And 3 days. All had pre market marketing to other realtors.

Empty and clean. Make things looked lived in but have lots of space and clean clean clean. Closets. Refrigerators. Cabinets. Use candles or air freshness or bake cookies - but then put them away before someone Shows it. You don't want People to think that you are covering smells up. Trim bushes. Everything you've been told.

One more secret advice. Spend a lot of time at the front door. Fix that plant. Clean the stain. Paint the door. Get rid of cobwebs. Replace the light. New Mat. Anything you can see from just outside the front door needs to be fixed. Why? Because your new homeowner has never seen the house. They are eager and anxious and forming first impressions. And while the realtor is playing with the lock box? They are looking at the dead bugs. The worn mat. The scratches on the front door. The crooked light with the spider web. And before they walk inside they've already decided you don't keep a clean house. Spend extra time on this area!

 

[ohionola]

It is all about price and appearance. If it is priced right, it will sell. The house we bought was on the market for 12 hours. Most people in my area that have their house priced right sells within 2 weeks. However, some people need or want higher prices and I know some that have been on the market for over a year. General rule of thumb is if your house sits for more than 3 months, it is priced wrong and dropping the price $2,000 isn't going to make a difference.

Also get a good realtor. You don't get a good realtor by asking your friends or a recommendation because someone knows someone. Go to a real estate office you trust and ask about their agents sales figures last year. Pick one of them with the highest sales figures. I find these agents don't get caught up on making more money because they have such high sales volumes. They will want to price it right to move it.

 

[tcherjen]

@tcherjen As a realtor, I can recommend that you absolutely interview to see who is right for your family. My business is primarily referral based meaning my clients refer me often to their friends and family. Speak with family and friends, co workers and as for recommendations. Where are you located? I have an extensive referral network and can recommend a couple of names to interview of people who are professional and experienced.

Thank you! I am going to interview several, as we want one that will get results for us. I don't want someone who only sticks a sign in the yard and that's all they do.

 

[redsonja76]

do you mind if I ask how a stager works? I mean did they come in and just add throw pillows and some artwork and fluffy towels? Or did you take everything out and they put in furniture etc (sort of like on the TV flipping shows?) and how much it cost? Thank you!

She came twice. The first time she walked my house and then told me what to pack up and store in the garage (all the personal stuff, about half the decorations), then she told us which furniture pieces to move where and to take everything off the walls. That was our homework for the second time she came back. The second time she used our art work and knick knacks and decorated our house appropriately. She didn't bring anything in, she just used what she had.

It was our job to keep it very clean, to round up the clutter and to open all the blinds and turn on the lights every time we had a showing.

Our realtor paid for it, she did that with every one of her listings. But if I remember correctly it was something like $40 an hour, and the second time she was there was for 4 hours.

 

[CinderellasKastle]

Going to be listing our home in a couple of months. I know area plays a big role in how long the house sits. What kind of marketing did your agent do? We will be moving in May 2017 and want to hopefully have our house sold by this December.

We put our house on the market in October, a lot of the reviews came in rather negative due to the amount of work we needed to do on the house. We took it off the market - got the work done, and a few weeks later we were back on the market (mid November). We got an offer a week later, less than the asking price, but we sold and moved out last week.

 

[tcherjen]

We put our house on the market in October, a lot of the reviews came in rather negative due to the amount of work we needed to do on the house. We took it off the market - got the work done, and a few weeks later we were back on the market (mid November). We got an offer a week later, less than the asking price, but we sold and moved out last week.

I'm glad you got it sold. We are doing a few repairs so I am hopeful.

 

[DawnM]

Last 3 homes sold within 4 weeks.

We are now on the other side of the country and listing in April. We will see if this market is vastly different.

 

[CinderellasKastle]

I'm glad you got it sold. We are doing a few repairs so I am hopeful.

Having the house sold definitely made the move to Orlando a lot easier for all of us

 

[clh2]

We sold our home of 21 years last summer. We ultimately sold it for 97% of asking; and had 3 offers in a total of 3 weeks, we went with offer #2.

It was a wild ride. We interviewed 3 agents in March 2015. We ultimately picked the agent that offered the lowest overall commission structure, not because he had a different type of commission structure, but because we liked him and his approach the best. Ironically - he suggested we put the house on the market for the highest amount. I also felt like the 2 traditional agents wanted us to make expensive changes in our house, carpeting, and adding a 2nd sink in our master bathroom. One realtor even suggested that on top of carpeting, and the sink, that we change out all hardware in the kitchen, and change out light fixtures. We were adamant that we did not want to put new carpeting in; as none of the realtors would/could guarantee that we would get our money back. The changes that the 2 traditional realtors wanted us to do would have amounted to $7K to $8K. The realtor we went with indicated that we would not need to change the carpeting, the kitchen would sell the house to the wives; the garage would sell it to the husbands. He was right on.

We saved ~$10K by going with the agent who had a fixed listing price. (We did pay the full 2.4% of the co-broker's commission). We did lose out a little on the sales price, as the market changed from March to June a little bit, but we are good with that, as in March - we had not found a house to move into. It would have been a major hassle to find a short term rental, store our stuff, and move it a second time when we did find a new house, all which would have totally stressed me out.

We had been looking for a house in a different part of the state for about 9 months, and finally found the perfect house for a couple approaching empty-nesting. Much smaller yard, and a ranch. We offered ~1.5% higher than listing price; and made our offer on our first visit to the house; 3 days after it was listed. NO REGRETS - this house is perfect for us!
We had both houses for about 2.5 weeks, which really made moving out of the first one and into the 2nd one just a breeze.

 

[Govols1997]

Who did you hire to handle all the paper work and what did that cost?

We are in TN so we used ResultsMLS. We did our own photos, so it cost $495. We got a sign, lock box and used the central showing system just like if we had a full service agent. She was amazing!

 

[tvguy]

We are in TN so we used ResultsMLS. We did our own photos, so it cost $495. We got a sign, lock box and used the central showing system just like if we had a full service agent. She was amazing!

I understand that, but who handled all the paperwork when you finally sold? The title stuff, the transfers, etc?

 

[Govols1997]

I understand that, but who handled all the paperwork when you finally sold? The title stuff, the transfers, etc?

The closing company always handles all of these things no matter what you do with a realtor. That's where all those crazy fees come from.

 

[tvguy]

The closing company always handles all of these things no matter what you do with a realtor. That's where all those crazy fees come from.

Okay, so your savings were just on commission, which can be a sizable savings.

 

[Govols1997]

Okay, so your savings were just on commission, which can be a sizable savings.

Yes. Quite a big savings for us. Rather than paying 6% of the sales price to agents, we paid $500 to list and 2.5% to the buyers agent. 3.5% of a homes sales price can be a lot of money!

 

[Good Morning Dewdrop]

Yes. Quite a big savings for us. Rather than paying 6% of the sales price to agents, we paid $500 to list and 2.5% to the buyers agent. 3.5% of a homes sales price can be a lot of money!

so did you talk to the buyers realtor about offers, contingencies etc? was that easy or awkward?

 

[Govols1997]

so did you talk to the buyers realtor about offers, contingencies etc? was that easy or awkward?

Yes, I talked us thru negotiations. It wasn't awkward for me. I knew it was a business deal. So I tried to take the emotions out. We had done the comps in the area, so I knew we were priced well. We got two full price offers, so there was no real need to negotiate. And when the inspection came thru, I went in with a professional attitude, so it was easy peasy.