Marketing

Amazing What Furniture Can Do

by John Rice

I’ve got this client whose house I am selling.  I sold it to them when they bought it.  The house had been sitting on the market for a while when we wrote the offer.  I got them a good price on it, but I was a little nervous about selling it in a cooler market than when they bought it.  I told them before we bought it that it might be harder to sell since it had been on the market so long.  The agent that had it listed at that time did a decent job of presenting the house, so I couldn’t really blame it on her…..figured it was the casual floor plan in a neighborhood full of cookie cutter McMansions.

Well, just by word of mouth, I ended up with multiple showings before I even put it on the MLS……which was today.  It got 3 more showing today.  Granted, it ain’t sold yet, but it is in the top 3 houses for 2 different buyers.  Makes me think I have something really special here.

What gives?  How could a house sit on the market for a long time in a better market and be on the short list of two buyers now?  I think it has something to do with their furniture.  When they bought it, it was vacant.  I remember going in the house and thinking it was nice, but I had some concerns.  One of them was the “Keeping Room.”  When it was vacant, it just seemed so small.  I am usually pretty good about figuring out scale and all, but not this time.  Once the seller got furniture in the room it totally changed the vibe and actually made it seem bigger.  The house has a covered patio that is very nice, but once the sellers put out a table and flowers, it really made it seem like some place you’d like to vacation.

This past weekend, I was out with a young couple.  We went in two houses in the same neighborhood that happen to be the same floor plan.  There were some minor differences:  One had a tiled backsplash, the flooring was a different color, and the cabinets were different stains.  One had plain paint and was decorated with an older vibe……..guess I’d call it Early American Yard Sale.  One had furniture and paint that was much more hip.  Guess which one my young couple clicked with the most?  When the agent for the “Older House” called for feedback, I told her about this and suggested they make some changes since the target buyer in that price range and neighborhood is a twenty-something person (or persons!)

So, if your house is for sale or you are about to sell, think about all this.  Afterall, look at all the shows on HGTV where that lady from the Target commercial makes a few cosmetic changes and the house sells soon afterwards.  Think about your target buyer too.  I’ve noticed the twenty-something buyers like cooler colors like gray tones.  People older than that go for warm colors like beige since they remember the last time cool colors were vogue back in the 80’s.

And oh…..while I was writing this post, an offer came in on that house……a good offer.  Gotta go now!

SI Drive? Level Side walks? Curtains that Convey? Really??

by John Rice

About a year ago, my wife decided she wanted a Subaru Outback.  We looked at a few on used car lots.  I did a lot of research to find out what trim level we had to get for her to have the sunroof and heated leather seats that she wanted.  There really weren’t a lot of used Outbacks in or around Lexington at that time.  Then, one day, I found a classified ad that said “2008 Subaru Outback, SI Drive” with the price and the seller’s phone number.  Not a lot of info to work with.  Definitely nothing to make the guy’s phone start ringing.  But to me, this car having “SI Drive” told me a whole lot more about it.  Having done a lot of research, I knew that was only offered on the top trim level, having the giant sunroof, heated leather interior, and the bigger engine.  When we went to see the car, all the seller kept talking about the “SI Drive”.  I could tell it was very important to him.

A lot of home sellers are like that too.  They want to focus on what is important to them when selling their house, rather than focusing on things that are important to the buyer.  I see it a lot in marketing remarks of For Sale By Owner houses.  I once read a flyer where the seller spent a lot of space talking about how level the sidewalks are and never mentioned that his model of house had an open floor plan, which is something that is important to most buyers these days……especially since anybody picking up the flyer can see what is outside of the house, but knows nothing about the inside yet?

I sold a house to a family that I have since become friends with.  They found the house by driving around the neighborhood.  They would have never come to see it if they had only seen it online.  Why?  Because of the marketing remarks.  Instead of mentioning the hardwood floors, instead of mentioning that one of the upstairs bedrooms was huge, or that there were bedrooms on both levels of the house, or that the backyard was an awesome park-like oasis, the agent used that space to tell you that the exterior was maintenance free, that the curtains stayed with the house, and that there was an allowance for water-proofing the basement as well as mitigating radon……..Hardly anything to make somebody fall in love with a house that had a leaking basement and a high radon level!  The marketing remarks could only have been better if they said  “Must see!……You get to keep the seller’s curtains AND fix some major problems with this house, but at least you’ll never have to paint the outside!!  NOT a drive by!”

The hardest thing about real estate is getting sellers to think like a buyer and a buyer to think like a seller.  I think if that ever were to happen, I’d probably be out of a job!  Being a realtor these days is as much about mediation, negotiation and understanding differing perspectives as it is about houses.

BTW, “SI Drive” is a feature that has 3 settings for throttle response and transmission shift points.

Same Room. Different Pictures. Which One Would You Use to Sell Your House?

by John Rice

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

I’m gonna make this a short post.  Know why?  Because most people would rather look at pictures than read about a house.   That’s why having terrific pictures online when you sell your house is so important.

Both of those pictures you see on the slide show are of the same room.  One was taken when another agent had the house listed.  It didn’t sell.  The other one was taken when I listed the house and sold it not too long afterwards.

When 2 negatives together seem like 3

by John Rice

Sometimes a bunch of negatives are overwhelming when you have to see them all together.  This is something I learned when I bought a fixer upper house that was worn out, out-dated, and in disrepair.  I was broke back then, so I had to live with it for a couple of years.  Man, that was rough.  I remember thinking that the carpet wouldn’t look so bad if the walls weren’t so bad, and how together they really make the light fixture unbearable.  I guess that is when it first hit me how 2 or more negatives seem to compound their effects when viewed in the same room.

This is something that has really helped me out in real estate.  Let’s face it, very few houses are totally updated showplaces.  Just about any house has something old and/or worn out.  My current house, even though we have done a lot to it, still needs new carpet upstairs and our green laminate counter top needs to join the rest of 1998 in the landfill.  When we bought the place, it was all original, which meant not only that once trendy green counter top, but also a green vinyl floor.  I can’t believe I am telling you all this, but what the heck, the kitchen also had wall paper with fruit on it that one of my friends said looked like something Willy Wonka would make.

While the counter top is still around, the wall paper has been replaced with fresh paint and the green vinyl is now  Brazilian Cherry.  It looks so much different that you hardly notice the counter top is still green, when you use to feel like you were in Emerald City from the Wizard of Oz.  It is still a negative, but less of one now when viewed without the others negatives.

I’ve got a listing in my pipeline that I have been working on for a little bit.  In general, it just feels like a rental grade property.  It has a nice floor plan and all, but just doesn’t feel like something that a buyer will fall in love with.  Like I have always said, a seller has more power in the deal if the house comes across as something special.  The market is currently flooded with “Average” houses.  This house already has some pluses that could easily be over looked.  It has a couple of nice ceiling fans and brushed nickel fixtures……Things that I bet most buyers wouldn’t even remember after leaving the house if we didn’t do anything to it.  So, what is the plan?  We have just had the place painted.  Now the whole house is a nice warm beige.  That will unify the space to a buyer.  Buyers like to see all the rooms the same color.  You have to remember that buyers are going from room to room in a 20 minute window.  They like it all to be consistent.  The next step is going to be to replace the vinyl flooring in the baths and kitchen.  Then we’ll clean the existing carpet and stage it.

Now, when a buyer comes in this place, they will see fresh paint on all the walls and ceiling, clean floors, and new vinyl in the kitchen and baths.  They will also probably now notice the ceiling fans and nickel fixtures.  See, the goal is to make it the best house any buyer can get in that price range.  After all, as long as there is one buyer out there, you know they’ll pick the best one.

What to do When Your Place Ain’t Sellin’

by John Rice

House not selling?  Wondering how to interpret what is going on?  Here are a few of my thoughts on some common situations……Now, all assume your house is being presented well online with plenty of good pictures and marketing remarks that describe your house as more than a “Must see (insert number of bedroom and style of house here)  in a convenient location that won’t last, so hurry, and isn’t a drive-by.”

The house that gets lots of showings but no offers

Assuming that you don’t have some negative that wasn’t disclosed like backing to a highway, apartments, or having an Eifel Tower looking electrical thing in your yard, this situation simply means that the house doesn’t live up to what people expected.  The good news with this one is that buyers think the price for what they thought the house would be is good or else they wouldn’t come at all.  The solution here is to either lower the price or improve the house so that it meets the expectations buyers have, whichever is easier.

I once had a condo that got tons of showings.  I kept encouraging the seller to paint.  Once we did, it sold.  I recently had another listing that was gettings tons of showings.  It was a nice place, but just felt like a 15 year old house that needed a fresh vibe.  The seller did some painting and replaced the flooring in all the bathrooms.  As soon as it was done, it sold.  Both of these places looked great online, and just needed to match what buyers thought they were getting.   Both were improved for far less than the price reduction we would have needed, so both sellers actually came out better by going that route!

The house that gets no showings

This one is easy, but hard for sellers to accept……The price is too high.  If a house is presented well on the MLS, and still nobody comes to see it, all you can do is lower the price.  Real estate is all about price, location, and condition.  You can’t change the location, but the other two you have some control over.

A good example is a recent listing of mine.  It had some bold colors and was priced too high.  We had priced it right after the tax credits expired, meaning all the comps used to determine value were from a much different market when values were higher.  The seller painted and agreed to lower the price to reflect the current market and it sold just a couple days later.

Also something to think about is this:  If you have a $200k house and you’re asking $250k for it, buyers are comparing it to other houses that are really worth the asking price,  and the buyers who are going to spend what your house is really worth aren’t even going to see it since the list price is over their budget.

The house that gets the same bad feedback over and over

This is the least fun thing that can happen to a seller.  I mean, they get kicked out of their house for showing after showing with no offer AND get to hear what people hate about their house!

Several years ago I had this really cool older house that had been mostly remodeled.  It had the smallest living room I have ever seen……must have been the smallest anybody had ever seen since that I all I kept hearing after the showings.  I’d call for feedback and the agent would go on and on about how beautiful the place was, how unexpected it was to have walk-in closets in such an old house, then they end by saying that their client wasn’t going to buy it since the living room was so small.

We tried putting in smaller scale furniture, but that didn’t help.  After that, all we could do was drop the price.  A price reduction opens the house up to a larger pool of buyers as well as enticing them to overlook a shortcoming if they are getting a better deal.  We got that one sold too!

If you have a situation that doesn’t fit into these scenarios, give me a shout and I’ll let you know what to do!