Price and Presentation…..If you get those two things right, you don’t need anything else to sell a house.  Those are the hardest things to get right though, so most realtors focus on the minor things like open houses, fancy brochures, ballons on the for sale sign….you know, you’ve seen it all too.  See, if you don’t know what price a buyer will consider fair for a house nor do you know how to make the listing stand out among other similar houses, that’s all you got left to do.

I recently sold a house for a friend who lives out of the country.  He trusts me and knows I know what I am doing.  He gave me free reign to get his place sold.

He had rented it out for a few years, so it was a little rough on the eye.  It needed a fresh vibe or we just weren’t going to be able to sell it for anywhere near its potential.

Soooo, I had all the rooms painted a nice neutral beige called “Pony Tail.”  We had the carpet cleaned.  We replaced the flooring in the kitchen and bathrooms.  I took a survey on Facebook to see which was better in the kitchen: A dark wood look or a neutral stone tile look.  It was a first time buyer type house, so both floor choices were vinyl rather than the real thing.  The dark hardwood look won out.  We then had the main rooms staged with furniture than would appeal to the typical first time buyer.

Want to know what happened next?  Well, we sold it.  Yep, took about 3 weeks and we got multiple offers too.  Got only $500 less than I told him it would sell for at that!

I really enjoyed helping my friend, but this was also a test for me to see if I really knew as much as I thought I did about buyers……I guess I passed.

Was  this a special house?  Not really.  Did we price it too low?  No, it was priced for slightly over what it would sell at.  Can this be duplicated?  Yes and no.  See, what made this such a success what that the seller was willing to do everything I told him to do in order to sell his house.  I hate to say this, but what ultimately makes a sale successful is the seller.  No amount of advertising or positive thinking can sell a house that is over-priced.  The best realtor in town (me again!) can’t sell a place that doesn’t show well.  It really takes a good seller who is willing to take the advice of a good realtor to get the job done these days……And you know what?  Wouldn’t you rather do this upfront and get it done quickly compared to dragging it out for the next 6-12 months?

I just got off the phone with a client.  Dude told me that his loan officer told him the house he is buying appraised for $5000 more than he is paying for it.  Didn’t even surprise me.  See, I make it a habit of not letting me people pay too much for a house.  I have never had a house not appraise for at least the contract amount, even a few years ago when it seemed every realtor was having that problem.

I once got a client a house that appraised for $80,000 MORE than the contract amount.  A couple of years ago, a client bought a house in Beaumont Reserve for almost $40,000 under the appraisal.  How do I do it?  I just understand how market value works.  See, when I have somebody ready to write on offer on a house, I always go to my computer and study the recent sales in the area.  I don’t just do the easy things like figure out an average cost per square foot.  I study the floor plans of the houses, look at the seller’s disclosures to see how old the roof and HVAC are, the lot characteristics, see what kind of flooring and finishes each one has…..and on and on, and on some more.  Heck, a lot of the time I’ve even be inside the sold comps!  I also like to use more than 3 comps.  The more you have, the more solid whatever number I come up with will be.  It’s like a science and gut thing that work really well together.

The closest I ever came to having a house not appraise was last summer.  The appraisal came in a couple thousand under the contract amount.  I was the worst combination of heart-broken and embarrassed I have ever  been.  I mean, I really take a lot of pride in my ability to know market value.  Once I actually saw the appraisal, turns out the appraiser had forgotten to include a detached garage that was on the property!  Once the value of the garage was added in, the house appraised for just over the contract amount and I got to keep my good record in tact.

So, my dude is happy with the price he paid on his house, and that is what it is all about.

A while back, I talked to a potential client about listing her place.  I told her what I thought it was worth, just like I always do.  I want to be straight with people so they can start making their plans based on what is most likely to happen.

She wanted to get more for it.  Percentage wise, it was much more.  I had plenty of comps to back up my claim of the value.  Many of the comparable sales were nicer than her place and sold for less than she would accept.  Needless to say, she didn’t go with me.  She used another agent who listed it for much  more than it will ever sell.

Now, it may seem like this is going to be about the seller, but it is really about the other agent she picked.  I have no issue with the seller.  She isn’t a realtor or an investor.  She is just somebody trying to move and get the most for her place.  Totally respect that, since it was also my goal for her.

Every agent wants listings.  Why?  They want their phone to ring with other potential clients.  They also know that trying to get a client is the hardest part of being in real estate.   Heck, I want all that too, but not at the expense of my client.

What this agent did totally annoys me.  He would have listed her house for whatever number it took to get her to sign the contract.  I see this all the time.  Then the price reduction game begins, until they seller eventually drops the price to the point that it will sell.  What gets me about this is meanwhile, the seller is making big financial plans based on an amount of money that they simply are not going to get….all so the agent can get a listing.  Could have been my listing if I didn’t care so much about my people.

Want to know something funny?  I got a call from this seller today.  She thought she was calling the agent she listed it with.  She said she got my message.  I told her I hadn’t called her.  She said that she got a message saying that another unit in her complex had sold at auction and that we needed to talk…….Don’t know about you, but it sounds like he is about to try to get a price reduction out of her.

 I hope for her sake he is going to suggest the same number I had told her….That way she’ll get her place sold and can get on with her life.