Sell That House: Appearance is Everything

SELL THAT HOUSE: APPEARANCE IS EVERYTHING

Salability is directly related to appearance. If you want to buy a car, but it has a dented door, then you will probably pass on the car rather than pay $1000 for a new door, even if the seller discounts the price by $1,000. So a car that would be worth $20,000 suddenly becomes worth nothing if it has a defect. Likewise with a house, if it were worth $300,000 in good condition, it may suddenly be worth nothing if it needed carpet and paint that may only cost $10,000. You could suggest an allowance, but typically that is not enough. The Buyers decision has already been "emotionally" made. On the surface, this makes no sense, but in practice, believe me, this is what happens. A home that only needs carpet and paint, and hence shows poorly, will sit on the market for days, but with a couple of thousands invested in paint and carpet to spiff it up, it sells in a week. Further discounting the price may be an alternative; however the discount would generally need to include the cost of the fix-up plus another 30%. Why should the Buyer deal with your problem, if they are going to get nothing out of it?

So, if you do not want to paint and carpet your average house nor sufficiently lower the price, then get a picture of somebody else's house.

Contact Ron Trzcinski at 410-935-5844 for more information.