Jennifer Allan

Question: "Should I offer a "paint and carpet" allowance instead of actually doing the work?"

JA: Homesellers- I feel for ya. When you're getting your home ready for market, the to-do list seems endless, doesn't it? The last thing you want to do is to relocate your furniture to refinish the floors or take down all your artwork to paint the walls.

It would be much easier to just offer an allowance, right? Besides, the buyer probably would prefer to pick out his own carpet or paint color, wouldn't he?

Unfortunately, no. The problem with offering a paint or carpet allowance in lieu of actually painting or carpeting is that these two items are strong emotional triggers for buyers. When a buyer walks into a home, he forms an impression right away that's hard to overcome after the fact. If the buyer's impression is that the home has bad carpet or grungy walls, no allowance will change that initial reaction.

But don't fret! It's the first impression that is most important, so if you're on a limited budget (and who isn't?), just ensure that the flooring in every room the buyer can see from the front door is in the best condition it can be. Same with the paint. A buyer will be more likely to "forgive" bad carpet or not-so-fresh paint in secondary rooms that don't contribute to the critical first impression.

Good luck with your home sale!

The article below was contributed by Geri Bigum of Staging Denver. Staging Denver is ONLY the very best homestaging company in Denver, and, in my opinion, anywhere in the world. Okay, okay, maybe I'm biased because I had a hand in creating the company back in the 90's, but seriously - these gals are good. While I'm not involved in the company any more, I enthusiastically recommend their services to my clients and use ‘em myself whenever I sell a home I personally own.

What's the Big Deal About Family Pictures?
We've often noticed homes on the market with a ton of family pictures on walls and tables. Since we are in sellers' homes constantly, we know the resistance they have when their real estate agent asks them to pack up the pictures. Some people don't see the importance of removing them and don't have the conversation with their seller clients in the beginning. Others may not be sure how to broach the subject. After all, little Johnny and Susie are adorable and if their pictures come down, what goes up in it's place? Others may not think that it's the family pictures that are keeping the house from selling.

Don't believe everything you think.

Getting started in the staging industry, I worked with a Realtor (side note - that would be ME!) who allowed me to take her buyers out for those first looks at houses. It taught me invaluable lessons regarding the things that are important to buyers. The first thing women and I wanted to do was look at the seller's pictures. We would walk out of the house and forget the floor plan. Obviously, we didn't fall in love with that house.

We don't want pictures of the kids on the internet with the property address. It's one thing to know there are children in the house, another to see what they look like. Take their names down, while you are at it. Keep those babies protected!

Men don't want to see pictures of someone else's family in the house that they are considering for their family. They see pictures of the adults and wonder if they were in a meeting with them last week. They spend the entire tour of the home trying to place your clients' faces and remember where they met them. Might as well take that house out of consideration.

Staging consultations start at $250.00 and can return thousands. Would you like to talk to Geri? Email her at Geri@stagingdenver.com or call 303-886-1614. You'll love her!

I might ruffle some feathers with this blog, but I'm okay with that. I'm usually up for a good debate!

Many real estate agents market themselves as "listing specialists" - that is - they focus mainly on marketing houses for sale instead of working with buyers. Many "listing specialists" hire buyer agents to work for them, to handle the calls they receive from their many For Sale signs.

On the surface, this sounds logical; after all, don't we all want a "specialist" to represent us when we're looking for expert assistance?

Sure we do! But when I think of a "specialist" in real estate, I imagine that person to understand the entire process of marketing, selling and closing a home sale. And, to my way of thinking, someone who specializes in the exchange of real estate should have an intimate understanding of the Very Important Person on the other side of the table - the BUYER.

In my never-to-be-humble-opinion, if a real estate agent doesn't work with buyers on a regular basis, he may not have the expertise to accurately price homes for market. I know a few agents who have dozens of For Sale signs in my market area, yet have never shown or previewed one of my listings. I don't understand how they can claim to be a neighborhood expert when they don't know the competition, and more importantly, don't have an understanding of how buyers think.

Because I work with both buyers and sellers equally, I can help a seller look at his home through the eyes of a buyer... and the buyer's agent. I know what is currently in vogue with the local buyers. I know what will WOW a buyer as he walks in the door...and what will immediately turn him off.

I can advise my seller client on the upgrades and improvements that truly matter in our market, even specific to his particular neighborhood. I know how important a walk-in closet is... or isn't. I know if buyers will overlook a dated kitchen... or if they won't. I know if buyers will balk at the lack of a garage... or if they will be tickled just to have off-street parking.

I know how much value to add for being close to a popular coffee shop... or how much to subtract for being on a bus route. I know how to price an asbestos-sided house so that buyers will consider it... over the vintage brick Tudor they really want.

The real estate market changes on a daily basis and data from the MLS tells only part of the story. What you knew about the market six months ago is irrelevant to the market conditions today. To truly be a "listing specialist," you must also be committed to knowing the inventory... and to knowing the buyer.

And Knowing the Buyer makes me a Listing Specialist. IMHO.

"What's the average Days on Market in Denver? That is, how long will it take my house to sell?"

In real estate-speak, "days on market," (abbreviated DOM) means how many days it takes from the day a house goes on the market until the day it goes "under contract" (that is, when a buyer and seller agree on a purchase contract). Of course, after a home goes under contract, there are still a few pesky details to deal with like inspection, appraisal and loan approval which can take another 30-60 days, but the official DOM statistic refers to the date the listing is changed from "Active" to "Under Contract."

I'm asked this question a lot, both in casual conversation (yeah, I'm a fascinating conversationalist) and when I'm formally speaking with a potential home-seller. Obviously, the home-seller wants to know how long it's going to take to sell his home and plan accordingly.

And I SO wish I had an answer for him! Wouldn't it be lovely if I could confidently tell a home-seller that he'll need to plan for a 60-75 day marketing time and a 30-45 day contract period?

But that's just not reality. No, I'm not saying that we can't sell your house in 60-75 days or that a 30-45 day contract period is unrealistic; what I'm saying is that in our Denver real estate market, the average DOM statistic is meaningless. Utterly meaningless.

Here's why.

In the last three months, there have been around 60 homes sell in the $250,000 to $300,000 range in zip codes 80211 and 80212 (Northwest Denver). The lowest DOM of the 60 properties is two days. Yes, TWO days. The highest DOM is 628 Days. Yes, 628.

The AVERAGE Days on Market for this group of properties is 61. However, of the 60 homes, 17 of them sold in less than two weeks. Nine took longer than 100 days to sell. And out of the 60 sold properties, not one of them took exactly 61 days to sell; in fact, only nine were within 10 days of the average DOM of 61.

So, when you're looking at market data, please don't be misled by "averages." A better question to ask is "How can I sell my home in 30 days?" Because, clearly, in our market, that's utterly do-able!

www.CharmingOldDenver.com

Back in 1997, one of my first seller clients asked me the question: "Jennifer, I assume our house will sell quickly because it's so cute (it was), but if it doesn't sell right away, what will you do?"

Hmmmmmmmm. Hell, I dunno. I was a green bean agent; I'd only had one other listing in my career and didn't have a clue. I came up with something that probably sounded like this: "I'll do a broker open house, I'll do mid-week open houses, I'll distribute color brochures throughout the neighborhood and post an ad on the nearby college's bulletin board."

Lucky for me, the house did sell quickly, so I didn't have to implement my admittedly weak Plan B.

But it's now 12 years later and I still don't have a good answer to the question: "What will you do in 30 days if my house hasn't sold?" However, with 12 years of experience under my belt, I KNOW that there ISN'T a great answer to the question! Especially if the seller is expecting me to reach into some magic bag of tricks and pull out a secret marketing strategy that I reserve only for my non-selling listings!

Here's the thing. Even if I HAD a magic bag of secret marketing tricks, why would I hold out using them until after the listing is stale? Wouldn't it make more sense to hit the market with all guns blazing?

But the truth is, I don't have a magic bag of tricks.

NO AMOUNT OF MARKETING CAN SELL AN UNSELLABLE HOME.

I could do broker opens every day of the week, distribute enough color brochures to kill a small forest and refresh my Craigslist ad every 21 days for the next five years and my listing will not sell if it's not properly priced, properly prepared and properly presented!

NO AMOUNT OF MARKETING CAN SELL AN UNSELLABLE HOME!

My job as professional real estate agent is to know what it's gonna take to get a house sold. I need to know how to price the home TO SELL; how to prepare my sellers for the reality of Being on the Market and how to help them prepare the home to evoke the most positive emotional reaction from the greatest number of potential buyers (and their agents). It needs to look good, smell good and photograph well. It needs to be easy to show without the distraction of barking dogs or a work-at-home owner. If there's an obstacle to sale, I need to recognize it and have the balls to be frank with my seller about it (and help ‘em fix it).

That's how I sell my listings. By working with my Charming Old Denver sellers to create a marketable product, not to throw time and money at advertising after the sign goes in the yard. Frankly, our MLS system is an incredibly efficient system to sell houses and there's nothing I can do individually to out-market that MLS.

The moral of the story... when talking with a real estate agent about his or her "marketing plan" don't be fooled by promises of fancy marketing unless the agent has a solid PRE-marketing plan!

www.CharmingOldDenver.com