Jerry O'Donnell

If you have to sell a home that is unoccupied, due to death of owners, divorce, a move, whatever, one of the big questions is should you sell it with the furniture still in the house or move the furniture out? Long ago, before I got into real estate, I had agents tell me to get everything out so potential buyers could see themselves and their furniture in the house. Bad idea. After I got in the business I realized what a big mistake that was! You want the house to be furnished. If it is empty, people see an empty house. If it is well furnished, they see a home. Big difference. It is also amazing how ALL the little scratches, chips and dirt are MUCH more evident in an empty house.

A big advantage of selling an empty house is that you have the opportunity to really stage the house. A staged home can look beautiful, but it can be a pain to live in. So grab the chance and get rid of all clutter, clean like a demon, and arrange the furniture to maximize space and views. Get rid of big clunky, furniture. Set the table as if for a feast. There are lots of things to do since no-one is living in the house. Make that potential buyer see the possibilities in your home!

And don’t think you can set it and forget it. Every few days you need to go in and make sure the house still smells OK. A vacant home can get that “vacant smell”. Hard to describe, but you know it when you smell it. So open windows, change the air filters, walk around a bit and take the time to see if anything needs to be adjusted. You will be glad you did.

When it comes time to put your house on the market you have to learn a new level of clean! And I’m not talking just making sure everything is picked up and tidy. I mean it has to be cleaner than you thought possible. When serious buyers comes into your house they are not just browsing. They are inspecting. Floors, walls, closets, inside cabinets - everything is fair game. Anything that is unpleasant or detracts from their experience lessens the chance they will pick your house.

If they are taking the time to actually visit your house, it means they are favorably inclined to it. You DON’T want anything to turn them off from your house now that they are in it. By the way, this also includes the outside of your house, and your yard. From the moment they approach your house in their car you are “on stage”. All sights, sounds and SMELLS are important.

Whether you hire a cleaning service, or do it yourself, you must clean areas you probably have never cleaned before, to a level you might think is ridiculous. Is it worth it? Absolutely! You get tremendous bang for your buck when cleaning.

Lately, whenever I read articles by most real estate columnists, or read stuff put out by the National Association of Realtors I sometimes wonder what planet they are living on. The slightest bit of “this month is not as bad as last month” news and they are trumpeting the market bottom. Or “now is a great time to buy”! I can understand a little bit of cheerleading, but, come on! How about a little bit of objectivity?

The fundamentals stink right now. People are still losing their jobs. Companies are not expanding. Food stamp usage is at an all time high. The governments -federal, state and local - are suffering massive tax receipt reductions. Industries are permanently relocating overseas. Shall I go on, because I could.

For the past eight years I have been reading this stuff by the NAR and “expert” real estate columnists, and it seems it is ALWAYS the best time to buy. Or “we can only go up from here”.

Enough! How about a little honesty. If things are good, great! Talk about it. If things are bad, talk about it, too. If you keep preaching that things are always getting better, in the face of horrible economic news, you will lose all credibility when things actually do turn around.

My stance for now is to ignore anything from the NAR and the green shoot crowds. When they start discussing real world events for a few months I might take them seriously again.

Once again the leaves have done their job and are now all over everything, including your roof! Having been to my share of Chapel Hill home inspections, there is a common item that I have heard from just about every inspector. The best way to protect your house is to clean your gutters! No rocket science here.

A clogged gutter leads to water seeping up under your roof and causing a whole lot of trouble, possibly VERY expensive trouble. The same for a clogged downspout.

Go on out and check your own gutters. Would you pass inspection? Now that all the leaves are down, it is a great time to clean those gutters. Then you’ll be set for months! If you live in a single level house, like I do, consider yourself lucky. About 30 minutes on the ladder and you’re done. If you house roof has a gentle slope you might want to take your leaf blower up there and get the job done in a few minutes. (Just don’t be stupid and fall off.) It’s messy, but rewarding.

If you have a two or three level house, it might be worth the cost to have someone else do it. The important thing is to not ignore it! It won’t go away.

For the taller houses, you may want to investigate the gutter covers. Never had one, so I can’t recommend any. I know they can be expensive, but you may not need them everywhere. Just where it isn’t safe or convenient to clean your gutters yourself.

So, when you’re planning on home improvement projects, put the gutter at the top of the list.

I was going to do an update on the Stoneridge/Sedgefield neighborhood in Chapel Hill. (Conveniently located in the Chapel Hill School District, but NOT in the city limits. Thus no city taxes, but great schools.) It also happens to be MY neighborhood, so I keep an extra close eye on it. However, there is currently only one house on the maket and in the past year exactly ONE house has closed. (There have been a few that came on, sat for a while, and were withdrawn.)

The current house on the market has been on for a while and has had two price reductions. No takers so far. The house that did sell several months ago had been on the market for over a year, though it finally went at a decent price. It was one of the smallest and lowest priced in the neighborhood and sold just before things got really bad. Lucky for them.

This makes it difficult to come up with comps for this “new” market we are in. It also makes for a boring update.

Best advice? If you must sell, do so aggressively in price and staging, inside and out.