Sellers will need to work harder when market changes
Vaxxed or unvaxxed, we are slowly getting back to normal.
Until now, the pandemic, an unusually low inventory of homes for sale and historically low interest rates made it easy to sell your home. Houses have been flying off the market, usually with multiple offers over the list price, with very little marketing required.
Buyers have to be on their toes with their full pre-qualification package ready to go the instant a new possibility becomes available.
But the market will certainly change. When and how much it will change remains to be seen.
So here are a few reminders for home sellers as the market gets back to normal and it actually takes some time and money to get your house sold.
Open houses are back in the mix. This is when you bust your tail to clean and tidy your house and then leave, so your agent can greet all of the strangers who wander in to take a look and pick apart your floor plan, upgrades (or lack thereof) and décor.
And inviting strangers into your home also makes you more vulnerable to theft, so part of your open house routine should include securing your jewelry, firearms, ammo, electronics, prescription meds and cash. Make sure these, and any other valuables, are out of sight and inaccessible.
Soon, you’ll have to make some important decisions about how to make your house more attractive. The days when you didn’t have to spend much time or money to get your house ready to sell will soon be behind us. The easiest and least costly improvement is cleaning and decluttering.
Next-level staging involves decorating and accessorizing. A quick trip to Home Goods or Costco for some new pillows and towels might be all you need.
And pay attention to all of the beds in your house. They are the largest thing in most bedrooms, so dressing up all of the beds with a new, color-coordinated bedspread and matching decorative pillows will go a long way to improving the emotional appeal of your house.
And make sure the pillows have the requisite V – which you can achieve by practicing your karate chop.
Now that you have your new towels, bedspreads and pillows, you may discover that your wall color or wallpaper isn’t such a good match. You may choose to peel off the wallpaper and paint all the walls to complete the fresh, new look of your house. And this might be a slippery slope, as you assess your cabinets, cabinets, fixtures and appliances.
Keep a close eye on the market if you intend to sell your house to make sure you have plenty of time and plenty of money to do what it takes to get the best price for your house in the shortest time possible.
Leslie Sargent Eskildsen is an agent with RealtyOne Group West and a board member for the California Association of Realtors. She can be reached at 949-678-3373 or leslie@leslieeskildsen.com.