Whether a counter top is granite or Formica or the appliances are stainless steel or off-white could well determine whether you can an offer or not.  Many memories are made in the kitchen – from a strong sense of smell when cookies come out of the oven to learning how to prepare chicken & dumplings – so it can make or break a home sale.

This is true no matter what part of the country you’re in, no matter if you’re a house flipper or first-time home buyer. From Realty Times,

Kitchens, however, can be one of the most expensive rooms to renovate. These projects can also be the most labor and time intensive of all home renovations. It’s not just a new layer of paint.  

Instead you find a complicated array of flooring, tiling, cabinets, and counters. This means buyers may want a home with an up-to-date kitchen but they aren’t willing to tackle this problem themselves. Most buyers want a kitchen that is ready to use the day they move in.

If you’re ready to sell, pay careful attention to the kitchen!

Thinking about braving the housing market and putting your house up for sale?  The good news is it is entirely possible to sell your house. You may need to roll up your sleeves to get the house ready and Century21AffiliatedChicago has some tips on what to do. For example,

Get real about “Spring Cleaning”: Now is the time to scrub every surface of your home– from ceiling moldings to hardwood floors. Assume any potential buyers will be wearing white gloves. Wash or dry-clean curtains and bedspreads, get the carpets professionally cleaned (or replace them), make all the windows shine. Don’t forget vents, fans and behind appliances.

Clean, shine, replace, unclutter. It’s a great plan!

One of the most challenging things about being a Realtor is delivering bad news.  The worst news I had to deliver was telling my seller one day before closing that the domino effect worked against us.  We had a solid buyer who had a solid buyer for her house. Except her buyer wasn’t so solid and was denied the home loan the day before closing.  So my seller could not sell because the buyer could not buy because her buyer was out, too.

My seller spent 30 minutes yelling at me. It was terrible and one of my worst ever real estate memories. I had done MY job, but I had no way to know whether the buyer’s buyer was good.

Don’t shoot the messenger when they deliver bad news. When You hear that it hurts us as much as it hurts you, that’s true.  Alan May of Evanston, Illinois shares his own experience about bearing bad news,

I contacted the agent, told her that the inspection had been horrific, and we were canceling the contract.  She asked what the issues were… I told her she didn’t really want to know.  To her credit, she said she DID want to know… and I told her.

She took the information I gave her, and went back to her client with many of the issues that we’d found… and told him that these things needed to be fixed.  He summarily fired her.

The seller should have been grateful to have an agent who was honest, even when delivering bad news. I don’t get people sometimes.

Managing short sales – whether as a realtor, a closing company, or an attorney – can be a nightmare. You wait for months to get a reply from the bank or mortgage lender.  You have to fill out reams of extra paperwork, oftentimes the same paperwork you’ve already completed for regular sales contract.  You jump through hoops (on fire!) and can still get the door slammed in your face.

Unpleasant, at best.  Heart breaking and infuriating, at worst.

This is why more and more real estate professionals are saying, “No more!”  I was reading an attorneys post earlier (in a protected section of a popular real estate blog so I can’t link it) who said in no uncertain terms, “We are done.”  He pointed out that his staff spends hours on transactions that frequently fail.  Not because of the work his staff provides, but because the bank is unwilling to sell short the mortgage payoff.

Further he says he and his staff are threatened and bullied regularly.  This attorney finally said enough is enough.

How many more will walk away from the banks this year?

Just as first impressions are important in job interviews, first dates, and meeting the soon-to-be in-laws, a would-be buyer walking into a home also has their first impression radar turned on high.  If you walk in and smell wet dog or dirty kitty litter, you are less likely to want to buy it if there’s another nearby that’s squeaky clean and smells fresh.

Roman Lopez, a Keller Williams agent from Austin, Texas, says that bad first impression – if it gets an offer – could cost the seller $10,000 to $15,000,

I wouldn’t buy that home, unless…unless they dropped the asking price by say, $10,000 to $15,000.  This is the cost of a negative impression that only takes a decisecond to form and possibly months on the market to overcome.

The great thing is that this can be avoided, possibly positioning the home for a bidding war netting the seller an offer above the list price.  All the home needs is a little tender love and care.

I fully agree with Roman on this one. Why pay full price for something that’s going to cause lots of work when you can get something clean and well maintained for the same price.

Photo by puuikibeach.

A cozy (small) home with WB FP.  White bannister fenced pool? Of course it’s a wood burning fireplace, but real estate agents often get too comfortable in their use of acronyms that they forget maybe not everyone knows the “lingo.”  Alisha Alway Braatz writes about how complacent agents become when describing homes in this Inman News article,

And then there are your old standards: “turnkey,” “good bones,” “great potential” — gag me.

Please, if you use these phrases in your listings, you deserve a good lashing. But instead of retiring them, we add to the list of gag-me words until we have a whole paragraph of meaninglessness: “HOLY COW! Look no further!!! This Tuscan Old World home features cathedral-vaulted ceilings, a designer color-palette, gourmet kitchen and a park-like yard. Turnkey and ready for move-in today!”

How many real estate listings in your area read exactly like this?

It’s better we should just start using real words with real meanings.

Of course, the challenge is when an agent writes a description of a home for the multiple listing service (MLS), they are limited by the number of characters allowed.  When you have a gorgeous mansion-like house with all kinds of upgrades, how do describe it in 300 characters?  Creatively of course!  Agents have to describe the best features first, then use photo captions to get the rest of the upgrades. Then take advantage of video or slide shows and put in an external link to a virtual tour.  It can be done.  Again – creatively.

A friend of mine once listed a house that had at least three ghosts confirmed to be in residence.  The owner had gone to a cemetery and invited any spirits who wanted to come home with him and from that night forward, the ghosts were there.

Two children, one adult.  The kids would laugh and move the rocking chairs upstairs.  The adult was downstairs, with the presence usually just a chill or a shadow.

To market the house when it went up for sale, the agent put together a wonderful brochure that was sure to appeal to ghost-hunters everywhere.  Instead of being shy about the ghosts, they made it into a vital part of the marketing plan – and had TONS of nibbles!

Another agent faced selling a house with the street number 666.  A lot of people have an aversion to that number – to the point that they would run before even looking at the house.  The ingenious Alaskan agent simply contacted the city and asked them to change the numbers.  Being very understanding of the situation, the city happily complied.

The lesson here is when there is a stigma on a house, good agents will do their best to solve the problem.  If it is a tough one to solve, then good luck to everyone involved!

Photo by Caleb Roenigk.

I always have a very difficult time saying “No” to potential business opportunities. It may be the eternal optimist in me thinking, “Well maybe it will work!”  Typically, however, this is only if a price is $2000 to $5000 off the price at which a home should be listed.  Franklin, Tennessee real estate agent Tammie White writes a great explanation about when an agent should turn down a listing,

Since I had just been in the other homes the day before, I knew her home had no additional features to justify her price. And because the floor plan was a less desirable plan, the best thing to do was price it less than her current competition.

After showing her all the recent comparable homes and even showing her photos of these homes with my iPad, it was clear she was not going to price the home right. I apologized for taking up her time and said there really wasn’t anything further to discuss.

Tammie did not want to spend her time and money to market a home that was priced unrealistically.  This is a sound business decision on her part and I applaud her for the strength to say no!

Oh how we all love getting offers on our listings!  After sometimes months of marketing, open houses, mailings, and advertising, getting a phone call from the buyer’s agent saying, “I have an offer I’d like to send over.” brings joy!

But then you look at the offer and you heart sinks.  You realize that the likelihood of it going to closing is not great.  What are the warning signs that the purchase offer could be headed for trouble?  Ohio agents Liz and Bill Spear tell us,

The buyer’s agent keeps saying “You know it’s a buyer’s market” when sending over an offer WELL below current market value AND asking for everything that’s not nailed down.  Especially true when we’ve established that your neighborhood is heading up quickly.  If the agent doesn’t recognize the market, chances are neither will the buyers.  They’ll all be swearing you’re grossly overpriced….and then see a few weeks later you got your price.

When an agent feels it is necessary to point out that it’s a buyers market, you know the offer is going to be embarrassingly low.  And there are other warning signs you may not make it to closing.  Read the full article to see more!

Always always get a referral.  Whether you’re looking for someone to do a roof repair, whether you want someone to mow your lawn, or whether you are looking for a real estate agent, always always get a referral.  There is a reason people recommend others – because they have had a GOOD experience with the individual or the company.

Barton Bishop talks about the power of a referral,

He ended up getting his way for his place and she got her way for her’s. He did as planned. He paid for the boxes, packed everything, called the movers, they transported it and dropped it off. He spent $100 on boxes and another $200 for the movers. She called the recommended moving company, they supplied their own boxes, packed everything, moved it, dropped off the boxes, and helped unpack. Her total cost around $200. Not to mention, she wasn’t left with the guilty conscience of throwing away just bought once used boxes.

Not only should you ask your friends, family, or colleagues for referrals, but also check out the agent’s web site to see if they have testimonials.  If you can, call the testimonials for references.

Again, if they had a good experience then there’s a reason WHY.  Good service.