The interesting segment covered in today’s video — the things that your realtor doesn’t want to tell you!  So Misty Weaver from the Dream Weaver Real Estate Team is here to discuss those things that may be awkward or uncomfortable, but sellers definitely need to know in advance of getting your home ready for sale.

This video is designed to give you the “heads-up” without all of the discomfort or embarrassment of that dreaded face-to-face discussion about these topics.  A prepared seller is a better seller and now you have a head-start!  Here’s today’s short video with a transcript just below if reading the content is something that you enjoy!

Video Transcript:

Hey, guys! Misty here with the Dream Weaver Team powered by Samson Properties, and we are still discussing seller education, so today I’m going to tell you some of the things that your realtor probably doesn’t want to tell you. And I’ve certainly been in this situation and some of these things are just awkward and uncomfortable, but if you want to sell your home, you’re probably going to hear these things from buyers coming through. And so if we can kind of take care of it in the beginning, you have a better chance of selling your home.

So number one — your house might smell. If you smoke, if you have pets of any kind, if you just haven’t really kept up on cleaning, if you have a basement, if you’ve had any water leaks recently, your house may smell.

So have a neighbor come in, a family member, your agent, hopefully, will politely tell you that you may have some odor issues. Some things can be handled and removed or politely masked over with maybe some air freshener.

Some things are much more difficult, such as cat pee, smoke if you have smoked in the house. These things can be in the walls now, in the floor, and they can be very, very hard to get rid of. If you have those things and you cannot get rid of them, it’s probably going to affect the price you can get for your home. So even if your home looks gorgeous, you’ve done all of the updates and you have a house down the street that maybe doesn’t have that stuff, you may still end up having to sell for less because of those odor issues because the buyer knows that they are going to come in and potentially have to rip up all of the carpeting, replace wood floors, paint with KILZ, potentially even take walls out if it is really in everything.  So that is number one — pets, odor, smoking, everything like that.

The second thing is wallpaper. A lot of people still do not like wallpaper. If you have an older historic home, it might be okay. If you have something and it’s in great condition and it’s, it makes the house kind of. But if you have a 1970s home or ’60s or ’80s and you still have wallpaper from there and it’s really not in good shape and it’s bright yellow flowers or, you know, there’s some crazy wallpapers out there.  Even if it’s in good shape, some people just will still not like wallpaper. And wallpaper is a huge pain-in-the-butt to get rid of. They don’t want to do it. So if you’re not willing to remove the wallpaper, you’re probably going to end up with a lower price or you just need to take the time, spend the expense, and get it out of there. Do a fresh coat of paint.

Other outdated styles — bathrooms, kitchens, carpeting, different things that are still there 30 years ago. I’ve been in places that still have the original stove from the 1980s. Unless it is a vintage iron stove in a log cabin or something like that, it’s probably going to affect your sales price.  So if you have those and you’re comparing your home to a new build and it has all the granite and the stainless and all those things that people want nowadays, you’re not going to get the same price.

And if you are looking at what Zillow says your home is worth and all of that and you are in a community where everyone has updated all of that stuff and they’re compairing and I come in and say your home is worth $200,000 and Zillow says it’s worth $300,000 — you have to realize that they are comparing your home sight-unseen. They have not come in. They do not know that you have the 1980s stove and the 1970s shag carpet and wallpaper and you have pets and you’ve smoked in the home — all of those things.

And I’m not trying to tell anyone that those things are wrong and that you cannot enjoy your home. I’m just telling you that they may affect your sales price and it is something that we need to discuss; how things are going to be handled so that we can find a buyer for your home.

The last thing is cleanliness. And that doesn’t necessarily mean dirt. It may just mean that you have a lot of “stuff”. My husband is one of these people and my garage is full of stuff that he collects. It’s much more empty now, so I don’t want to call him out in this, but if you are a collector or you just love clothes and you’re always buying clothes and your closets are overflowing and you have stuff everywhere, you need to pare back. Start packing up and get all of those things done.

It is very difficult for an agent to tell people these things, and we are really not trying to be rude. We just know what buyers are going to be looking for and these things distract them and make them de-value your home. So in order to get the most for your home we need to have the discussions to address these issues.

So if I come to your house and we have to discuss these things, I apologize in advance, but we really want to get the most money possible for you, and that is the only reason that we’re going to discuss these things.

If you have any questions, please reach out, let me know. I would be happy to help. I hope you have a great day!  

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