Thursday, June 28, 2007 - Hot Town, Summer in the City

The heat of summer is here. July is just around the corner and so is the humidity -- muggy, no air moving, miserable-DC-summer.

I worked with a buyer today who was taking his lunch break to look at one particular house. The house is vacant, so it was easy for us to meet up and take our time looking.

Unfortunately, the power was turned off.  I imagine that it's a cost-saving factor for the seller, but wow is it a bad idea! This is one of the worst ways to save a few pennies! Within minutes, the buyer said, "Can we go outside? It's just too hot in here."

In heat and humidity, in a sealed house, mold can grow. Every bad smell that was ever in the house seems to come back. Turned-off and closed-up refrigerators stink to high heaven when opened. Most first-time buyers only open an unplugged refrigerator once -- it's a lesson that's hard to forget as you run from the kitchen to get away from the odor.

Not only that, but buyers wonder what's wrong. Is the A/C broken? Do the appliances even work? What else might be wrong with this house? Looking back over my real estate career, I don't remember a buyer ever making a full priced offer on a house where the appliances were turned off or the power was off completely.

Now imagine the following: It's one of those 90-degree-feels -like-100-degree days. You, the buyer, have been in and out of several houses, in and out of the car, up and down stairs, and you're starting to get overheated and tired. You walk into a vacant house (you're only looking at vacant houses because you need to move right away) and a pleasant blast of cool air hits you. The house smells fresh and dry. You think, maybe I'll hang out here and really take a good second look, because I really don't want to go back outside! So you start to ponder how well this house will fit your needs. Maybe it isn't perfect, but hey, it's got possibilites that you didn't see when you first walked in.

The alternative is the same as the scenario presented above, but now the power is off. You walk in and immediately start sweating. Determined to see the house, you move at top speed, barely taking in the features. Oof, the air is so still, it makes you light-headed. And yuck, the basement smells...like a cellar. Damp and mildewy. Let's get out of here before you pass out. No wonder it's been on the market for so long.

You may approach buying or selling a home as a practical, business decision. But it's also the emotional "gotcha" that makes the difference. The smart seller looks for ways to say "gotcha!"

(C) Susan Pruden.