Buying and Selling Homes in Magnolia, TX

Blog by Pam Sitterly

Magnolia, Texas

A real estate agent's perspective on buying and selling single family homes

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Getting your home ready for buyers

Posted at Buying and Selling Homes in Magnolia, TX by Pam Sitterly

Jul. 8, 2008

Tagged with: agent, buyer, for sale, preparation, seller, selling, staging

I suppose selling your home in Magnolia, Texas has its challenges, same as other communities. After all, we’re just like everybody else, only prettier. But wherever you live, when it comes time to put your house up for sale, there are a few things it’s helpful to know.

For one thing, there are more homes for sale than buyers to buy them. I find this interesting, because some experts say this is the best time in 35 years to buy a house. There are plenty of homes to choose from, interest rates are low, terms are positive and there is plenty of money available for home loans. Personally, I blame the media for scaring our poor buyers to death with the doom and gloom “buy a house and end up homeless” headlines, but that’s just me.

Nevertheless, when putting your home on the market, it’s good to understand what you’re up against. As a local Realtor in the Magnolia/Tomball area, I offer to show my clients their competition and take them to see homes currently on the market that are similar to theirs; the homes that buyers will most likely look at when they look at theirs. And we dad-gum better show pretty favorably or we know we have an uphill battle getting the house sold.

Pretty favorably means my clients’ walls are clean and freshly painted, carpet is newish, neutral and stain-free, furniture and personal “stuff” has vanished, closets tidy and roomy, and no one would ever guess he owns a pet or two.

As Barb Schwarz, founder of www.stagedhomes.com teaches, “The way you live in a home and the way you sell a home are two different things.” The good ole boy that says, “This is my home, this is how I live, buyers can take it or leave it” will probably find that the buyer will choose to leave it—if he ever came to see it in the first place.

That’s because buyers, God love ‘em, just can’t visualize their life in a home you customized for yourself. They can’t see themselves waking up in your master bedroom with its Mary Kay pink paint and carpet. If you have clutter everywhere, they believe their home will have clutter everywhere. If your closets are overstuffed, they know for sure your closets will not accommodate their possessions.

And if, per chance, a buyer does have the vision to see that he can buy your house and make it his own, you can rest assured he’s visualizing a bargain here and planning on a lowball offer to make it happen. For every $200.00 of repair the buyer sees, he’s subtracting $2,000.00 from the price he’s going to offer you.

So do yourself a favor, Mr. and Mrs. Seller, and take it to heart when your real estate agent tells you to de-personalize. You want to sell. You want to move. Start packing today. Pack away everything that is non-essential, including a third of your furniture, half of your clothing and all your collectibles. And if your carpet is old and worn, don’t even think about offering a carpet allowance!

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