Cindy's Blog

Well, hope you had a great holiday weekend. As you can imagine, the real estate business this weekend is a little slower than it has been. Everyone is barbecuing and on vacation, so there haven't been many showings, for buyers or sellers, at least in my world.

However, with all of the cookouts and parties we've attended in the last few days (I have eaten more burgers in the last few days than I would think I was able! Sort of makes me ill to think about it!), I've had more conversations with people that I know a little, well, or not at all, who are agents, market watchers, sellers, buyers, or wanna be's.

In all of these conversations, the refrain is pretty much the same. So, unfortunately, this post is probably going to be similar to others I've posted before.

There doesn't seem to be any absence of stories in the media about the "horrible, dismal" real estate market. While markets are absolutely, positively, local, it's no secret that the market here in RVA is not really cooking right now... In addition to the typical summer slump we're heading into.

Houses are selling, though. Here is the problem- we are not in the market of 2 years ago. We are not even in the market of 1 year ago. The days of "well, we need to make ___ on our house" are over, in many cases. The average days on market have jumped quite alot, to 90 or so, and buyers are definitely feeling no pressure to jump when they do see something they like. They are shopping more, taking longer, and making lower offers. That's just the fact.

Sellers, though, despite their acknowledgments that they know the market is not what it was, still seem to want to price it like it's a year ago, if not more. I don't know what to say, except- that ship has sailed. It's not like we don't want our sellers to get the most for their homes, but as I've said before, the more realistic we all are with the pricing at the beginning, the closer we are to the reasonable price, the quicker it will sell, and the closer the sales price will come to it.

Most importantly, you have got to bring your A game to this market. What am I talking about, you ask? If you are thinking you'd like to put your home on the market, and you talk to an agent (for example, me!), we should be telling you what, if anything, you need to do to make your home more saleable.

Unfortunately, so many people think that these are just suggestions, or recommendations- that when we tell you that things need to be done, we don't really mean they "need" to be done. Or, you determine that we're being overly critical, and that a few of those things could be done, but you just don't have time, money, interest, or you just plain don't feel like it.

Case in point- I was speaking to someone the other evening whose home has been on the market for quite a while (not with me), and has just done all sorts of things- flooring, windows, decluttering, etc. Unfortunately, even though they've sunk a load of money into the house, they've had only a few showings since then.

The funny thing about the market is that it really is like a parade. If you don't get the main part of the parade when it comes by, it doesn't come by again. There will always be a few stragglers (this is not to say at all that stragglers don't buy homes- they do) but your buyer pool is obviously much more limited after those first few weeks on the market, when you have the pent up buyers who have been looking, plus the ones just getting into the market. After this, you only have those getting into the market, and that (especially right now) is not a tremendous number of people.

So, if you are bored, and I'm rambling, I apologize, but here is the part you can skip to:

Listen to your agent! We really have done this before. If we tell you your house smells like pets, trust us- it does. That is not easy to say to someone, and we would not say it if it wasn't important. (The same is true with many of these things!)

If your carpet is old, clean it, stretch it, or replace it, if at all possible. If it would only cost $1000 to replace, do it- a potential buyer is going to mentally deduct far more than that!

If your kitchen is out of date, freshen it up- sometimes cleaning and decluttering will do, sometimes it will take new hardware, flooring, or appliances...

If your bathroom is out of date, same thing.

CLEAN! Again, this is very hard for us to say! I'm not the best housekeeper, but I can live with my family's clutter- I know other people don't want to. Imagine you are having the best, most important party in the world, and the queen, the president, Sting, whoever, is coming over...and keep it that way!

Pick up the cases of beer, water, juice, or anything else that came from Costco and move them out of the way- if you don't have room for your water, where are potential buyers going to put theirs?

Mow the grass, or have someone else do it. Curb appeal, and the instant "flash and sparkle" that people see and feel as they first arrive, are a huge part of the battle.

I could go on, but I think you get the picture. It will probably, unfortunately, be a while before the market really rebounds. Until then, you have got to price your home right, and make it look that much better than ever home in its price range. Who's not going to want to buy yours??