Certainly this period of time will be remembered as one of the more challenging times to sell a house and yet, we are still able to sell homes today and often times within about 30 days.  How’s it done?  Is it enough just to put a low price on your home?  What do you really need to do in terms of improvements and staging.

Home sellers hire real estate agents to sell their homes, but in reality the listing agent is and market consultant helping homeowners understand the real market value of their home as well as advising them on critical home preparation as well as positioning in the market to achieve the best results in the shortest period of time with the fewest number of hassles.  I consider the work I do for my sellers as a partnership rather than me just somehow selling their home.  It really does take some collaboration between the homeowners and the listing agent.

Last month we just closed on the home at 1475 Evergreen Lane, Plymouth, MN.  The home sold for $264,000 with $8,000 in seller paid closing costs.  We listed the home for $264,900 so it essentially sold for 100% of the asking price.  It took 39 days before it went pending in the MLS (note: pending status means the home is under contract and they buyer has completed his/her home inspection and has satisfied the inspection contingency.  At that point the home can go pending and typically it would just have a financing contingency remaining.  Normally homes go under contract 5-7 days prior to when they are officially listed as “pending”).

My clients, Bob and Teri, did a terrific job on preparing their home for sale and then listening with an open mind about home valuation and positioning in the market.  They knew their value was down but it was still a little difficult to take given that they had had an appraisal 4-5 years ago that put a value on the home in the $335-$340k range.

Bob and Teri met with my wife and partner, Janet Murphy, to discuss home preparation and staging to help make the home look most appealing.  Janet has a real gift for interior design, colors and staging.  Each of our clients has access to Janet for a consultation and ongoing follow up phone calls, e-mails and face to face meetings.  Her advise makes a huge difference in the selling of a home and her value-added consultation is free for my selling clients.

Bob and Teri took Janet’s advice and went to work.  They worked hard for the next 2-3 weeks before we listed their home on the market.  Most of the work entailed removing furniture and various items to make their home look and feel bigger.  Some stripping of wallpaper and painting was also required.  It was mostly labor intensive.  Neither Janet nor I felt Bob and Teri needed to spend much money on improvements.  Nothing screamed that they necessarily needed new countertops, ceramic tile or bathroom remodels.  (That’s not to say for other clients that we wouldn’t recommend that    Each seller’s circumstances are different and their marketplace will be different so we take in to account those factors as well).  Janet and Teri met again in person as well as talked on the phone for additional follow up.  After Bob, Teri and Janet were done, their home truly was transformed and showed spectacularly well and it paid off!

Market times for homes in Plymouth priced under $350,000 is still at 120 days in 2011 so by going pending on day 39, we performed way ahead of the market.  The home was prepared and staged beautifully and it was priced right on the money.  The home went on the market September 21, 2011 and we closed on it November 18, 2011.  All told, it only took 58 days from the time we listed to when Bob and Teri were able to close on the sale of their home.  Start to finish in 60 days.

Staging and home preparation are absolutely critical, but if you’re still overpriced, it’s going to make selling your home a very difficult, if not impossible challenge.  I am very diligent about my market analysis for each seller and believe it’s best to price homes as close to the market as possible.  I realize that if you talk with 10 agents, you may get 10 different opinions on what fair value is.  That said, I work very hard to try to be as correct as I can as I believe it’s in the best interest of my sellers.  (I will publish more on home pricing strategy and philosophy at some point in a future post).

Below are some of the professional real estate photos that I had taken for Bob and Teri to help put their home in the best light possible on the web.  As you’ll see, the home shows very, very well!

Related articles

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• Plymouth, MN Upper Bracket Home Sellers Conundrum (johnmurphyreports.com)