"Don" wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@news1.newsguy.com:
> .
>> Trying to sell a house in a down market can be difficult, but there
>> are several things you can do to improve its marketability. By
>> investing some money and sweat equity before it goes on the market,
>> you can ensure that your home presents well, stands out from the
>> crowd and doesnt turn off potential buyers so that you can sell
>> quickly$B"J(B at the best price
>
>
> The only redeeming value in that entire post was in the very last 2 > words. Best price.
> The current glut is caused by owners with unrealistic expectations,
> that is, homes priced too high.
Here's a tip.
**Clean the place**
I've done a lot of home-shopping over the years, and I'd say that a good
80% at least of the places look like dumps - dirty walls, dirty carpeting, weird-ass colors and vertigo-indicing wallpaper patterns, crap strewn all over the place, stuff against the walls so you can't see the condition of them, **poor maintenance** or just plian **non- maintenance**, and so on.
WHen we sold the place in Brampton, ON in the 90's, people kept asking whether the appliances weer new, teh answer being, nope, used 'em three years - and poeple were freaking *amazed* because they "looked new". Several asked, How do you keep them looking so new? Wel, uhhh, I celan them every so often... The point being, if you beat the sh*t out of your stuff, don't expect peole to be all falling over tehmselves rushing to pay top dollar for it.
2 rules in the US:
>
> 1) Everything is for sale.
> 2) Everything will sell if priced right.
And even without the glut, as crapped up as most places I've seen over the years have been, mos things are **WAY** over-priced.
> Lee County, FL whiphandlers are going to pose a moratorium on ALL new
> construction on 1 OCT 08 and it will last until 80% of the current
> 13,000 listed buildings are sold.
>
> My solution, which was summarily ignored over 2 years ago by the
> powers that be, was for the realtors to start charging a *listing fee*
> of $500 up front. This would cause the *fishers* to pull their empty
> hooks out of the water and the serious sellers would float to the top.
IMO, that sounds like a great idea. If people want to have their place
*appraised*, they can do that (tho' there is a fee). I often think some people just list 'em to see what they might be able to get for 'em.
Of the 13,000 listed buildings more than half are fishers.
> **Fishers - People with unrealistic selling prices simply trying to
> pawn their junk off on unsuspecting idiots from out of state with the
> net result of overloading the market which results in massive cases of
> buyers fatigue.
That too.
Sellers are dooflollies, but so are agents, mortgage brokers, and pretty much *everyone* involved in the "real estate industry" - it's definitely a case of "Caveat Emptor", you have to really educate yourself and be a
*rational* buyer, not just impulse-buy because something "looks cute". There is *always* one or more components in the house-buying pipeline jus tlaying in wait to find *some* way to screw a buyer over. The moment a buyer forgets that, he or she is screwed. Given that most people seem to impulse-buy, well....