Sisterly Advice

Written on March 14, 2017.

“Being the Selling REALTOR® on your sister’s house”…..well, there’s two schools of thought you could possibly report on that. Thankfully, I can only comment on the fact that it was a positive experience. I hope she can say the same.

I’ll let you in on the end of the listing story …..”and it sold in less than a week”! Now back to the beginning because it took a bit (or a lot) of work in order for that to happen.

I’m always happy to share my client’s stories (especially my sisters, with permission of course) because I believe that we learn from others mistakes as well as our successes. Hopefully, this addition will be helpful to you as you are either thinking of selling or in the middle of your preparation.

One of the key elements of selling is listening to the advice of your agent. They know the market, where your pit falls may be and what it is going to take to get a sold sign on your lawn. Unfortunately, some REALTOR® agents only do the paperwork, take pictures (sadly, some with the toilet seats up) and put up a for sale sign but neglect to assist in getting your home ready. As a REALTOR®, I go a few steps further with my Sellers in their preparation period because I am also a Stager. It’s important to the success of the listing that we take the time to prepare prior to listing. Whether that is a pre-inspection report, making sure things are up to date, replacing some things that are worn out or putting a fresh coat of paint in some areas that need it……they are all proof to a Buyer that if you show you care about your house, it gives them confidence in the product you are selling.

Going one step further from all that and presenting well is where I go one step beyond the norm of being just a REALTOR®. Staging your home doesn’t need to be expensive. I always like to “shop” through your home first to see if I can re-purpose furniture that is better suited for another room. The idea is to enhance your pictures and offer ”space” (both in the picture and in personally viewing the home) so that a potential Buyer can see what the room has to offer, not a cluttered view of too much furniture and nic-nacs. It is also prudent of a Stager to come up with some solutions for those problem or awkward areas of your house. Sellers are wise to remember that a Buyer sits at home and shops on-line first to determine where they would like to visit. The presentation of your home on the internet is paramount in the Buyers decision of where those visits will take place.

For my sisters listing, thanks to lots of hard work, family crew, and some borrowed items from her “Staging sister” that were brought in to hit the pictures out of the park, we made it to our goal. She did what she could to make it market ready within her budget and competed with the best of what was out there.

There’s nothing like hearing an honest testimony from your sister…..

“So we decide to sell our house in the midst of a stressful time. I’m presented with a list and you’re not quite sure why you have to do some of the things but you decide to trust your REALTOR®….and oh yes, she’s also your sister. That could make this whole process extra interesting.

It was a lot of work to get our house ready for market, but in the end it was well worth it as I never thought the house would sell as fast as it did, and for a price we felt was top dollar. The Staging ideas were hard to agree with at first, but well worth it when we saw the finished product. I actually didn’t recognize my own house. Everything worked out as it should have, as it was an important time in life for us. We were thankful that the process we participated in was able to help remove the stress of selling and assisted us in selling our home quickly. Thank you, as we were able to focus our attention on what truly mattered to us at the time.”