Pricing tip
I'm aware of a certain house whose owners paid too much for, back in the day, then compounded their error by over-improving what they'd bought. It's a lovely house, but it's priced way above what they can ever hope to get for it. When their agent suggested a price reduction, they proudly showed off a new kitchen they'd added and asked, "how can you ask us to drop our price now that we've redone the kitchen?" Well, if they'd asked their agent, she would have advised against throwing more money into the house. At a certain point of over-pricing, adding features will not address the real issue, which is price. These folks have just built a beautiful kitchen for someone else to enjoy but it will be at the sellers' expense. My advice? Get advice, before you spend money on a house you're trying to sell.
1 year ago
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4 comments:
I know someone whose house have been on the market for 2 years now and the broker told her that they needed to upgrade the house and make it 'fresh', I thought it was bad advice then. THey went ahead and invested over $60,000 and the house is still on the market at the same price. Not all agents give good advice, you,Gideon and some others around town are an exception, but there are agents out there who just give bad advice.
I've got nothing against spending some bucks to freshen up a house, like painting a few rooms, tossing Granny and her clutter out of the attack and, in one case, hiring someone to clear 4 tons of dog poop off the yard (there are somethings even real estate agents won't do - you have to call a lawyer for those tasks). But $60K on that kind of stuff would be better applied, in my opinion, to the price. Buyers will want to make your house their own, so major work you do will most likely not be in their taste or, even if it is, will interfere with the desire to personalize the house. So cut the price and do the work on the next house you buy.
uh, "attic", not "attack". There should be a way to spell check and edit these comments.
Very interesting. So, are new kitchens and/or baths EVER a good idea if you're trying to sell?
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