We’re at a funny time in the market.
The messaging from national news tells us that doom and gloom is lurking around the corner. Economists are predicting a drop in mortgage interest rates and turning a blind eye to the driver of those possible drops (i.e. weakening jobs reports). And home sales in the inner East Bay are variable - some homes sell in a week and do fantastic while other homes linger and sell for lower than anyone expected.
The word that comes to mind is variable. If your neighbor to the north has a great home sale and your neighbor to the south struggles with theirs, what’s to explain the difference?
Time and time again, we know that there is a “secret sauce”, a magical formula, a foolproof way to engineer the outcome you want in a home sale. And because we are not ones to gatekeep, we’ll spill the beans here:
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Market preparation. Yes, it absolutely does matter how the home presents on Day One of marketing. The choices you make regarding the extent to which you prepare your home and in what way can make-or-break your outcome on offer day. Even houses with “good bones” need a fresh coat of paint, landscaping, cosmetic updates, and staging. Don’t think your home is the magical exception to the market norm - do the things. If you do the right things, you can expect a 2-3 x return on that investment. How do you know what the “right” things are? Listen to your agent! We create a custom plan for each listing informed by the likely buyer profile and what they are prioritizing. The goal is to deliver a home that feels thoughtfully designed, move-in ready, and tailored to the buyers’ needs and desires.
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Disclose, disclose, disclose. In our market, the buyer expects three categories of disclosures as they conduct their due diligence and prepare to make an offer. First, it’s our norm that sellers hire local, reputable home and pest inspectors to conduct third party inspections so the buyer has an unbiased and fair assessment of the condition of the home. Secondly, the buyer expects that the seller will be thorough and transparent in their own account of the history of the home. We have a rule-of-thumb…if you (as the seller) ask yourself “should I disclose XYZ?” the answer is YES. If your buyer feels that you’re laying it all out there and being truthful with your disclosures, their confidence will only increase. Even if you’re disclosing a defect, the buyer would prefer to know about it and make the best decision for them. The unknown is much scarier than the known. Last, the buyer needs to conduct their own investigations - drive by the home at night or during rush hour, look up the permit history, visit the home several times to have adequate time to decide if it’s for them…that 8-14 day period of time when a home is on the market is dedicated for those investigations.
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The Price is Right. We have spoken about the importance of the list price recently, and if you’d like to learn more about our approach we have a blog post at your disposal! But if you didn’t catch it the first time, the list price is a critical part of the marketing plan and the importance of choosing the right price can’t be overstated.
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The Soft Touch. When someone is considering buying a home, emotions run high and can cloud logic and judgement. We get it, we’ve been there ourselves and have supported hundreds of lucky buyers in finding their homes. With that in mind, we know that furnishing a quick and thorough response to a buyer question can impact perceptions as much as the condition of a home. Buyers are on edge and will judge a house by things seemingly immaterial - did the listing agent pick up the phone when called? Did they respond quickly and satisfactorily to our question? Is the disclosure packet organized in a logical and easily-digestible manner? Was the experience at the open house positive and boost confidence? While the responsiveness of the listing agent has absolutely nothing to do with the condition of the foundation, the result for the buyer can be the same. It’s within our control to pay attention to the details and design a pathway for the buyer to go from first-sight to competitive offer without a hitch.
Clients and friends often ask us, “why did ABC home sell at this high price but XYZ home sold much lower?” And the answer frequently lies in one of the above four steps. Whether the market is booming or feeling shaky, satisfying the above four elements will lead to the best outcome that the market can bear.
If you or your friend is considering a home sale, we’d be happy to meet them and offer our guidance!
