‘you people’ [appraisers, prospects, and buyer’s agents,, investors] think it is. You aren’t considering that the neighborhood was named ‘Most Livable’ in the local paper!” (But five years ago, and the old neighborhood has since changed.) Emotions almost always lead to problems in a sales price negotiation. Further, real estate transactions involve multiple decision points and often substantial investment of the homeowner’s time, energy, and money. As a seller, if you have enough time before the foreclosure auction, you want to find a buyer who is willing to take your home for cash, as-is and can close in less than a week if needed. To do that, you must provide potential buyers a striking home sales presentation that outshines other homes on the market. This requires creating a fantastic first impression, giving buyers an immediate feeling that they’re traveling up the front walkway of “their” new home for the first time, and not visiting someone else’s. Selling a house is about falling in love at first sight, from the curb, in those initial (and fleeting) seconds. As I said before, here’s the big news — everybody doesn’t get the price they could when selling their home. Sometimes that is okay when facing a foreclosure auction sale date. For example, consider two little ranch houses across from a well-kept cemetery near the East End in Durham, North Carolina. One of them, on Chapel Hill St (three bedrooms, one bath, 936 sq. ft., built 1957) was described as: “Neat as a pin and ready to go. Complete remodel kitchen w/SS appliances, breakfast bar, flattop stove, beautiful tile. Complete bath remodel. Hardwood floors, replaced windows. Great fenced yard, covered rear patio.” It was being fought over at $225,000+. Meanwhile, a comparable single-family home located on Kent Street (three bedrooms, one bath, 936 sq. ft., built 1956 facing foreclosure) sold for $211,800. The difference of almost ($15,000!) for the owner of the Kent Street property was the cost of his real estate agent’s commission. That money should have
90
Powered by FlippingBook