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. For example, take two little ranch houses across from a well-kept cemetery in a nice suburban city near Cincinnati, in Southwest Ohio. One of them, 25 Cemetery Road (3 beds, 1 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 $124,000+.
Meanwhile, a comparable 3 bdrm/1 bath, 936-sq.-ft., 1956 single- family home located at 19 Cemetery Road, had the same 3 bdrms/ 1 bath, approximately 936 square feet, and was built in 1955. It sold for $111,800. That’s enough of a difference (almost $15,000!) for the owner of 25 Cemetery Road to pay the cost of his real estate agent’s commission and pocket some profit. Frankly, that commission was money well spent, because it was hiring the real estate agent and following the plan that made all the difference. We’ll talk more about that as we move through this book; however, it was the advising, planning, staging, pre-marketing, marketing, negotiation, and professional know-how that sealed the deal.
THE BASIC HOME SALES PROCESS
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