We find a common misconception among sellers today – that they need to spend a lot of money and engage in a total remodel in order to create a multiple offer situation in the sale of their HOME. Not so. Our job is to, always, work inside the seller’s ability and desires to create the best presentation of their HOME on the market. In this case, the sellers’ abilities and desires created the need for an” as is” positioning of the HOME on the market. But even inside this framework there were little things to be done that created a high sale’s price and multiple offers; little things that are generically applicable. Three things were carried out:
- Carpeting was removed to show hardwood floors. We find most buyers today struggle with being able to see a future vision of a home when there is a lot of ‘stuff’ physically present. Showing the actual presence of hardwood floors rather than listing it as present, makes a difference.
- The house was generally emptied of its contents, however, a few pieces were strategically left to create an ambience. Lighting and aesthetics are crucial, and in this case leaving a chair and lamps in the living room created soft, warm lighting and set off the hardwood floors.
- An overall professional cleaning. This can run anywhere from $300-$500 depending on the depth of cleaning. If every surface, meaning inside cabinets and closets, fronts of cabinets and closets, tops of doorways, light fixtures, windows (inside and out), is cleaned and polished, you are looking at the $500 mark. We can’t stress the importance of a thoroughly cleaned house; buyer’s run their hands over surfaces, peek inside cabinets, and glean a general sense of cleanliness of the house which is a critical factor of importance in buyers today. As you can see in the picture, the hardwood floors were polished clean.
The end result for this HOME was 4 offers in 5 days and an accepted offer over asking price. A natural question arises as to what would have happened if these 3 simple things had not been done? We believe, from past experience, that the home would have sold for $50,000-$75,000 less, and might not have procured multiple offers.