Our House, In The Middle Of Our Street
One of my pet projects this summer has been working on getting my fiance's house in order. Admittedly, I'm not the best candidate for the job. I've only done light cleaning in my life and I'm not exactly the most qualified person to be doing hard, manual labor. I didn't see what was so bad about cleaning via "It's A Hard Knock Life", but then I realized that's because there was a whole gaggle of girls and they cleaned (and sung) in harmony. Unfortunately real life just doesn't work that way.
Just because I don't have a lot of experience in this sort of thing doesn't mean I don't give it the old college try. Plus we have no choice. We have to spruce up the home because his house is being put on the market. Here's the plan: His house goes on the market and sells and then we turn around and buy something new, closer to me with both of our incomes. In theory the plan works, but there's this little thing tune called "It's Not A Seller's Market" that keeps playing over and over in my head. It's annoying so it's probably Emo.
Now here's where all of you real estate gurus come in. When he decided to put the house on the market he originally went to the agent who helped him find the house. As it turns out, that guy is no longer in real estate per se, so he somehow hooked him up with the guy he has now. Since I don't live there full time, I wasn't there for this meeting. Of course now I'm learning the hard way that all real estate agents are not created equal.
One thing this agent did was prepare a report that included a range that his house fell in based on the house itself, the location and similar properties that sold in the area. This is something most real estate agents do. Now here's what most real estate agents don't do. He started off the house at the lowest end of the range. I understand the house isn't perfect, but if they had gone a few thousand dollars higher, than they could always come down to that lowest amount. Starting off at the lowest, however, almost guarantees that you are going to have to go even lower. House selling isn't like playing limbo people. We don't want to know how low you can go.
So not feeling "at home on with the range" was the first red flag but again, the deal was done. Moving on. When he signed up, he went for the 6% which included an MLS listing, virtual tour and open house. Soon after he signed, we worked hard on trying to finish last minute projects associated with the house. It still wouldn't be perfect, but every little bit helps. Finally, the agent comes to take pictures to put on the website. It was then that he dropped the bomb that the first showing would be that night.
While the house looked a lot better than it did before, I didn't feel it was ready to be shown yet. Of course we wanted it to be shown though, so I was torn. After he left, I went on a cleaning frenzy, trying to add a woman's touch and have it look as good as possible. There are little things here or there that I have heard make a difference, too. I wanted to buy Plug In's, but he thought they were too expensive and opted for candles instead. The problem with candles is that you have to remember to light them before people come over and then remember to blow them out before they actually do. I know this is far too much remembering for him but then I remembered it's not my house, it's his.
There are other little tips I picked up along the way. Everything should be as well lit as possible, there should be next to no clutter and a good curb appeal. We'd score low on the last two probably but if I could get a nice apple pie baking under a really bright light, maybe they'd disregard the rest.
A few days later we had another person come check out the house. (Let me back track a bit here, every time someone has come to check out the home it has been because of the MLS listing. Our actual agent has yet to bring anyone physically to our home. He also took over a week to add the pictures he took to the website, along with putting the sign on the lawn and the lock box on the door. Nice, huh?) Now back to my story. I guess this lady liked the house because she came back again with a friend or a relative or someone that she wanted to show the house to, no matter who they were.
I know what you're thinking cause I thought it too. This is only the second person to see a house that's only been on the market for a week and we already have an interested buyer in a competitive market? Great! Only when they came back the second time our agent committed a big NO NO in my book. He did not tell us they were coming. The other agent went through all the proper channels and had made the appointment hours before. No one, however, called to confirm with us.
Now call me crazy, but when you are selling your home, everyone knows it behooves you to keep it as neat as possible all the time. But a heads up when someone is coming over, even if you are not selling your home, gives you the opportunity to straighten things up here or there. Even if the house itself is in perfect order, maybe you aren't. You could be exercising. Pooping. Cooking cabbage. Whatever. Even a twenty minute head start can make all the difference in the world.
So when they showed up, initially I panicked. As it turns out, I wasn't pooping, cooking cabbage or exercising, but I was still mentally scanning my brain for things that could have been cleaned, put away, spayed or neutered. But in the moment, I was in a dilemma. Turning them away could jeopardize a potential deal and make us look suspicious in the moment. Letting them in "as is" however could do the same thing. Ultimately I decided to not look weird, explain that I didn't know they were coming, and let them in. We're all adults here. Let's just call it like it is.
My fiance was out of the house when they showed up so when he returned, he was floored to find out we had visitors. Immediately he got on the phone to the agent and went off about how we needed some sort of notice and how, essentially, he wasn't fulfilling his end of the bargain right now. To give the prospective buyers some privacy, we took a walk around the neighborhood. My fiance's cell phone rings and it was the real estate agent. The conversation that followed isn't verbatim, but allegedly it went something like this.
Apparently the woman decided she wanted to make an offer. My fiance was still fuming about being inconvenienced but in the moment, I wasn't focused on that if an offer was on its way. This is when I began to ask 20 questions. Did she quote an offering price? Did she quote something she didn't like about the property? Something, anything! I got nowhere with this line of questioning.
Now here's where it gets sketchy. The offer itself never came. Even odder, it was never discussed again, ever. This is where I get frustrated with everyone involved, my fiance, the real estate agent and well, I guess that's about it. I think the real estate agent should have told us what happened, but I also think my fiance could have asked what happened. It shows both parties are interested. But now it seems to be a standoff of sorts. I still wonder if the agent did that to say face, considering the call came moments after the "you're not doing your job" rant my fiance gave to him. My fiance, on the other hand, seems to have decided that the silent treatment works best and hasn't (as far as I know) reached out to him in any way since that day. If you were 10 and on the playground at school this approach might work, but when YOU need HIM to sell the house, taking your ball and going home really isn't an option.
I know it's early on, but I think that he needs to be much more pro active with the agency itself, complaining about what has been done (and what hasn't been done, as the case may be) instead of resting on his laurels about it. Maybe the agency itself can light a fire under this agent's ass or better yet, give us another agent within the company. He signed with them for six months. I don't even know if there is a way out of it. Right now it doesn't seem like a big deal, but a year from now, when I'm ACTUALLY MARRIED AND DON'T HAVE A PLACE TO LIVE it might be. I'm just saying.
Just because I don't have a lot of experience in this sort of thing doesn't mean I don't give it the old college try. Plus we have no choice. We have to spruce up the home because his house is being put on the market. Here's the plan: His house goes on the market and sells and then we turn around and buy something new, closer to me with both of our incomes. In theory the plan works, but there's this little thing tune called "It's Not A Seller's Market" that keeps playing over and over in my head. It's annoying so it's probably Emo.
Now here's where all of you real estate gurus come in. When he decided to put the house on the market he originally went to the agent who helped him find the house. As it turns out, that guy is no longer in real estate per se, so he somehow hooked him up with the guy he has now. Since I don't live there full time, I wasn't there for this meeting. Of course now I'm learning the hard way that all real estate agents are not created equal.
One thing this agent did was prepare a report that included a range that his house fell in based on the house itself, the location and similar properties that sold in the area. This is something most real estate agents do. Now here's what most real estate agents don't do. He started off the house at the lowest end of the range. I understand the house isn't perfect, but if they had gone a few thousand dollars higher, than they could always come down to that lowest amount. Starting off at the lowest, however, almost guarantees that you are going to have to go even lower. House selling isn't like playing limbo people. We don't want to know how low you can go.
So not feeling "at home
While the house looked a lot better than it did before, I didn't feel it was ready to be shown yet. Of course we wanted it to be shown though, so I was torn. After he left, I went on a cleaning frenzy, trying to add a woman's touch and have it look as good as possible. There are little things here or there that I have heard make a difference, too. I wanted to buy Plug In's, but he thought they were too expensive and opted for candles instead. The problem with candles is that you have to remember to light them before people come over and then remember to blow them out before they actually do. I know this is far too much remembering for him but then I remembered it's not my house, it's his.
There are other little tips I picked up along the way. Everything should be as well lit as possible, there should be next to no clutter and a good curb appeal. We'd score low on the last two probably but if I could get a nice apple pie baking under a really bright light, maybe they'd disregard the rest.
A few days later we had another person come check out the house. (Let me back track a bit here, every time someone has come to check out the home it has been because of the MLS listing. Our actual agent has yet to bring anyone physically to our home. He also took over a week to add the pictures he took to the website, along with putting the sign on the lawn and the lock box on the door. Nice, huh?) Now back to my story. I guess this lady liked the house because she came back again with a friend or a relative or someone that she wanted to show the house to, no matter who they were.
I know what you're thinking cause I thought it too. This is only the second person to see a house that's only been on the market for a week and we already have an interested buyer in a competitive market? Great! Only when they came back the second time our agent committed a big NO NO in my book. He did not tell us they were coming. The other agent went through all the proper channels and had made the appointment hours before. No one, however, called to confirm with us.
Now call me crazy, but when you are selling your home, everyone knows it behooves you to keep it as neat as possible all the time. But a heads up when someone is coming over, even if you are not selling your home, gives you the opportunity to straighten things up here or there. Even if the house itself is in perfect order, maybe you aren't. You could be exercising. Pooping. Cooking cabbage. Whatever. Even a twenty minute head start can make all the difference in the world.
So when they showed up, initially I panicked. As it turns out, I wasn't pooping, cooking cabbage or exercising, but I was still mentally scanning my brain for things that could have been cleaned, put away, spayed or neutered. But in the moment, I was in a dilemma. Turning them away could jeopardize a potential deal and make us look suspicious in the moment. Letting them in "as is" however could do the same thing. Ultimately I decided to not look weird, explain that I didn't know they were coming, and let them in. We're all adults here. Let's just call it like it is.
My fiance was out of the house when they showed up so when he returned, he was floored to find out we had visitors. Immediately he got on the phone to the agent and went off about how we needed some sort of notice and how, essentially, he wasn't fulfilling his end of the bargain right now. To give the prospective buyers some privacy, we took a walk around the neighborhood. My fiance's cell phone rings and it was the real estate agent. The conversation that followed isn't verbatim, but allegedly it went something like this.
Apparently the woman decided she wanted to make an offer. My fiance was still fuming about being inconvenienced but in the moment, I wasn't focused on that if an offer was on its way. This is when I began to ask 20 questions. Did she quote an offering price? Did she quote something she didn't like about the property? Something, anything! I got nowhere with this line of questioning.
Now here's where it gets sketchy. The offer itself never came. Even odder, it was never discussed again, ever. This is where I get frustrated with everyone involved, my fiance, the real estate agent and well, I guess that's about it. I think the real estate agent should have told us what happened, but I also think my fiance could have asked what happened. It shows both parties are interested. But now it seems to be a standoff of sorts. I still wonder if the agent did that to say face, considering the call came moments after the "you're not doing your job" rant my fiance gave to him. My fiance, on the other hand, seems to have decided that the silent treatment works best and hasn't (as far as I know) reached out to him in any way since that day. If you were 10 and on the playground at school this approach might work, but when YOU need HIM to sell the house, taking your ball and going home really isn't an option.
I know it's early on, but I think that he needs to be much more pro active with the agency itself, complaining about what has been done (and what hasn't been done, as the case may be) instead of resting on his laurels about it. Maybe the agency itself can light a fire under this agent's ass or better yet, give us another agent within the company. He signed with them for six months. I don't even know if there is a way out of it. Right now it doesn't seem like a big deal, but a year from now, when I'm ACTUALLY MARRIED AND DON'T HAVE A PLACE TO LIVE it might be. I'm just saying.
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