With such limited inventory, a seller might think, “Why bother prepping my house for market, when Buyers are competing for listings?” I get where that is coming from but here are a few things to consider before taking that short cut.
1) Buyers are competing for “the good ones”, the ones that make Buyers feel at ease and in love. A property that comes with an obvious “to do” list does not garner those same emotions.
2) Emotions are what sell properties. By the time a Buyer walks in the door, they know several things already work for them (i.e. Location, BR/BA, etc.), or they wouldn’t be in the house to begin with. What Buyers are looking for is a house that they can imagine themselves living in. This is much harder to do when all you see is projects or clutter.
3) The “ugly ducklings” are not the houses selling the first weekend. The “beautiful swans” are. In this market, a house that is on the market for more than that first weekend already starts to look stale and has Buyers wondering: “What’s wrong with it?”
4) With expert guidance, improvements can literally double (if not more!) your return on pre- market prep investments. Painting, trim touch ups, updated light fixtures, staging, all of the items that you are dreading doing, a Buyer will dread even more. Once it’s done, the stack of offers will have made all of that effort worthwhile.
5) Every Buyer wants a house that has been well maintained. It looks better, feels better and can be an indication of how a house will inspect. Start things off in the right direction by catching up on things that have maybe fallen by the wayside in the years that you’ve been in your home (i.e. HVAC service, gutter cleaning, roof moss treatment etc.). It will result in higher Buyer interest and a more committed Buyer.