Top 5 Reasons Some Waterloo Homesellers May Get Coal For Christmas
When you were a kid you no doubt heard that Santa only brings the good boys and girls what they want, the naughty kids get coal. Many Waterloo Region home sellers are hoping that Santa will bring them a buyer for Christmas, and for some, that will be the case. There are, unfortunately, a number of others who are likely to be getting coal instead, and these are the top five reasons why.
They may get coal because they hired Aunt Betty to list their home who works in Real Estate “on the side”
In order to get your home sold quickly and for the right price you really do need a Waterloo Region Realtor who makes the business their full time occupation. It’s very hard to effectively work in real estate part time, because it is simply not a part time job. Sellers need agents who can be available to show at the drop of a hat, who are available to help them get their home decluttered and staged, who have the time to help them go through offers when they come in and who can truly serve as a supportive partner throughout the whole home selling process.
They may get coal because they hired some out of town agent they saw on TV
There is simply no substitute for first hand local knowledge. Sure an agent from out of the area can read up on other territories, can run the comps, go through the current MLS listings and do some ‘reading up’ on the area in general but that is just not enough. To truly understand a real estate market the Realtor needs to live there, work there and play there themselves.
These people don’t just present the facts and figures, they offer that first hand experience. They know where the best restaurants are because they’ve eaten in them. They know what pricing the market will bear because they work within it every day. They know what schools are good because they either have kids who have attended them or know lots of people who have. They know how to ‘sell’ the area to prospective buyers because it’s their home and they love it. These qualities are all invaluable to both homesellers and homebuyers.
They may get coal because they didn’t bother to clean, didn’t feel like removing the clutter.
It should really be a no-brainer that cleaning your home from top to bottom before putting it on the market for sale is a must. The problem is that there is ‘nearly clean’ and ‘really clean’ and far too many homeowners settle for the former. The floors look great but there are stains on the wainscotting. The toilets are clean but there are still faint soap rings around the bath. When a Realtor says homes need to be clean – really clean, even if you have to call in professional help – they are not being mean or picky, but simply know that home buyers develop superhuman sight when shopping for homes and they notice EVERYTHING (believe us on this one, it’s true)
They may get coal because they did not let buyers in when they wanted to see the home.
Home buyers are busy people, just like home sellers. Often the only chance they get to go out looking for the home of their dreams is at the weekend or in the evening. And we know, that can be inconvenient, and no, a midnight or dawn showing is not something we’d ever suggest is reasonable. But you do need to maintain a certain amount of flexibility otherwise your home is simply never going to get shown.
They may get coal because they chose the agent that gave them the highest value, one way over what any neighbors houses have sold for.
Every real estate agent wants to get the best possible price for their clients’ homes. But a good Waterloo Region real estate agent is also a realistic one. They understand that clients are very emotionally attached to their homes and that, in almost every case, they still love them very much, it’s just time to move on.
But that love can blind home sellers to the real value of their property and lead them to believe it’s worth more than it really is. A bad real estate agent will let them hold on to that belief, just to get that representation contract signed and then watch as the home fails to sell. A GOOD agent will give home sellers a realistic appraisal right from the start, and explain just why they suggest the realistic, based on cold hard facts listing price suggestion that they do.