HGTV, my nemesis

In many ways HGTV has changed the world of real estate, some good, some not so good. They have opened sellers eyes and minds to the idea of "staging" which is fantastic. In this regard they have made my job much easier. After someone has decided to list with me, but before we put it on the market, I tell them now it's time to get your house ready to "sell". We are going to walk through their house room by room and I am going to tell them what needs to be done. I preface this walk with,"Put on your thick skin, because how you live in a house and how we sell your house, are two very different things".  Invariably they pop up from the chair at the kitchen table and say, "I'm ready"! Oh, no, no, no, grab a notebook, a thick notebook, we've got some work to do. We walk through the house, room by room, we don't skip any and I tell them EVERYTHING that needs to be done to get this home in ready to go to market. Remember, your home is a commodity, the value goes up and down with the market so we need it to shine. As we are going through the house, there is always one room, one wall, some telltale sign that little miss homeowner has been watching too much HGTV. Sponge Painting. Now, I am not saying that all sponge painting is bad, in fact I have seen some that is quite good, subtle and lovely.  It's the Purple, Green and Orange sponge painters that take your breath away, and not in the good way. I don't happen to believe in "Real Estate Beige', I prefer a little color on the wall but not all people can see shades and those who can, can spot those who can't a mile away.  If you suspect you are in the later group, get some help! Ask someone who can, to help you pick the shade.  The problem here is, most people don't know they are a can't, and proceed to paint purple, green and orange.  This is what I mean by,"put on your thick skin", I'm about to tell you, "you're a can't".  Here is the good news, if you can somehow not be offended, and take my advice. I'll get your house sold quickly and for more  money. After we walk through your house, I tell you what needs to be done, and you do it...it's not unusual for me to hear, "now we don't want to move"  I first walked through this house with these seller's 6-8 months ago. We went through this house room by room and while there was no sponge painting, there were some changes that needed to take place, including a new bathroom! Asking a homeowner to add a new bathroom takes guts, but it paid off. They listened, added this gorgeous bathroom, and we were able to raise their asking price from $275,000 to $315,000. I don't know how much this bathroom cost, but it was not $35,000.

My advice, find yourself a great agent, preferably me, and then LISTEN to what they have to say.