How do you know if you have overpriced Boulder real estate?
IT HAS NOT SOLD is the short answer.
There are 45 properties I consider to be overpriced Boulder real estate right now. They have been on the market for 4 weeks or longer. Their MLS sheets state such things as “great value”, “rarely available”, “great price” and “everything you’ve been looking for”.
The evidence clearly suggests otherwise!
In this market,with low inventory and hungry buyers swarming at just about every price point, one has to ask oneself “why hasn’t my property found an enthusiastic buyer with an acceptable offer yet?”
There are 3 key areas to listing a home effectively (in this order):
- Price
- Condition
- Marketing
Price:
It’s not rocket science and of course you can blame your Realtor, but only after you’ve had a “come to Jesus” talk with yourself. Did you get advice about price from your Realtor and did you take said advice? Or did you decide that your Realtor didn’t know the market like you did or didn’t provide you with good sold comparable properties? Is it your opinion that listing it high in this market is OK, because the market is hot and everything sells? (Did your Realtor tell you this is WRONG?) Were you less than serious about selling the property and wanted to float it out there and see if someone (with more money than common sense/good advice/market knowledge) would pay your ridiculous price? Did you Realtor tell you that even if you found that idiot, they would probably still have an appraisal contingency in the contract and you’d have big problems 2-3 weeks into the contract? Are you aware that your property, at 28+ DOM is now stigmatized in the eyes of buyers? After all, “if another buyer hasn’t wanted it in a month, there must be something wrong with it!”
Take a good look at your answers and then ask yourself; “How did I choose my Realtor?” Did you research and interview them? Did YOU do your due diligence and pick someone who best met your needs? Had experience? Knew the market?
Did you ask your Realtor to show you pictures of fliers, old listings in the MLS etc to demonstrate their work, when you interviewed them? Did you ask for references and contact those clients to ask them about their satisfaction with the Realtor, Days to Sale, Sales Price vs List Price?
Condition:
First impressions count. You might think, or have been told, that “as is” is OK in Boulder. Sure…. If you price it to make up for the rotting siding, dated and dysfunctional kitchen, dead tree in back yard, crappy old windows and stained carpet. And are GENEROUS when pricing for this stuff! The cost of getting rid of your cat-pee carpet is not $5/square foot. It’s not being able to move in straight away, hours of stinky labor, dumping fees, contractor management and timing issues, the cost of repairing floor under carpet, getting new pad and new carpet. How much does brain damage cost? How much would you pay not to have this impact your relationship or family routine? Be honest. The cost was too high for you, Seller… That’s why you’d rather someone else take it on! Now tell me how much you should adjust your listing price.
Buyers look at deferred maintenance and shoddy maintenance with disrespect. It reflects personally on a Seller and reduces the trust and credibility that should have come by default with the new buyer-seller relationship. Seller is now at a negotiating disadvantage. It’s never too late to get a handyman out to the house to make some repairs and do some maintenance, in my humble opinion.
Clutter and chaos is a smoke screen. If the buyer cannot see the wonder that is your house, then you cannot expect them to want to pay for it. If you cannot clear out most of your stuff, then pay someone else to help you. At the end of the day, it will pay for itself by bringing a buyer quicker and for more money. And when you are done with that… Clean the place too.
Marketing:
This is all on the Realtor, with the exception of the Seller doing a crappy job of getting the condition taken care of and the Realtor’s hands being tied in regard to awesome listing pictures.
Essentially you want to see your Realtor taking professional pictures, throwing the listing all over the internet, reaching out to their network of broker and client and personal acquaintances on your behalf. Yard signs, color fliers, open houses… Whatever you (and your Homeowners Assoc.) agree to. This can start before showings too. The marketing strategy you pick is entirely by collaboration and agreement between you and your Realtor. No marketing is a death sentence to your listing, bad marketing is a life sentence. Even if you end up selling, it won’t be for the most money you could have got.
If your goal is to SELL YOUR HOUSE, then start today. You need to see measurable progress or you are not any closer to the goal than you were last week. It starts with agent feedback after showings. Then offers. Then an acceptable contract. Finally… A successful closing. GOAL ACHIEVED!
Goal achieved looks like this:
-Money in hand
-Debt reduction
-Lower stress
-Feelings of gratitude
-Opportunity to pursue other goals
If you would like to speak to me about your property listing goals or are a buyer interested in low-balling one of the high DOM properties (yes, it can be done in this market too) then feel free to give me a call! Dallice: 303-746-6765