JULIE GARDNER
  • HOME
  • COMPASS
    • WHY COMPASS?
    • COMPASS CONCIERGE
    • COMPASS BRIDGE LOANS
  • LISTINGS
  • ABOUT
    • ABOUT JULIE
    • A DYNAMIC PARTNERSHIP
    • CONTACT
    • PROCESS
    • TESTIMONIALS
    • PRESS
  • PROJECTS
    • BEFORE & AFTER
    • GARDENS
    • OUR TEAM
    • VIDEOS
  • BLOG
  • COMMUNITY
    • UTILITIES
    • SCHOOLS

The Piedmont Perspective - It's All About the Strategy!  - Vol. 326

7/26/2014

0 Comments

 
It's beginning to dawn on me that my family and I are probably NOT going to be able to live through the remodel of our new/OLD home - or as I've lovingly taken to calling it - the S***t Shack!  (Yes, you can take the girl out of Sacramento, but you can't take Sacramento out of the girl).

Through six other home remodels, the boys and I have huddled in a room or two, subsisted on microwave meals for months, and put up with the dust and mess that invariably IS a construction site, but in our current case, I may have been a tad too optimistic . . .

I don't want to appear ungrateful here; we saw a "fixer" opportunity, seized it, and went in with eyes wide open (well, partially open).  Moreover, we caught the market just right and sold our previous home earlier this spring for a healthy profit, which allowed this current adventure to come about. 

That was ALL great!

But when I went downstairs earlier this week to retrieve the laundry (and can I just interject that washers and dryers have NO business being in the basement), I discovered a pool of sewage had seeped through an abandoned plumbing pipe and left a rather large puddle on the floor. 

(Ewww, Yuck!  I'll spare you the photos.) 

Hey, I'm willing to camp through a remodel, but even I have limits.

Knowing that construction is, unfortunately, still a few months away, it's probably time to rethink our strategy  . . . and move out!  Like saner more rational folk, we'll downsize into temporary housing for the duration.

A thoughtful "strategy" isn't just an important component of life and the challenges we face day in and day out, it's also a HUGE component of selling or buying a home as well.

Certainly, it can't have escaped anyone's attention that Realtors have developed an unusual "strategy" here in the Bay Area that includes full disclosure, fresh paint and staging, and camera- ready presentation. These gold standards for selling one's home with the expectation of receiving offers above the list price, go hand-in-hand with advantageous market timing, full market exposure, and good old-fashioned know how. 

But perhaps the most important "strategy" a Realtor employs is pricing a home appropriately from the start.  Granted, this isn't always easy to do, especially when we are taking the listing prior to investigation and often weeks or months in advance of a home's actual debut. Nor do Sellers always greet our suggestions with unbridled enthusiasm and acceptance. (In fact, they often don't.) 

However, if we misjudge this critical component and price higher than the market supports, based on our Sellers' insistence or worse yet, on our lack of understanding of the current marketplace, than the resulting sale will take much longer than it should have and likely, bring far poorer results.  (I hate it when that happens.)
 
"Can't we just continue to market the home aggressively until we get what we want and need?"

Uhhhh, "No" (or rather, yes, you can, but it's a fatal mistake).

Unfortunately, Buyers neither care nor respond to what you want or need. The plain truth is that the best results come about rapidly (and in our market, that's typically no more than 14 days).  Statistically, the longer your home stays on the market, the less likely you are to receive your list price.

Trust me, when Buyers find a property they believe to be of value to them, fits their family's needs in particular, and is difficult to replicate, they will step in quickly and make a serious offer.  It's what I refer to as the "value proposition."  Conversely, if it is perceived as overpriced, they'll stay away.

(BTW - the "value proposition" is as much at play for the $5,000,000 house as it is for the $500,000 house. "Value" is ALWAYS about perception and it isn't the same for everyone.)

"But my house is better, nicer, more special . . ." and so it goes.

I believe you and yet, it doesn't necessarily matter.  The recent home sale down the street has set the market value and IS your home's comp moving forward. Remember, the market defines the "value" of any given home at any given time! 

It may also be true that your home isn't as nice as you thought and suffers by comparison, which will absolutely affect its value. (Please don't shoot the messenger.)  Which is another way of saying that the condition of your home is incredibly important so protect this valuable asset and don't let it fall into disrepair. We can keep our homes meticulous inside, but if we're not paying attention to the roof or foundation, it's likely to catch up with us come time to sell.

So take heed and be strategic about your home's care, pricing and your presentation.  Come the offer date, you might be pleasantly surprised, and isn't that a happier ending?

(Which is a whole lot better than the surprise I received this week.  I need a mop - and a new house!)

How can I help you?
0 Comments

Your comment will be posted after it is approved.


Leave a Reply.

    Subscribe

    Author

    Julie Gardner, has been writing The Perspective for 18 years and has published more than 670 essays on life and real estate. 

    Picture

    Archives

    January 2023
    December 2022
    November 2022
    October 2022
    September 2022
    August 2022
    July 2022
    June 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013
    February 2013
    January 2013
    December 2012
    November 2012
    October 2012
    September 2012
    August 2012
    July 2012
    June 2012
    May 2012
    April 2012
    March 2012
    February 2012
    January 2012
    December 2011
    November 2011
    October 2011
    September 2011
    August 2011
    July 2011
    June 2011
    May 2011
    April 2011
    March 2011
    February 2011
    January 2011
    December 2010
    November 2010
    October 2010
    September 2010
    August 2010
    July 2010
    June 2010
    May 2010
    April 2010
    March 2010
    February 2010
    January 2010
    December 2009
    November 2009
    October 2009
    September 2009
    August 2009
    July 2009
    June 2009
    May 2009
    April 2009
    March 2009
    February 2009
    January 2009
    December 2008
    November 2008
    October 2008
    September 2008
    August 2008
    July 2008
    June 2008
    May 2008
    April 2008
    March 2008

    Categories

    All
    Business
    Design
    Drought
    Holiday
    Home Maintenance
    Homes For Sale
    Life
    Market
    Politics
    Renovation

    RSS Feed

    View my profile on LinkedIn
Piedmont · Oakland · Berkeley
 510.326.0840
julie@juliegardner.com
DRE# 01431765
​COMPASS

  • HOME
  • COMPASS
    • WHY COMPASS?
    • COMPASS CONCIERGE
    • COMPASS BRIDGE LOANS
  • LISTINGS
  • ABOUT
    • ABOUT JULIE
    • A DYNAMIC PARTNERSHIP
    • CONTACT
    • PROCESS
    • TESTIMONIALS
    • PRESS
  • PROJECTS
    • BEFORE & AFTER
    • GARDENS
    • OUR TEAM
    • VIDEOS
  • BLOG
  • COMMUNITY
    • UTILITIES
    • SCHOOLS