House Cleaning

In today’s tough real estate market home sellers need to pay attention to the smallest of details, for they can be the difference between selling your home and watching it sit on the market month after month. These details can range from minor repairs to a major restaging. For any home to sell these details must be a part of an overall plan that includes correctly pricing your home for the real estate market today.

One detail that is often overlooked by sellers is a thorough and comprehensive cleaning of your home before putting it on the market. A clean home will not only appear organized and well kept but will tell potential buyers that you as a seller have cared for your home. This is an important factor for any buyer. When buyers see a dirty home they’ll wonder about things they can’t see. They may not consciously realize they are doing this but every buyer will register a dirty home on some level. Seeing a dirty home, any buyer concerned about the condition of a home, will not get that all important “Warm and Fuzzy” feeling that most often leads to an offer. Remember, for most buyers, a home purchase is based on emotion. So make sure your home is clean, organized and well kept. It will go a long way to selling your home without breaking the budget.

For my sellers I always recommend a good home cleaning service to come in and do an overall cleaning of the home before the first open house. This is a top to bottom cleaning that should include all hard surface floors, windows, bathrooms, kitchen cabinetry and baseboards as well as vacuuming under and around furniture. A good home cleaning service can, within a few hours, have the home looking and smelling clean, and most importantly pass the white glove test. From there it’s an easy task to perform touch ups on a regular basis.

When having your home professionally cleaned it’s important to specify things that are particularly important for the sale of your home. A clean kitchen should be the main focus with the bathrooms a close second. Windows should also be an important part of a professional home cleaning. If your cleaning crew does not do windows there are many good window cleaning companies that can handle the task. Before your crew leaves it is advisable to walk though the house and inspect their job. If something has been missed or is not done to your satisfaction let the cleaning crew know. A good professional home cleaning service wants a happy customer and will make sure the job is completed to the homeowner’s satisfaction.

Every home under the right conditions will sell. To ensure your home has the best possible chance of attracting the few buyers out there, make sure your home is a complete and attractive package that buyers simply cannot resist. Price and appearance are two of the most important factors in the sale of a home. Discuss the price with your agent to arrive at the best possible dollar amount to attract buyers. Once you’ve attracted them with a great price show off your homes true potential with a clean and sparking appearance that tells every buyer your home is special. These are the homes that sell, so don’t over look the appeal of a clean home because it can be one of the most important reasons buyers are attracted to your home.

Saving Money on Commission

If you’re in a slow housing market, which is most of the country, then a good real estate agent is worth his or her weight in gold. And, to be sure, that’s what they’re going to charge you. But commission is always negotiable, and there is one area of the contract that is often overlooked by the seller; an area that can potentially save the seller thousands in real estate commissions.

When an agent represents both the buyer, as well as the seller, this is considered a double ended transaction and is the dream of many real estate agents. Most would kill to double end a transaction; and with very good reason. This type of transaction is often much easier for the real estate agent. When an agent controls both sides they not only have a much easier time with paperwork, but they also make twice the commission; their original commission to sell your home plus the buyer’s agent commission. This is where the seller should be negotiating.

Before the listing contract has been signed, address this issue. Many agents will never bring this subject up, letting the seller assume the commission offered will always go to the buyer’s agent and realistically most of the time it will, but in the event your agent does find a buyer, negotiate a lower commission based on these factors:

Your agent will be controlling the transaction from both sides including all necessary paperwork, which often can be the hardest part of the transaction.
The double sided transaction is often easier for the real estate agent since they have direct access to the buyer, this makes negotiating easier, problems that arise can be handled quicker and often potential cancellations can be avoided.
Be prepared to give a little in order to get a little. Offer a slightly longer listing period in exchange for a discount on the two sided transaction. Most agents will look at this favorably and are more likely to accept, knowing in a slower market most homes average up to 90 days or more on the market before they sell.

Keep these factors in mind when negotiating, but also understand, the agent who represents both sides in a transaction also assumes twice the liability and has twice the likelihood of being sued. Expect the agent to explain these and other factors in order to validate their worth, and they are worth a decent commission, so don’t try to undercut them so badly that the commission offered becomes an insult. Simply let the agent know that if this situation arises you expect at least a one point discount and maybe as much as a point and a half. These discounts are based on an average 6% total commission with the sellers agent and the buyers agent each receiving 3%.

Commission is not the only issue to be concerned with when selling your home so don’t choose an agent based solely on commission; but being prepared to negotiate this issue, explaining to the agent why you feel a reduced commission is expected, can be much easier if you have all the facts and understand the agent’s point of view. Negotiate honestly and realistically and you have the potential to save thousands on you real estate commissions.