Five Mistakes Sellers Make
Not Staging
I recommend sellers chose either a “soft staging” or a traditional staging of their home. To fetch the highest possible offer on your home, it’s ideal to go for a light, bright airy look, unless the architectural style demands otherwise. On the coast, sometimes the view or the property is the shining feature. All the same, buyers need to look at photos and see potential. Lighter colors and a sense of openness creates that ‘I could see myself living here” feeling in many buyers. In a way, a home is a canvas, so a combination of that blank canvas feeling give buyers a sense of possibility, while homey touches make a house feel cozy enough to be a personal sanctuary. For some, selling is a necessity, or they’d rather not incur the cost or headache of moving their belongings, updating fixtures, etc… In that case, a “soft staging” is a better option. I work with designers who can redesign spaces for the light bright airy look that fetches the highest bidder while also using some or your furniture in their design.
Trying to Perfectly Time the Market
The law of supply and demand on the north coast says the demand for housing is much higher than the supply. Even more notably, we aren’t building nearly fast enough to make room for people who want to live here. With the fire season and increasing heat inland, and the rise of remote work, the coastal enclaves of Mendocino and Humboldt have seen a migration to our beloved coast. Some sellers rush and skip important steps to ready the property for the market in an attempt to sell when they think prices are highest only to find the prices go up even higher at a later date. Others wait to sell thinking that a higher price is just around the corner. Yes, the market matters. And it also matters that you are ready, and you work with me to get your home camera and market ready too.
Thinking yesterday is today.
The market is like the tides, when they change, don’t try to argue, just swim! Today’s prices aren’t yesterdays or tomorrow’s. Look at comps within the last 30 days for a clearer picture.
Disregarding Property Specific Factors
A great agent will help sellers accept the reality of their property, not what the seller had planned to do with the property, not the potential of the property, but what the market is responding too. If your property has termite damage and needs updating, don’t pretend it isn’t so. In fact, to lie or fail to disclose known defects puts both you and the agent at risk of a lawsuit. When preparing a property for sale, working with a neutral professional to highlight your home’s strengths is the safest, most profitable route. Maybe it is the high ceilings or beautiful trees out front, or the open floorplan. Work with the strengths of the property and emphasize them!
Thinking the Busiest Agent is the Best Agent
Don’t fall for vanity marketing, just cause you’ve seen someone’s face around town doesn’t mean they are great at what they do. Interview different agents and read reviews. I can recall a recent interaction with a busy listing agent who charges a low commission. Back in June when the market was red-hot, I contacted them several times via voicemail, text, and email. The agent never got back to me. I was calling to ask whether or not the seller of a particular property would consider a lowball offer far below asking price just after a recent price drop. After nearly a month of chasing this agent I was eventually able to show this property to interested buyers. By then, another property more suitable to my clients needs had entered the market and they went elsewhere. Low and behold, this property, that would have had an offer for 899 in June, is now sitting on the market months later for 799. Why? Because this seller thought they were getting a bargain when they hired this busy listing agent. In fact, they are losing money and getting nowhere. That busy agent focuses on quantity of sales, not quality of service provided. Attention to detail and a boutique agency will give your property the special focus it deserves.
5 Common Mistakes Buyers Make
Rushing
Sometimes the intensity of the real estate market drives buyers to feel like they should take any house they can get in the midst of bidding wars and scant offerings. Scarcity mindset isn’t a good headspace to make major life decisions from. Make have faith even within the ups and downs of looking for a home. Stay focused on your two or three “must haves,” things that you need to enjoy living in a home, whether it be a sunny kitchen, a single story layout, a big backyard, or a central fireplace. We all have to sacrifice on some things from time to time, and no home is perfect. But don’t push past a gut feeling that this isn’t a good fit for you. Far too many buyers regret their purchase a year or two later.
Waiting
The old saying goes, “the best time to have bought a house is five years ago.” Time is your best friend in real estate when it comes to appreciation and increasing home value. Many buyers think they can’t afford to buy where they live so they don’t begin to try to find a way to invest in real estate anywhere in the nation. Whether you purchase an investment property with friends in a lower-priced market, invest in a real estate development with a great organization like smallchange.org or purchase raw rural land in a climate savvy location, you have the opportunity to invest in real estate in some capacity if you wish to do so. Waiting for prices to drop in yoru local market can be a waiting game that never bears fruit… meanwhile if you’d gotten in years ago, you’d have a property worth a lot more now. If there is a possibility for you to buy instead of rent, take the plunge.
Thinking that because you saw it once it will happen again…
You might be chasing a unicorn. Yes, you did indeed see a dream property come up for sale for half the price of all the other properties you typically view on the mls, but as the months go by you haven’t seen another one like it. It was four acres, a house and outbuildings, close to the coast, all for a massive bargain! This may have happened, but usually if a home sells for far below market it is for a reason. It could be structural damage. It could be a property next door with tons of scrap metal on it. It could even be that sections of the home that were rotten or falling down were not featured in the photos, or the dirt roads to and from the property are long and arduous. You can find a well-priced property that will hold and grow its value over time.
Not Adjusting one of Three factors: Price, Location, Property Specifications
If you aren’t finding what you’re looking for, chances are you need to adjust one of three categories. Either your budget needs to change, or you need to look in another location, or change the nature of what you’re hoping to find. Perhaps you need to look outside the city center a ways, or lower your desired bedroom count from 4 to 2 bedrooms, or raise your budget. It is wisest to adjust one of these factors at a time so you can be sure you’re clear on what you’re aiming to find, and why.
Failing to Understand “As Is” Property
In Mendocino County, the majority of property is sold “As Is.” What does that mean? It means that sellers are not going to fix and button up every single aspect of a property for sale, as they might in a fast-moving city market. This is due to one main reason: Larger parcel size, many outbuildings, aspects, square footage and grounds. In Mendocino, you can buy many acres, gardens, outbuildings, a 2000 + square foot home, a cottage and amenities for under a million. That’s a lot to maintain! In the major cities in California, a million dollars may not buy you more than 1200 square feet of home on a small city lot. It is far more possible to button up every detail when the number of details and footage to be scoured is finite. As most rural landowners can tell you, your work is never done. There is always garden beds and tree work to be done, wildlife and pest management, not to mention the work of scraping moss off the roof, and the updating of fixtures as the years go by. Most sellers in the country love the property they are selling and do their best to get it ready for market. However, understanding the realities of rural home ownership means understanding that when you purchase a home in Mendocino, you are purchasing work in progress that will continue to evolve. Remodeling is common for many new owners of homes, as is ongoing maintenance. Like the nature that surrounds these parcels, the properties for sale here are alive and changing as each day goes by. It is the sellers responsibility to disclose all the known defects of the property, not to fix and perfect the property before it moves along to the next owner.
Written by Aurora Jade Raybin, Author and Realtor with Engel and Volkers on the Mendocino Coast, nationwide referrals, raybinjade@gmail.com, 707.684.6737.
