Talk To A Realtor Before Updating Your Charlotte, NC. Home To Sell

I have been on a few listing appointments lately where the sellers were proud to tell me the things they did prior to contacting me to list their home. They said they wanted the house ready to go when I got there and were hoping to get a hefty return on their investment. They have watched HGTV and think if they do certain things to their home it will sell faster and for more money. That may be the case sometimes but not all the time. If you are looking to sell your home consult with a couple of Realtors. Interview them and see who is a good fit for you. While you are interviewing Realtors ask them what they recommend you do to a house to get it ready to sell. Being in the business and seeing a house as an outsider with no personal attachments to the home will help give you a perspective on the home that can be beneficial to you in selling the house. Some improvements my sellers did got them no return on their investment and others were worthwhile to do....But why spend the money on an improvement or updating if you cannot get a return on it. I deal with both sellers and buyers so my perspective is a little different than a Realtor who only deals with listings. I look at a house form a buyers view and depending on the price point of the home I advise accordingly what the best option is for them. I have sold most of my listings where the seller has taken the advice I have given them and done what I have recommended in a timely manner. In fact the showings have always been very good and the price we got for the homes have always been higher than anticipated by the sellers.... I had a seller go out and spend $10,000.00 on updating and improvements prior to meeting with me...They could as easily done a little less updating and sold the home for the same price. The improvements the seller did were great and definitely helped the value and the home sell. However; they did not get an offer that they were expecting and after going through a few offers where the buyers were all around the same number they conceded to lower the price and accept an offer in that range. The money they spent did not give them a return on investment. They probably lost over half of it and could have done a lot less and gotten the same amount back in return.... So, my advice is to talk to Realtors and see what advice they offer you in terms of updating to get the house sold. If all the Realtors are on the same page then do those updates and price accordingly. If not then skip the updates and price the house accordingly as it sits...But doing it first can cost you thousands of dollars you could have otherwise kept in your pocket. Dave diCecco Realtor/Broker Coldwell Banker United Cell:704-519-7895 ddicecco@cbunited.com www.davedicecco.com