Oklahoma City Metro's Real Estate Blog

    3 tips to selling your house in Edmond, Oklahoma, and for receiving more offers. With 677 Three bedroom, 777 Four bedroom, and 100 Five bedroom homes on the market, what can you, as a seller, do to set your house apart from others. First realize that if your house is a 3 bedroom, you have a 0.15% chance that the average 3 bedroom Buyer will even want to look at your home (1 divided by 677 = 0.0015 times 100 equals 0.15%). So looking at the Macro side of things, with 1610 houses in total for sale in Edmond, not including the “For Sale By Owner,” (FSBO) & home loans not being handed out like candy, what are true Sellers to do? First of all, ask yourself, am I a true Seller or am I just acting to see if I can sell my house.

    If you’re the later, realize right now, this very instant, you are not going to get an offer, Buyer’s have too many choices and they are not going to over pay, roll closing cost into their loan, or offer you, the Seller, more than your asking price, for DPA (down payment assistance). Those days of free loans are gone, financial markets have tightened up and appraisers are too scared to lose their license by bumping home prices. So if you, a Seller, are asking yourself, “why haven’t I received an offer,” listen to the three items we are about to discuss, and act upon them!!!

    A Seller who is bringing their “A” game to selling their property today focuses on three things right away, Price, Curb Appeal, and Cleanliness (PCC). When a home only has a 0.15% chance of even being picked to be looked at, ask this question, “what is the first thing Buyers do when picking property’s to view?” They view properties that fit within their preapproved price range. That is, the Buyers and their Realtor have entered their price range into the MLS data base to find homes that are possible choices, in the area they want to live. For example, a couple would like a 3 bed, 2 bath, under 150 thousand, in Edmond, Oklahoma. So how does a Seller price their house right for today’s market? Get a Comparable Market Analysis of your neighborhood. There are Several Real Estate Companies (Realty 1, First Choice Investments, Ryno Properties, etc…), here in Edmond, Oklahoma which will provide you a Comparable Market Analysis (CMA) for free. This is a compilation of the Active’s, Pending’s, and Sold’s of your neighborhood over the last 6 or 12 months. Your Realtor will explain this information and provide their professional opinion to help you, the Seller, make a sound decision on being able to price your home competitively, in today’s Real Estate Market. Price, the first part of the PCC program. On a side note, price is what drives men’s buying response. The next two, curb appeal and cleanliness, drive woman’s buying response. Women make 80% of all buying decisions, in today’s market. If you over price your home, you have just said, I am not a seller. There are too many choices out there for today’s buyer to choose from. As a true seller, you have to be competitive to even get a showing on your home. With the internet, it is easy for a buyer to gain access to the price of all the homes of the neighborhood. Most Multiple List Services (MLS) have a public side to them also. Do not cause yourself grief, I know you cherish your home, but it has to have a market price, or it will just sit stagnant and become an expired listing, especially in today’s Real Estate Market.

    We have gone over the chance we, as Sellers, have to get a Buyer in our Front door in today’s market. We have gone over the fact that financing has dried up, no money down loans are far and few, and appraisers no longer just bump the price of a home to make the deal work. We have also gone over that competitive pricing is key and how to get free Comparable Market Analysis. We know turn our attention to the Curb Appeal. Think back to when you were purchasing your house and how when driving around, some of the homes just seemed to smile at you. Remember how you, as buyers, those homes, that smiled, were the ones that you were always calling your Realtor and asking them if you could get an appointment to see them. Well, buyers of today are no different then you, the Seller, were when you first saw your home and were just amazed at the sight of it from the curb. You as the Seller know whether or not you need to repaint your trim, front door, or even your garage door. You as the Seller know whether or not you need to trim the hedges, add mulch to your flower bed, or go around the edge with the weed eater. Don’t kid yourself, Curb appeal can affect the average buyer so much, that as a Realtor is pulling in with their buyer, they have to put it in Reverse, because their buyer has instructed them this is not the house, by just seeing the front. If you don’t believe me, contact those same offices that give the free comparable market analysis (CMA) and ask any one of their Realtors, they, the Realtors will probably laugh as they answer you in the positive. Buyers will not go in a home, that doesn’t look good on the outside; there are too many choices for them in today’s market. Lowe’s, Home Depot, even Amazon.com, all have landscaping books, that are fairly inexpensive, as opposed to losing your buyer, that will give tips on lawn care and exterior maintenance on your home.

    A couple easy ideas for curb appeal;

1) Ask your neighbor if you can park you spare car in front of their home on days you know you have a showing, at least pull that car in the garage (you, as a seller, do not want to cluster your property with a spare vehicle, the buyer is buying the Real Estate, the Car, is a distraction, move it!!!

2) Put those Ugly City Garbage Containers behind your back yard fence, get them out of sight, buyers are going to have to have an emotional attachment to your home, to want to see it, I have never had anyone tell me they have an emotional attachment to trash, never.

3) Trim your hedges to chest height or below the window that they, the hedges, may be in front of. Chest height is just a guide line that appeals to eyes and below a window is so that it is still usable and doesn’t appear as an obstruction to the inside-out view.

    Recapping, we know that to get a buyer, we have to competitively price our home to get on the viewing list, getting the opinion of a professional that Sells Real Estate on a daily basis helps with pricing, the city of Edmond, Oklahoma has 1610 houses “For Sale,” (not including FSBO’s), and to get the Buyer inside our outside has to be prime. Let us now speak about the final, most important 3 items today’s Sellers have to complete to be able to compete, CLEANLINESS!!!! As a Seller, ask yourself these simple questions, is there dust on my fan blades, in that air conditioner filter thing, on the blinds over the windows. If you answered yes to any one of those choices, you need to either, A) Spend 3 hours performing a thorough cleaning of your home, or B) Call your local cleaning company and have them clean your home with the best package they have available. First off, if you have dust in that air conditioner filter thingy (your intake), you need to change your filter immediately to save your HVAC unit from the increased work load a clogged filter causes. Second, buyers look out windows, what is in front of windows, normally? The answer is your blinds, every buyer steps up to a window to see it, I do not know why, they just do, what will a buyer think about the rest of the home if there is an inch of dust sitting there distracting them from the beautiful view, just outside that window. Remember, 0.15% chance of selling your home, don’t lower that value by being lazy when it comes to cleaning. Ensure that you have cleaned everything from the kick plate of the front door, to the scum build up on the bottom of bathroom faucet. This cleaning will also make the home seem brighter and a bright home is a happy home. Remember, once the price is set, emotions are what are buying your home. If a home does not give positive energy off, you as the seller are not going to receive a positive offer. So the last C out of PCC is cleanliness, so Price, Curb Appeal, and Cleanliness is the PCC that will enable your home to finally receive that offer you have been looking for.

    So, if you’re the Seller that is tired of have the most, “days on the market,” (DOM), think seriously if Selling is what you want to do. If it is, remember to contact local Real Estate office and ask to speak with them about what your price should be. List your home, then get out there and take care of your curb appeal. Once you have cut the grass and hidden the garbage cans, it’s time to Dust, De-clutter, and Brighten your inside. If you have inside pets, ensure that you have taken care of their odors; certain buyers are allergic to pet dandruff and will not even be able to look at your home due to allergies. Hopefully this aids in the Sell of your Home. Remember, that home sales are down 15.31% from last year, here in Edmond (according to Oklahoma Metro Association of Realtors MLS Second Quarter Statistics). If you want to sell your home, here in Oklahoma Metro Area, you are going to have to step up. Make sure the MLS pictures of your home are the best they possible can be, this way buyers will want to look at your home.

Article written by: Josh Barnett, Real Estate Investment Broker