Retirement Planning - Lessons Learned

[goeduck]

We are not in your price bracket but my guess is that one would go for about $650 to $750K up here.

 

[Larry Caldwell]

Wow. My place would need a lot of spit and polish to put on the market. Does the phrase, "Lived In" ring a bell?

 

[goeduck]

Wow. My place would need a lot of spit and polish to put on the market. Does the phrase, "Lived In" ring a bell?

When I last sold a house, the agent strongly recommended that we move out first so they could hire a professional decorator to come in. The decorator's fancy furnishings made my stuff look like junk. But hey, the house sold in one day at a price way over what most agents recommended.

 

[ultrarunner]

Staging is very much the norm…
Top Realtors often have a team in place… can be anything from new sod, refinish hardwood, counters etc… of course deep clean so everything spotless…

So many want turn key and so far willing to pay for it…

I do like the Triple Laminate Shingles.

9-10 years back maybe 350k
When sold number hits I will post…

Owner says money realized and excluded from tax is a cornerstone in retirement plan…

Again timing/luck can make a big difference…

Again this is East Oakland too where national media covers a lot…

 

[ultrarunner]

When I last sold a house, the agent strongly recommended that we move out first so they could hire a professional decorator to come in. The decorator's fancy furnishings made my stuff look like junk. But hey, the house sold in one day at a price way over what most agents recommended.

Often it is just going minimalistic with closets, cub bards, garage nearly bare…

 

[California]

I think today's buyers want move-in ready, all cleaned up for a fresh start.

If it isn't, then it goes to a flipper who will clean it up and turn a profit.

 

[ponytug]

We had a house down our way go for, wait for it, $1,000,000 over the listing price. Something like a 40% premium, and that wasn't even in a nearby town known to have lots of foreign investors buying homes there just to be there a few weeks a year.

I look at some of these sales and wonder if the buyers wouldn't be better served by an advisor walking them through their priorities to help the buyers with decision making. We looked at one property that had a jack literally holding up a corner of the garage where the soil was sliding downhill. That wasn't the remarkable bit. It was that the jack wasn't included the sale. The buyers who prevailed spent over the asking price, and went out of their way to drink with the clearly dysfunctional tenants in an in-law unit.(which they weren't keeping clean, or taken care of and had obvious paraphernalia lying around when we did a walk through...)

While everyone's decision making is different, sometimes I have to take a second look because it is so different from mine.

Given how hard it is to find and organize contractors around here, the desire for "move in ready" homes is understandable.

All the best,

Peter

 

[MoKelly]

The older the buyer the less they want to do lots of work to a house. Older buyers tend to buy more expensive places.

I had a friend list an expensive place in May. They were building a home that wouldn’t be ready until September. The realtor suggested they move and “stage” the house. The realtor believed the house was too “personalized” which would make a buyer less able to imagine themselves in the space.

My friend said “no way” his family was moving to an apartment and storing all their stuff.

The house sold a month later at full price no contingencies. He pushed closing as far out as possible but still had to move to an apartment and store his stuff until the new house was complete.

He said staging cost was quoted at $4000.

At least he saved the $4000.

I often wonder if the realtor gets a piece of the staging cost as a kick-back.

MoKelly

 

[Torvy]

The older the buyer the less they want to do lots of work to a house. Older buyers tend to buy more expensive places.

I had a friend list an expensive place in May. They were building a home that wouldn’t be ready until September. The realtor suggested they move and “stage” the house. The realtor believed the house was too “personalized” which would make a buyer less able to imagine themselves in the space.

My friend said “no way” his family was moving to an apartment and storing all their stuff.

The house sold a month later at full price no contingencies. He pushed closing as far out as possible but still had to move to an apartment and store his stuff until the new house was complete.

He said staging cost was quoted at $4000.

At least he saved the $4000.

I often wonder if the realtor gets a piece of the staging cost as a kick-back.

MoKelly

Most of the time, yes. Like a finders fee or referral fee. Not really a kickback, it is all legal and above board.

 

[Frankenkubota]

The older the buyer the less they want to do lots of work to a house. Older buyers tend to buy more expensive places.

I had a friend list an expensive place in May. They were building a home that wouldn’t be ready until September. The realtor suggested they move and “stage” the house. The realtor believed the house was too “personalized” which would make a buyer less able to imagine themselves in the space.

My friend said “no way” his family was moving to an apartment and storing all their stuff.

The house sold a month later at full price no contingencies. He pushed closing as far out as possible but still had to move to an apartment and store his stuff until the new house was complete.

He said staging cost was quoted at $4000.

At least he saved the $4000.

I often wonder if the realtor gets a piece of the staging cost as a kick-back.

MoKelly

around here many of the real estate agents will stage it themselves, mine had a storage locker full of stuff.