Dear Boulder Real Estate Aficionados!
Happy Valentine’s Day! Your home has a contract to sell that has been signed by all parties! Wow, that’s “music to my ears” you say! Well… First you must have been on the Market “For Sale” and you would be one of the 140 properties Under Contract (UC) of the 804 properties on the market! That’s 17% of the market Under Contract today! Not bad for an early season blip from years past. “How did you get your home UC your neighbors inquire politely?” “Well”, you say “I priced it a lot lower than I should have. I de-cluttered big-time! You know the things I use at least once every couple or years, and I copied all I could from the designer homes I see in those home-type magazines! Oh, and I buried Saint Joseph upside-down in my backyard with his feet pointing up at a 22.2 Degree angle, offset 1 degree for solar gain! (http://www.saintjosephsellshomes.com) Whew, and did I mention I sent the kids to Grandma’s and Grandpa’s in Arizona to keep the house in show condition!” And that’s how you did it you say.
Well, you’re not that far off! If you don’t have a contract within 30 days, either you made a mistake on your price or it’s a really horrible Market (nope, not Boulder). You probably priced your home too high…. Above the tree line, out of radar range, out of “the zone”! This market is a new market! Even Boulder isn’t immune.
Do all you can when you have a showing on your home! Wine, dine and dazzle your prospective buyers with sweet sounds, fresh flowers and chocolates. Include some Soft background mood music with soft lighting and candles (Fake candles for this article of course, real ones are a fire hazard). Bake some fresh bread or some chocolate chip cookies to dazzle the nasal senses. Emotional reactions are what your home needs to give birth to. Vacuum, dust, do the dishes, and put the toys away mom. I know you’re proud. I have kids too, but they aren’t buying my house! No diapers, no pacifiers and definitely no signs of your family pets “stuff”! You know what I mean here right?
You want to move on, move out, pack up and mosey on down the road, right? Get it right at the beginning of your listing. Don’t chase the market! You’ll end up sitting, stewing, and staying longer than you’d planned in your “I’m over it” abode, wishing you’d listened to me in February!
Happy Valentines Dear! Until next time, I’m your friendly neighborhood Realtor Jeff Feenstra.
Jeff owns Feenstra Real Estate and Property Management in Boulder and can be reached at 303-931-7320 or emailed at Jeff@FeenstraRealEstate.com. www.FeenstraRealEstate.com