Yes, I know, it’s a strange title but it’s to make a point. There are many sellers out there who don’t recognize, or perhaps just realize, that it’s always better to be more realistic in the marketing remarks of your home than to over-sell.
I just had this discussion with an investor seller of mine as we were about to put a new flip on the market. He wanted me to advertise the home as a 4 bedroom home because they’d made an extra room off the open area in the basement. He thought that just because it had a window and a closet that made it count – plus he thought 4 bedroom homes sell better than 3 bedroom homes. I had to point out that the window is about 7 feet off the floor and that it wouldn’t meet code for ingress/egress so, NO, it wasn’t a conforming bedroom.
We argued about it for a while but I finally told him we could call it a “non-conforming bedroom” in the marketing remarks but that I could not list it as a 4 bedroom home. I held my ground and he eventually was swayed. Main reason he was swayed is because I pointed out to him – and showed proof – that in our market area the highest selling volume of homes in this price point is a 3 bedroom house. Having the 4th room (bedroom use or office, etc) would be seen as a big bonus to a buyer in that instance.
My discussion with him went on to say that it’s always better to have a buyer come into a home and feel like they’re getting more for their money than to have them come in and find this negative item and then they start looking for all the other ones that may be present. Negative is not the impression you want to give!
Start with a positive and then really impress your potential buyers with offering them more than they thought they’d be getting. Works like a charm…
