Real Estate Investing

Have car with full tank of gas, will travel.  After yesterday’s very interesting showing instructions, arguments, and additional comments I thought I’d share the results of these specific house searches with you.

1. No showings until 4:00 p.m.  We didn’t go see and won’t go back.  But we knew that yesterday when they said we couldn’t see it until after 5:00 p.m.
2. Key hidden under rock.  What a beautiful, loved home it was.  Unfortunately the back yard goes straight down and will be too hard to mow (but check out the gorgeous photo of the jogging ring!).
3. Something smells dead.  Yes, like a mouse maybe or squirrel even.  But the house was amazingly beautiful.
4. The doors stick.  We couldn’t even get in because the part I left off was “don’t lock bottom lock.”  Someone did lock it and the frame of the door came over so that we couldn’t get key in to unlock.  We’ll have to take their word for it that the doors stick.
5. Don’t go into the basement.  We didn’t.  Actually we didn’t go at all when we read more information about the property and saw that it didn’t have central heat and air.  I felt bad about skipping it, but we must have cool air when the temperature is 105 degrees and the humidity hangs at 99 percent.

Thankfully we didn’t experience anything scary this go-round.  Like Doreen.  Or anything suggestive.  Like Marianne.  Have you had any interesting experiences while looking for a home?

I have about 15 houses I’m setting appointments to show tomorrow and this has been one rare day.  Some of the funny feedback I’ve received from listing agents as they’ve confirmed the showings:

1. No showings Tuesday through Friday until after 4:00 p.m.  The seller may be a day sleeper, but my buyer is off tomorrow just to look at houses. We live in a pretty big metropolitan area so returning to the neighborhood after 4:00 would be very difficult (traffic, exhaustion, etc.).  Please let me in at 11:00 a.m.
2. The key is hidden under a fake rock.  Go through the gate and to the right is a stack of bricks.  In front of the stack is another stack of rocks.  The rock in the middle is fake and has a key hidden inside it.  Please remember to put it back. (Last time I ended up with an extra key and am waiting for the agent to call me back and tell me so I can return it! My bad.)
3. The house smells bad.  A small animal must have gotten into the duct work and died because the smell is horrible.  We’re working to fix the problem, so you may want to reschedule.  Or just hold  your breath.
4. Like the chicken?  Yes, my last name is Tyson.  Like the chicken. No, we’re not related.
5. The doors stick.  The key works for every door, but when you get it unlocked all the doors stick.  Just push hard.
6. Don’t go in the basement.  Don’t go in the back yard either.  There are dogs. If  you really like it, you can come back for a second showing when the sellers are in town because they’ll take the dogs away so you can really look.
7. See #1.  No showings actually tomorrow until after 5:00 p.m.  Sorry, we’ll reschedule for a weekend.

I’ll report tomorrow how the showings go.  If you don’t hear from me by tomorrow night, call for help!  Wink.

I just ran a random search of the MLS in my area to study live statistics on what I suspected was true.  In my search, I found that 5 percent of the first 100 homes on the MLS had absolutely no photos.  None.  Another 29 percent of the homes had only one outside picture featured.

When I see homes with no photos, I try to read the remarks written by the listing agent because there might be some genuine reason no photo has been taken.  Although a good excuse for the absence of a photo is rare, sometimes you can find an unexpected gem.

Meanwhile, nearly 90 percent of all buyers in the United States today go online to shop for homes.  I guarantee that when there are no photos of a house, the buyers don’t even stay long enough to even think the home exists.  The house is utterly invisible in the mind of the buyer, so that even eloquent words describing its beauty are lost.  You must have at least one photo to get a buyer’s attention.

After that first photo, the additional pictures will determine whether a buyer will spend more than 15 seconds considering your property.  This is where taking the time to clean your house and removing clutter can pay off.  If the home appears neat and tidy and meets other criteria desired by the buyer, you may be lucky enough for them to ask their agent to schedule a showing.

Let’s experiment.

Sample One features at least one home photo to entice a buyer.

Sample Two.  Although the first two pictures below are nearly the same, and even if the home above is in pristine condition, a buyer would rather have more information than less and would probably choose this one to tour.

If you have your home listed, always make sure your agent takes plenty of photos or it may be a 320 day sale waiting to happen.