Thread: Sale, or Improve it first?

With the new strict lending guidelines there are a lot of homes on the market and fewer buyers who qualify to buy them.

That means that home buyers have a lot more choices than they have in years. With that said; you only get one first impression. I think it's very important to pay attention to the details.

I just put together a Free Video report for the people here in Baton Rouge but you are certainly welcome to check it out. I have one of the 8 videos dedicated to staging a house.

Tony Zito

In this market, I think you need to make those small improvements and probably stick with the lower price. You home needs to stand out in price and condition. These are the homes that sell nowadays.

[quote=Tony Zito;35011]With the new strict lending guidelines there are a lot of homes on the market and fewer buyers who qualify to buy them.

That means that home buyers have a lot more choices than they have in years. With that said; you only get one first impression. I think it's very important to pay attention to the details.

I just put together a Free Video report for the people here in Baton Rouge but you are certainly welcome to check it out. I have one of the 8 videos dedicated to staging a house.

Tony Zito



Tony Zito, I've been viewing your videos, nice work man and thank you. This is why I joined the real estate forum.

On your Pricing Strategies video, you point out that buyers usually get qualified for loans in 10K or 25K increments. No one gets qualified for say $196,500 for example. Point taken.

However, I read a study that shows the strategy of using 9's in your price is more effective. We read left to right, and a part of our brain that is lazy stops filing numbers after the first or second character, and we think, Wow $199,999! that's like only $190K!

The 9's strategy is used in all areas of commerce and it works. I'm even considering changing the prices on some of my products, from $40 to $39.95 for example. (Wow, that's like only $30 then!)

If a buyer is qualified up to $225K, they would still be a potential buyer of homes under that mark. I'm not in any way disagreeing with you, I just wanted to put that out there.

So, the info you provide in your videos is much appreciated and I will keep them for future reference. Thanks Tony!

Ditto... in today's market you will do best if you do the cheap and easy fixes (ie painting!!! and landscaping) and you still need to price competitively. I think it's almost always worth doing some small fixes on a home unless it is already immaculate, because the funkier it is the more it will attract investors and fixer upper buyers, and they will offer the lowest prices versus somebody who intends to live in the home.

However, major repairs done by homeowners generally do not recover all of their costs. For more info, see this report.

http://www.remodeling.hw.net/content...&sectionID=173

Thanks for the great past experiences (I guess thats what you would call them) information that you have passed on... I will make the small improvements and keep the lower price. Thanks a ton.

for me ...i think you need to improve it first....because nowadays when people searches a place to stay... they want it comfortable and doesnt want to fix anything more...

I think you need to make a small improvement to sell a house at a good but negotiable price.

Allot of people forget about the little things such as new door knobs that match throughout the house, and new hardware for the cabinets. These things are what people actually notice.

I suggest sitting down and write a plan for what small things need to be updated. Then implement it.

Originally Posted by Mike Taylor

In this market, I think you need to make those small improvements and probably stick with the lower price. You home needs to stand out in price and condition. These are the homes that sell nowadays.

Mike is dead on IMO. Whatever price range you are in - you want to be at the lower end of that price range relative to your competition, and you want to be the nicest.