Clean-outs, Construction and Cleanups.
AM 570 Podcast
Column from The Wave
The very first step in the home selling process is the presentation. Often, it will determine whether the buyer will move on to another listing or decide to come visit your property for a closer look. Once you've captured the buyer's attention, it's of the highest importance that the house makes a strong first impression. Getting a property to that point however, at least from the seller's perspective, can sometimes be an ominous task.
When buyers and sellers sign a standard sale contract, the language within almost always says that the house will be delivered "free of all personal belongings, in broom-swept clean condition and free of leaks". With that in mind, unless your property is professionally decorated or staged, it's usually a good idea to start purging, make some repairs and do the cleaning before you welcome buyers into your property. In order to get top-dollar, the broker must present the property in its very best possible light. It's the duty of the broker to accentuate the positives of a listing so that both the seller and buyer can clearly recognize the property's true present value rather than guess at its potential value.
An experienced broker should have access to the resources necessary to properly plan a presentation that'll guarantee a closing for the highest possible price. The broker must be willing and able to not only make the plan, but facilitate it as well. In order to get the highest possible price, the broker will often need to coordinate and negotiate the clean-out, construction and cleanup on behalf of the seller. As I've said before, relieving stress is a major function of a professional broker. It's a foregone conclusion that the property will need to be clean, dry and empty at the time of closing so it can't hurt to do these things right away, especially when it improves your bottom line. It's also likely that the buyer will be applying for a mortgage. In that case, major banks offering conventional loans will refuse to fund the loan if an appraiser deems the house to be "uninhabitable". For example, If a house has gaping holes in walls, extreme damage, defective equipment, signs of previous termite damage, or is in otherwise total disrepair, the bank may kill the deal. That's why brokers must be able to immediately recognize these defects and have the resources and contacts on standby to correct them quickly and for a reasonable price. Now then, there's always the possibility to sell a defective property to an all-cash buyer without a bank involved, but remember, when you shrink the market size you usually shrink the sale price too.
While it's very rare for a bank to deem a house uninhabitable, it's not uncommon for a seller to be able to significantly enhance their bottom line by doing some minor repairs or touch ups before presenting the house to the market. Oftentimes sellers may not have the funds available to address either major bank issues or minor repairs. When that's the case, we'll typically leverage our referral relationship with the vendors and respectfully ask them to wait until closing to get paid. If for some reason the vendor is unwilling to wait, we'll gladly cover the cost for our client and wait to get reimbursed at the closing. Brokers must always be ready, willing and able to put their clients' needs first and get them the highest possible return for their investment. Professional brokers know that sometimes that means not only offering guidance on clean-outs, repairs and deep cleaning but facilitating them as well.
