This week is traditionally one of the slowest weeks of the year in real estate sales. This is ‘Ski Week’, when many families head to the mountains during their week off of school. The logistics of buying a home in Marin are challenging when you are skiing in Tahoe, or you are elsewhere on vacation. That doesn’t mean properties aren’t selling or that people aren’t actively looking. There are just less potential buyers out this week.
I would have had my listing at 555 Tamarack Drive on the market but Ski Week has ripple effects, and this is a week my stager’s company takes off. So next week we’ll be on the market, which is probably for the best, and I’m getting pretty excited. It’s been on ‘Coming Soon’ status for a few weeks now in the MLS and I’ve had no fewer than a dozen agents express interest in seeing the property. I think the house is going to go quickly and for a good price! There is very little inventory currently, and it helps that we are doing a couple of things.
The sellers weren’t planning on taking out the 20 year old carpet, but we decided it was for the best and it was a great decision. The wood flooring underneath looks fantastic now that it’s been refinished! We changed a negative into a positive for a relatively small cost. We also took out the carpet in the bathroom and replaced it with a beautiful luxury vinyl tile. Fortunately, the carpet was placed over linoleum which is an effective moisture barrier. I’ve seen homes where carpet was installed in bathrooms over wood subflooring and that can be damaging to the wood.
When I became a Realtor 20+ years ago my mentor’s mantra on listings was ‘floors and walls’. Painting and redoing flooring has always had the biggest bang for the buck when preparing house for the market. My own addition to the mantra is ‘staging’, as in: floors, walls, and staging. There are exceptions to the mantra. Fixers are rarely staged. Why bother?
If sellers are living in a house doing any part staging is not an option. Likewise, it’s difficult to redo flooring when there are beds, dressers, desks, and tables to deal with. The one regret I have from when I purchased my own home was not redoing the floors before moving in. Now there is furniture everywhere, and I just don’t see it happening. Interior painting can be a bit disruptive in occupied homes, but it’s much easier to pull furniture away from walls than it is to entirely remove it from rooms.
With every house we do our best to make it as attractive as possible, within reason. There were things cosmetically we could have done at 555 Tamarack, but we are going to leave that up to the eventual buyers. Structurally the house is in great shape and it’s been very well maintained. I’m sure the next owners will love the house just as much as my sellers.
*** Thank you for reading my blog! If you or any of your friends and family ever have any real estate questions, please feel free to contact me at andyfalk2112@yahoo.com or 415-250-8025. I’m always happy to help!