Here is the new rule for buyers: Buyers are not allowed to watch HGTV. I was showing a house today and the first thing the buyers said as they walked into this $185,000 home was, "These sellers must not watch HGTV." This was a started home in south Minneapolis built in 1910. It would never have the look of the prosperities on those shows. Buyers are creating expectations that will be almost impossible to fill.
When my daughter was a teenager we would go clothes shopping together. It was always an experience. She would go with an image in her mind of what the outfit would look like. The problem was that she forgot to tell the clothes manufacturer to create it. It just was not on any of the racks we looked at. The same is true with buyers, when they see those shinny, prepped houses on TV, they expect all the houses they will walk into to look that way too. It just is not real world.
Here is my rule: Be open minded with no expectations. This is usually a first home and they won't be in it more than 7 years or so. Not all first homes at the below $200,000 price have everything. Even if one were to increase their budget to $500 ,000 it would not have all the things they wanted. House buying and being realistic do not often go together. Once I had a buyer who was looking at $110,000 and I thought all the properties were almost unlivable. She said, "Don't worry, in college we lived in even worse." I loved hearing that!
So---no more TV for buyers. Let them come to their Realtors with a blank screen. I wonder if there is a way I can make them zombies so their house hunting will be easier.
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