How NOT to market a Short Sale

Driving around yesterday I found a home for sale near where I live in Elk Grove. It’s in a great location that’s really close to a park, school, golf course, etc. As I pulled up I could tell it was one of the biggest homes on the street, but I could barely see it. The grass, or weeds I should say, were 3-4 feet high! From the street you could see the garage and the second story but that was it.
So, being the curious Realtor I am, I went back to the office to see if if this property had any offers. According to the MLS, this property has never had any offers, it’s been on the market for almost a year and it’s the lowest price home for it’s size in the area. In the listing there was no description written by the Realtor and the pictures show the house is filled with garbage. What the?

If you are considering a Short Sale here are some things NOT to do:
1. Don’t abandon the home – If you are going to stay in the area, try to stay in the home. Buyers don’t mind to seeing a home while someone is living there, especially if it is being maintained.
2. Don’t trash the home – If you have to move make sure you take all of your belongings. Nothing make a home show worse than trash being left behind sitting in a hot, vacant house. It looks bad and probably smell bad too. Yuck!
3. Don’t treat the listing differently – When you short sale, you are not going to cash out any equity like you would have six years ago. That does not mean you shouldn’t keep it clean or you shouldn’t expect your Realtor to market the heck out of it. Make sure your Realtor has a marketing plan. A sign in the yard and a couple pictures on the MLS are not good enough. The better it shows the quicker you will be able to sell and move on to the next phase of your life.

If you have been following Real Estate news at all (it’s hard to get away from it) you know the market is mostly REO/bank owned properties or short sales. With all the bad news surrounding housing, I think homeowners have lowered their expectation on how they should sell their home or what to expect from their Realtor. In this market, the better a home shows and the better the marketing, the quicker it will sell and you can move on with your life.