Episode 8: Is It Always Worth While to Fix Up Before Selling? When is it Not Worth Doing?

Scott Williams: Sweet Home Santa Barbara where the skies are so blue. Sweet Home, Santa Barbara, what’s worked for me, can work for you. 

Jonathan Robinson: Welcome back to Sweet Home, Santa Barbara. I am your co-host Jonathan Robinson and my realtor and friend… 

Scott Williams: Scott Williams. Hi there everyone. 

Jonathan: Well today, we’re going to talk about something really important and that is, do you really want to fix up your home and stage your home? Or do you want to sell it as quickly as possible and you’re one of the few realtors that really is very flexible and does different things for different people. So why did give us an overview of things to consider when deciding whether to fix up your home or just sell it as is? 

Scott: Jonathan this is a very timely question as we’re making this recording because we’re in a moment when the market is really hot. Prices have gone up 30 or 40 percent in the last year. And there’s the first talk of that the market before it runs out of steam, could even double in prices from where we are. So, this is one of the extremes of the marketplace and so might the rules change, when things are so extreme. I think that’s one of the things we’re really looking at here. 

Jonathan: So now that market is hot, and I imagine there’s a continuum from very hot to very cold. In a hot market, what kind of advice do you give people? 

Scott: Well, when it’s like it is right now if you do the minimum, which is basically a house cleaning and having your windows cleaned and then the sign goes in the yard and you go up for sale, that works fine right now. Homes are selling in five days or 10 days, not the five weeks or 10 weeks that we might expect more normally. So, because that’s true, you don’t have to be so diligent about fixing up your house. 

Jonathan: Uh-huh. And because your kind of less involved in a sale like that, do you offer your client any advantages? Because, you know…  

Scott: If we’re not going to spend the time Jonathan to fix up the house, my commission can be reduced. We’ll have to take a look at the individual situation the people are in, but it’s less work on my part so that I would charge less for it, makes sense.  

Jonathan: That’s very nice. Okay, so we got what a hot market does. And I know even in a hot market, you might want to consider things that we’ve talk about in the other episodes like real simple things like paint the door or a couple other things that might in a couple hundred bucks lead to tens of thousands of dollars of increased worth, is that right? You still want to do that? 

Scott: Yes, you’re on… Let’s say that now you’re starting down the road of let’s go ahead and fix our house up and let’s go down that road for a moment in the hot market. 

Jonathan: Okay. 

Scott: It still produces the highest sales price for a house. It is to the benefit of the seller. However, if the seller is worried that the markets going to run out of gas and they eventually do especially when they’re in a rocket going upward like this, we know that it will eventually end. If the seller is concerned, I’d rather have the money. I don’t want to worry about that I might lose tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars if the market runs out of steam and I’ve spent a couple of months to fix my house up and that’s when the market decides to change, that’s what’s running through their mind. If you start down the road of let’s fix it up, it will work really well as long as the market doesn’t do that. 

Jonathan: Right. Now, how about things like tenants when you’re showing a house, is that something to consider? 

Scott: Yes. If you’re selling a property that you’ve been renting out and the tenants are in it, we want to get the tenants out prior to the sale of the property. There is always a situation that we’re going to give it a big advantage to the buyer if the tenants are still in the home. We just want them out of there. We just never get the same experience with a tenant as we would if it was vacant and staged. 

Jonathan: Okay. How about a warm market? Is that a different situation than a hot market? 

Scott: Well, that’s probably the best market to fix your home up in. The conditions are good from week to week or month to month. The properties are going up in value. Maybe not going up like a rocket, but they’re still going up. It’s still a seller’s side on the market and everything that you do you get to charge really well for, as you go out. You should always strongly consider doing this in a warm market. You should consider fixing up your house. 

Jonathan: And then all our other episodes, you talk about some of the best things to do to fix up your house and you often work with people very closely including contractors and the whole thing to help people stage their home really well and get a huge return on their investment. Can you say a little bit about that? 

Scott: That’s true. Yeah, I do. Because they don’t do this that often and I’ve done hundreds of these, all the decisions of which color or what type of appliance or should we do these floors or refinish them or what color to paint, I’m really adept at all of these things. So, I make it possible to them to really increase the price of the house without having to learn the whole business.  

Jonathan: Yeah, when you did for my house, I was in a different state, or a different city, and then sometimes a different country, and I call you like once every week for an update, “Oh great. Okay.” And we got top dollar for my house, which I really appreciated. So, what about a neutral or tepid market, what do people do in that situation? 

Scott: Well, that’s still a market where you’re going to benefit from fixing up your house. That should probably be if you probably want to do that, you probably have time and you’re going to benefit from the time. Let’s go on to that last choice there, as the market is tepid, or cold as it becomes colder, we call that a buyer’s market. And as it becomes more of a buyer’s market, that means the prices are dropping from month to month. So, it is hard to take a couple of months to fix up your home, make it really attractive, and really nice and get ahead of a market that’s actually dropping during that time. So, just like at the really hot end of the market where you don’t need to do anything, and your home will sell for a really good price. The cold end of the market, you probably don’t want to fix your house up either. Let’s get the house cleaning, get it ready, get it on the market and jump in front of the market before it drops any further. 

Jonathan: Uh-huh. Now you’ve been a realtor for about 4,000 years if I’m not mistaken, right? 

Scott: Yeah. I go back to prehistoric times. 

Jonathan: Yeah. You’re doing caves in your early days, but you’ve been a realtor for…  

Jonathan: Now you’re 43 years or something? 

Scott: 43 years I’ve been selling houses in Santa Barbara. 

Jonathan: Right. Now how often does a cold market happened, does that really happen hardly ever? 

Scott: Well, I’ve been through at least four of them and some of them lasted as long as five and six years. Yes, there are markets that you have to watch out for that the market actually from month to month, the prices of may go down. So, you do have to occasionally pay attention to this advice. You got to know what market you’re in. 

Jonathan: And really a casual observer might not know. They really have to talk to an experienced realtor to know all this is exactly where we are now, right? 

Scott: Yes. Especially when you get to either end, they turn, they shift, and then from week to week, they get a little bit faster, a little bit slower. So, the realtor who’s out there in the trenches day after day is aware of the little nuances of the market. You may know in general that it’s a good market or poor market, but we can also say that it’s a seller’s market or a buyer’s market. Because if you’re a buyer is not [inaudible] market, that’s great. But the house prices come down, you’re happy about that. But if you’re the seller, not so happy. 

Jonathan: Uh-huh. So, you have this flexible thing where if people want you to help them sell their house and staging and fix it up, you can do that for them for normal commission. And then if people just want to sell their house really quickly and not have you involved in that you actually reduce your commission? 

Scott: That’s true. I’m real clear that the market we’re in right now, there’s not a big incentive to fix the house up. So, I’m not going to say spend all that money and do all that because you may wish to like get moved on and gets old. So, let’s do it that way. 

Jonathan: That’s great. Any last words about choosing to fix up your home or not? 

Scott: Well, we need to look at your situation. How fast you need to go and what outcome you’re making before you decide whether you should or should not fix up your house? 

Jonathan: Well, if people want to get hold of you and talk to you about this, what’s the best way to reach you? 

Scott: The name is Scott Williams, and the email is scott@scottwilliams.com. 

Jonathan: Great. Well, thanks for the chat, Scott and I look forward to our next episode, finding out more about how to sell your house in Sweet Home Santa Barbara. 

Scott: Thank you. 

Scott Williams: Thank you for listening. Please subscribe to our podcast on your favorite app. If you know someone preparing to sell their home, please tell them about the podcast. Visit scottwilliams.com to contact me and download the two free E-booklets, “Is My House Saleable Now” and “How Not to buy a Money Pit?” Thank you for listening.