Once the house is listed, the work level can actually drop quite a bit. After all, the house is so freaking staged you CAN'T do anything in it even if you were allowed to. To the extent that you are getting good showing, you can't even be IN the house.
This may not apply if you have 3 rugrats, a dog, two cats and a slob for a spouse. In our case it's a bit hairy because my office is/was at home. So yes, that was probably me and not some terrorist hacker sitting in a van with a laptop with some weird antenna thing attached to it.
Also, even if the physical work slows down, your mind gets pretty busy... Why isn't the phone ringing? ... What if we priced wrong? ... Please don't let it snow ... Why did the dishwasher just make that noise ... What if nobody comes? ... Why are we doing this? ... What if we can't find a place to live?
By the way, we are holding off offers until Wed. evening. No doubt, holding off offers is designed to allow for a bidding war. But in a hot market where things sell quickly, it also allows buyers to find out about the property, see it, and make a decision and plans before somebody jumps in and nabs it.
Friday
Alex from videolistings.ca shows up right on time as Gord is returning from delivering the paperwork to the office and does his usual efficient job. We will find out tonight that it was also his usual gorgeous job. He beautifully incorporated our seasonal garden pics and some local scenery into the house video. (I mentioned it before, but the old place really looks good: www.videolistings.ca/video/35anndale)
As he walks out the door, the agents start appearing for the Agent Open House. While everything else we do helps, the major marketing tool is the tens of thousands of agents of the Toronto Real Estate Board who see the listing. If you can make it convenient for them to physically see the house, better still. And that is the Agent Open House.
The feedback is good, though we pick up a niggly little theme: "Great house, you'll do well, a little small for my people". We believed we had factored this in. The house is about three times the size that a good friend grew up in with his 5 siblings. But that was then. Young families looking for their second home in a perfect location are thinking dream home even if they are a little short of dream budget. We'll get back to this little issue later.
We have showings Friday afternoon and evening. Good start.
Saturday and Sunday
That "too small" thing is still popping up a bit. Plus we are so "done" that buyers are hesitant to consider a simple addition on the back. Though it is pretty straight forward, there is something about buying our reno, then dismantling some of it for the expansion.
This is a bit odd to us, since the same families get quite giddy about doing a gut reno and expansion of a bungalow somewhere.
Why odd -- after all, they can design/build their dream home?
True, but the math is a little funky. Two bungies in our area just sold for around $650,000. Throw in a near-year demolition and build and those buyers are going to be in for $1.2million++ with a small lot not on the park (like we are). Whereas our place would be a 3 month +/- $200k's reno that ends up with a bigger lot on the park. We don't get it, but again, it is what it is. The rational market is not always rational, but it's a mug's game to fight it.
More showings.
Gord starts the followups on showings.
Monday
More showings, some followup questions, second showings, and ..................
AN OFFER REGISTERED!
Tuesday
Good news: two repeat showings and both agents expect to have an offer.
Bad news: showings generally slowing down faster than hoped and expected.
Wednesday
Second offer ... aaaaaaaaaannnnnnndddddd .... the third!
Three to four is almost a magic number. You may not make out like a bandit, but you are almost certainly going to get fair market value; and, with a little luck, proper pricing and good marketing maybe a little more.
Next up: Offer presentation process and what we got.
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