[5-DayForum] Putting Lipstick on a Pig

Mon Sep 3 17:46:19 EDT 2007

I had a good chuckle on the title of this one.  Lipstick on a pig.  :-)  OK,
I think I get it.  My home is clean and nicely put together, so I think I'm
all set for my sale. :-)  I always wondered about the whole staging thing.
They give you all kinds of data that your home will sell X times faster and
for X thousands more than a non-staged home.    

As a buyer, indeed I do feel like I'm more impressed with a staged home when
I'm looking at it, but when it comes down to it, I know what features I
want. I actually just passed up a beautifully staged home in Georgia to go
for one with a bigger yard.  The one with the bigger yard had a diaper
changing table and a few baby toys on the floor in the master bedroom, and
they forgot some clothes on the MBR closet floor too-not very attractive for
showing vs the staged home but it didn't matter to me.  The size of the MBR
and the size of the yard was what I wanted.  So I guess if I find what I
want, doesn't seem to matter if it's staged or not, although staged is more
appealing to the eye at first impression.

Hey, hang on a second, did you just call the whole staging industry rubbish
Mr. Effros?  ;-)  Dem's fightin' words!  Just kidding.... :-)   ..but I'll
keep a safe distance just in case the stagers start fighting back.  ;-)

  _____  

From:
5-dayforum-bounces+babb1=comcast.net at mailman.howtosellyourhomein5days.com
[mailto:5-dayforum-bounces+babb1=comcast.net at mailman.howtosellyourhomein5day
s.com] On Behalf Of Bill Effros
Sent: Monday, September 03, 2007 5:00 PM
To: How To Sell Your Home in 5-Days
Subject: [5-DayForum] Putting Lipstick on a Pig

Allison,

I don't believe that putting lipstick on a pig is what sells it.

Clean your home.  Get it as nice as you can.  The market will tell you what
it's worth.

Stick to the rule in the book.  If you are not POSITIVE you will get back $2
for every $1 you spend--don't spend it.  You'll put more money in your
pocket at the end of the day.

Staging is rubbish as far as I'm concerned.

Bill Effros

Allison Babb wrote: 

So that makes me wonder about staging..  

Given your analogy, would it be safe to say that staging your home does not
make it sell at a higher price?  That's what stagers say all the time-that
staged homes sell for more money.  Given your analogy, sounds like staging
may get your home sold sooner but not necessarily at a higher price than an
identical non-staged home?  

Or were you saying that this particular market you shouldn't expect to get
more $$ for extras and staging, but you may indeed get more $$ for extras
and staging if we were in a "seller's market?"   Just curious...

--Allison

  _____  

From:
5-dayforum-bounces+babb1=comcast.net at mailman.howtosellyourhomein5days.com
[mailto:5-dayforum-bounces+babb1=comcast.net at mailman.howtosellyourhomein5day
s.com] On Behalf Of Bill Effros
Sent: Monday, September 03, 2007 3:54 PM
To: How To Sell Your Home in 5-Days
Subject: [5-DayForum] The Toyota Analogy

David,

We've discussed this situation before.

If 2 identical Toyotas are offered for sale at the same time, but one has a
sunroof and the other doesn't, the one with the sunroof will sell first, but
they will both sell at the same price.

No one will pay you extra for the upgrades, just as you didn't pay the
builder extra in the first place.  If prices continued to decline you can
expect to get less than you paid.

There is no harm in pointing out all the extras, just don't think that will
increase the selling price in this market.

Bill Effros

capndave2k at netscape.net wrote: 

Hi All,

We are running our sale this weekend 9/8-9.  The home is a highly upgraded
1710 sq. ft. 3/2 in Surprise AZ.  It was delivered to us from the builder in
May 2006 (I was working in Arizona at the time).  The market had already
begun to decline at that time and the builder was actually forced to reduce
the contract price because they were offering many more incentives to new
buyers at the time which reduced the appraisal. 

That having been said.  I'm pretty sure that I have many more amenities in
this house than you would find in virtually any other house with the same
plan in this community.  What I was thinking was that I would include a
summary list of the builder upgrades including the original price as part of
the information packet and make the Construction and Design Center work
orders available to for the buyer's inspection.  

My thought is that it would let the buyers see that this particular house
has more "added value" than what they will see elsewhere.  We know and will
have told them that we are expecting to take a loss on the house so
hopefullly this would encourage them to calculate the value of the home for
themselves.

What do you think?  Would this be helpful or harmful?  

David Cron

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