Real Estate Perception

It's all about perception.  Just like the Hindu fable of the blind men and the elephant, what one sees in the real estate transaction is not always real or complete.  Recently, this fact has become very apparent in my St. Paul sales.

1. The prospective buyer saw discoloration on the basement walls and assumed there had been leakage.  Because no leakage was disclosed on the seller's disclosure, the buyer assumed the seller was dishonest, became mistrusting, and moved on to other houses.
2. A patch in a wood floor was "discovered" in the buyer's final walk-through (their 4th time in the home).  It was assumed a chair was purposely placed over the patch to conceal a cosmetic defect.  The buyers' mistrust of the seller's honesty led to insistence that the floor be professionally patched and refinished.  The sellers were offended by the implication of deceit which caused unnecessary tension in the transaction.
3. The decorating in the St. Paul house was very dated even though the mechanicals were all less than 5 years old.  The buyer assumed that because the house was not "pretty" other things had been let go and moved on.
4. The basement reeked of a sewer gas like smell.  The buyers checked around the bathroom and laundry areas trying to find the source of the smell, but were unable to locate it.  The smell was overpowering and they assumed there was a major plumbing issue.  The buyers moved on.
5. The yard was not mowed and the flower gardens were filled with weeds.  The buyers assumed the house was a disaster inside and chose not to view the house.

The real truth in each of these cases:

1. The basement had never had water as evidenced by the stacks of cardboard boxes stored on that wall when the home was listed.  None of the boxes were on palettes nor showed any sign of water damage.  The seller had been over zealous in wanting to seal out possible water intrusion and applied a sealant to the mortar between the blocks causing the discoloration.
2. The chair had been purchased just 2 weeks prior for the sellers' new home so was not even in the home on the previous 3 times the buyers visited.  The sellers did not consider the patch a defect because that was the natural place to put a rug for doffing their shoes when entering the home.
3. Dated cosmetics in a mechanically sound home is not unusual of a pre-retirement seller.  Often the mechanicals have been meticulously maintained, but the cosmetics don't seem old because they have not malfunctioned.
4. This was an embarrassing situation.  The teen son had visited the bathroom just before our arrival and while he flushed, he did not put the exhaust fan on.  We were able to revisit the home at another time with no further sewer smell.
5. The house was great inside.  The seller had recently lost a family member and was unable to maintain both the interior and exterior upkeep alone.  A choice was made to keep a clean house to the detriment of the yard.

Jumping to conclusions about the motivation of the other parties in the transaction, or about the condition of the house, can negatively impact the real estate transaction or prevent finding a home that fits the buyer's criteria.  Asking questions without jumping to conclusions can make the transaction go more smoothly.

Comments

[Daisy]

The post really makes a hearty reading but nevertheless it takes the point home. It only goes to show the negligence from the part of the buyer. A house is something that one must pay his out most attention before jumping into a deal. One must use technology to assist him in his search. I say this because I practice this advise. Yes, it may seem that I am ranting but pay attention, I am giving some sound advise. Today an effective search would be incomplete without the use of search portals. One must use them to make a perfect choice of property and broker as well. See when I was buying my home in LA, I used Resortscape to find my dream home. I did the search and on it got what I was looking for, they got me in touch with broker and finally in the presence of an attorney we made the deal. Simple! and very logical way to get what I wanted. Well, I leave the link you can make use of it. (http://www.resortscape.com/default.aspx?ct=r&q=home%20in%20LA&utm_medium=linktous&utm_source=PT)