My realtor called to let me know she received a call from another realtor who has an out-of-town client interested in seeing the place, and getting a copy of the seller’s disclosure. The client will be the area for the holiday weekend, and made an appointment to see it on Friday. The other realtor happens to be one of the ones who came through during the open house for realtors, although I’ve no idea whether she recommended the place to her client, or whether the client saw the listing and asked to see it.
The place has been listed for less than a month. No pictures were even available on the MLS until a little over a week ago. So far, there’s only been one open house for the general public, but 13 parties came through to take a look. Supposedly, only a couple of those stopped by out of idle curiosity, one of whom was someone else in the neighborhood who has had her place listed for a few months.
I can’t say whether the market is really beginning to pick up, but at least people are starting to look. Asking for the seller’s disclosure is no guarantee they will put in an offer, but it does mean they’re not ready to say “next” just yet. It’s encouraging.
According to my realtor, everyone who has seen the place has commented about how well they like the color scheme we chose for the interior paint and new carpet. I’m no interior decorator, but even I can tell at a glance what colors will coordinate with each other.
I kept it extremely neutral. Neutral colors have two advantages: they’re inoffensive, and they never date themselves. Gray/mauve/wedgewood blue screams 1987, tangerine/lime/lemon screams 1972, and harvest gold/avocado green screams 1969. I didn’t want to go there.
I had one neighbor whose place took well over a year to sell; part of the reason was the hideous dark gray/puce color scheme he chose when he redecorated it. It was on the market for six months while he still lived there, and probably another nine, after he’d moved elsewhere. I was not about to scare away buyers with an offensive color scheme, or give them any reason to lowball an offer, saying they’d have to rip out everything and spend a fortune redoing it.
Well, let’s see what happens on Friday after the other realtor’s client sees the place. Maybe the place will be shown to other potential buyers in the meantime. One step at a time.
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