Real Estate Market

An energetic real estate agent can have your home on the market in a day. However, to provide the kind of marketing exposure you need to sell in today's market takes a little longer, unless your home is photo-ready when you list.

Ideally, you should start planning for your home sale months before you want your home to be on the market. First, find an agent to represent you. Then, create a game plan together for the premarketing phase of the process.

Use your agent as a resource. Walk through your home with your agent to get feedback on work, decluttering, and rearranging that needs to be done before the house is photographed for advertising and shown to prospective buyers. If your agent doesn't have a good eye for design, ask for a recommendation of a staging decorator.

HOUSE HUNTING TIP: Preferably, your home should not be submitted to the multiple listing service (MLS) or home-sale Internet sites without photos. Studies have shown that many buyers don't consider a listing that doesn't have photos.

Some sellers have presale inspections done to find out if repairs should be made before the property goes on the market. This wasn't as important several years ago when buyers were enthusiastic about the prospect of making money in the residential real estate market. Now buyers are much more cautious, and property condition is a critical variable.

One seller did a beautiful job fixing up her house for sale. She ordered a termite report and had some of the work done. But she didn't hire a home inspector to inspect the house. The interior was top-notch. In fact, more money was spent on this than was necessary. The listing agent was hired after the work had been done so the seller didn't benefit from the agent's advice about how much to spend and on what.

The house sold with multiple offers. However, the buyer's home inspection report revealed that the house needed a new foundation. Fortunately, there was a backup buyer. But, the price was negotiated down significantly. In hindsight, it would have been better to have fixed the foundation and done a less expensive redo of the interior.

A couple sold a similar home. They worked with their agent for months before the house was marketed. They did presale inspections and got estimates for painting, staging, furnace replacement, making necessary structural modifications and fixing miscellaneous defects referenced in the termite report.

Then, they prioritized, with input from their agent, and had the most critical repairs and enhancements done before the listing hit the MLS. There was no renegotiation necessary with the buyers after they completed their inspections.

Make sure buyers receive copies of proposals and paid invoices for work you did to your home so they know which items in your presale inspection reports have been repaired.

Another couple, who plan to move in a few years, decided to get their home ready to sell now. They put in a new master bathroom, refinished floors and plan to replace a dry-rotted deck. They will enjoy the improvements for the remaining years they stay in the house.

Most sellers wait until the last minute to get their house ready for sale. It can be very stressful trying to get all the work done in a short time frame. Doing work gradually over time is a saner approach. Sadly, most homes never look as good as they do when they're sold.

THE CLOSING: Now is a good time to have work done. A lot of contractors are looking for work. You might receive more competitive bids and be able to have the work done when you want.

Today's home sales are all about negotiation. Negotiating the purchase price is the first step. A second round of negotiations can occur after the buyers complete their inspections. For sellers who negotiated to their rock-bottom price, this can be disappointing and a possible deal-breaker.

Buyers who are willing and able to buy in this market need to feel they are getting a good value. Property condition is a big consideration. Correcting defects adds to the cost. If the buyers still want to buy after completing inspections, and the sellers need or want to sell, an attempt should be made to reach an agreement on inspection-related issues.

First, sellers should carefully review the buyers' reports and their request for repairs, price concessions or credits. Keep in mind that there is a certain amount of subjectivity in inspectors' opinions. For example, one roofer might think a roof needs to be replaced. Another may feel that the roof is serviceable with routine maintenance and is not at the end of its life.

HOUSE HUNTING TIPS: Sellers have the right to get another opinion for repairs. A second opinion could result in a lower estimate, or it could be higher. Seller disclosure requirements vary from one state to the next. Even if it's not required, it's a good idea for sellers to give all reports and estimates to the buyers. In California, sellers who concealed reports they didn't like have been successfully sued by buyers.

Sometimes sellers have work done before they put their home on the market. Occasionally, a buyer's inspector finds damage that was to have been repaired but was not. In this case, the sellers should have the original inspector visit the property to make sure the work was completed.

Recently, an Oakland Hills, Calif., homeowner had a wood-destroying -- commonly called "termite" -- pest inspection done and had the damage corrected before marketing the property. When a second pest company inspected the house, damage was found at some areas where the previous pest company had done work.

The first pest company agreed that the job hadn't been completed. The company agreed to finish the job at no additional cost. This eliminated an inspection issue at no cost to the sellers or buyers. Defects in items that are under warranty may be corrected at the company's expense.

Sellers can get bogged down on principle, particularly if the buyers make an "as is" offer, had reviewed presale inspection reports before making an offer and then asked the seller to repair defects included in those reports. Some sellers feel this is not playing fair.

The buyers may not have intended to make repair requests when they initially negotiated the purchase agreement. But, after researching costs to repair defects, they may find themselves outside their financial comfort zone.

Buyers should focus on health and safety issues when they approach sellers for help repairing defects. Sellers will often take care of these. However, buyers shouldn't expect sellers to pay to upgrade the property.

It's hard for some sellers to repair items they have lived with for years with no adverse consequence. At some point, defects need to be corrected to prevent further damage to the property.

Buyers should prioritize their request for repairs. Then buyers should ask for help with the most pressing issues, unless they already factored the cost into their initial offer price.

Before walking away from a sale due to inspection-related defects, sellers should seriously consider if they will do better pricewise if they put their home back on the market, particularly if prices in the area are declining.

THE CLOSING: Before giving up, buyers should consider how easy or difficult it will be to find another home they like as much.

Dian Hymer is a nationally syndicated real estate columnist and author.