4 âEmergenciesâ That Are Actually Normal When Selling Your Home
If thereâs a mantra every first-time seller should memorize, itâs this: Expect the unexpected. While your Realtor is going to educate you about the process of selling your home and share their thoughts about how the sale could go based on whatâs going on in your market right now, no two sales are exactly alike. Thatâs because there are any number of issues that can come up at any point that can affect anything from your timeline to your budget.
When these issues pop up to you, the first-time seller, they feel like an emergency. You worry that you wonât be able to sell your home, or that maybe youâve made a terrible mistake, or even worry just because your Realtor is 100% calm about the situation thatâs sending you into overdrive.
Turns out, theyâre calm for a reason. Some issues are so common that experienced agents build these little setbacks into their timeline. Hereâs a quick list of just a few of the most common surprises:
1. You have to completely re-stage your home.
However tactfully communicated, few people enjoy hearing that their current furniture is going to turn off potential buyers, that most of their personal treasures (family photos, heirlooms, antiques, etc.) need to be put in storage and that they need to do an epic declutter before they can sell their home. Itâs a little embarrassing and might push back your timeline. You might think: âThey should be looking at the home, not my fun run memorabilia.â
Yet the cliched reactions of reality show home buyers are how real-life buyers actually react. They do focus on paint color instead of room size, lighting instead of location, decor choices instead of layout, etc. Plus, the more âstuffâ in a room, the smaller it will feel.
Staging isnât about judging your possessions, but about helping buyers see themselves living in the space. If your Realtor is gently suggesting a lot of staging, understand that itâs probably because your homeâs present state isnât going to allow buyers to do that.
2. You have to spend money to fix a problem that you didnât even notice.
A move is going to stretch your budget, even if you own your home outright and are experiencing a sellerâs market in your area. So when your Realtor suggests having a carpenter come in to check on the squeaky floorboards that youâve tuned out over the years, a team of painters to come by to take your walls from beige to eggshell white, an electrician to address the 10-second delay with your front door light and an exterminator to see where a single ant came from, youâre probably more than a little frustrated. After all, youâve lived with all of this, is it really going to be a big deal?
Yes. Like staging, your agent is coming in to your home with the fresh eye and the instinctive knowledge of what buyers always notice. Spending a little now can mean your home sits for fewer days on the market.
3. The buyerâs inspector basically wrote a book called âEverything is Wrong With Your Home.â
This surprise may send you into panic mode, because a heavy-handed inspection report seems like the precursor to a doomed sale. Your agent already educated you about disclosures, had an inspector come by, asked you to fix major and minor issues, and yet thereâs somehow a bunch of problems.
The issue comes down to the inspector. The buyerâs inspector might just be more stringent than others, or just likes to be exceedingly thorough when listing wear-and-tear issues. You should still expect to hear that there are problems with your home, though. While a potential buyer can (and often will) use the inspection report to negotiate, your agent will offer guidance on what requests are reasonable and what arenât.
4. You had a buyerâŠand now you donât.
The sale couldnât have gone smoother. You had a few offers, found a great buyer, had a contract signed and you were doneâŠor so you thought. Welcome to the contingency period, where anything can happen. Maybe the buyerâs financing fell through. Perhaps the buyers were a couple who suddenly decided they were incompatible. Maybe the inspector found the beginnings of a thriving termite neighborhood under your deck. Whatever the reason was, the contract fell through and youâre back on the market.
While you canât predict what can happen during the contingency period, you can mitigate some risk here beforehand. Consider offers from buyers who have been pre-approved for financing and opt to fix anything that you know needs to be fixed (including having HVAC system serviced and changing your furnace filter) before your home hits the market. Then, schedule a few fun things during the contingency period to keep stress levels manageable.
While we tried to outline a few common âemergenciesâ that can send a first-time sellerâs heart racingâŠwe know that every seller has different timelines and priorities.
If youâre unsure of how much you should be preparing your home for an upcoming sale, weâre here to listen to your concerns and help walk you through the process.