In reference to our recent post, “How to be a good home buyer or seller.,” we thought it might be good to cover some real world examples to help showcase why these items were so important.
“Seek advice of experts.”
There once was an individual who was an avid HGTV watcher. He loved the designers, watched the reruns of rehabs, and ate up all of the handy, do-it yourself tips. He approached his agent with grand plans to install an astroturf lawn on his property. He saw it on television, it got rave reviews in it’s Arizona neighborhood and he just knew that spending the extra $15k was going to bring him loads more when he went to sell. His agent advised against investing so much money in something so rare in his neighborhood. He chose not to listen to his local REALTOR®, and instead went ahead with the project on his $98,000 home.
He did get the property under contract eventually, but when it came time for an appraisal, there was a problem. Not only could the appraiser not find any other properties nearby with a similar feature (to determine value), but this particular appraiser actually the perpetually green lawn as a detraction and subtracted value from the property for it. Not only was the seller not able to sell the property for what he wanted (the property did not appraise and a lower sales price had to be negotiated), but the seller ended up losing money on the deal because the extra $15K investment could not be substantiated.
As Chris Griffith, a Bonita Springs real estate agent, wrote in her MLS Fail Shots post on AgentGenius, “Design on a Dime lied to you.“
Need expert advice for your next real estate transaction? Contact us and one of our agents will help guide you through your next home sale or purchase.
image courtesy of !!!! scogle