Buyers - Don't Overlook That Diamond in the Rough

The big "Bzz" word today in the real estate world is Staging. It seems you can't turn to a real estate show on TV or pick up a print article without being told that to sell your home today it must be staged properly. This is leading to some unnaturally high expectations from buyers when looking at homes and they are very likely overlooking a perfect gem just because it doesn't show like it just stepped out of the pages of a design magazine.

Staging is nothing more than a marketing campaign designed to make you think the product (in this case the house) is better than the others just because it "looks" better. There is nothing wrong with that. Regardless of what you are selling, it should always show its best to sell that goes without saying, but as a buyer you need to see beyond that and really look at the house itself. Remember, you are buying the house not the accessories. When you close that all gets moved out and YOUR stuff gets moved in.

Take the case of the buyer who has narrowed it down to 2 houses. One is in their perfect neighborhood, has the size they wanted (bedrooms, bathrooms, etc.) , as well as some nice extras - large yard, maybe some extra living space such as a family room. But it definitely needs some updating, maybe the paint colors are not your taste or it has the dreaded wallpaper. Carpeting is old, needs to go, but underneath is hardwood floors that just need a little TLC. Maybe the kitchen screams 1980, you get the picture.

Then they look at house #2. Its location is farther out, not their target neighborhood. Its missing that extra bathroom they felt was so important. Maybe the outside space is not as nice, its missing valuable extras like a family room, the rooms are smaller. Now the hook, its staged beautifully. They walk around and ooh and ahh at the decorating. Yes, this house isn't what they said they wanted, and it is $30k more than the other, but its so updated, move in ready, and they are sold on the decorating.

Now check back 6 months later when they are all moved in, and you'll find that they are happy - now that they've made some changes that is. Turns out that "move in ready" house - not so much. Once the staging items were moved out and their own stuff moved in the color scheme they fell in love with just didn't quite go, so they went ahead and painted most of the rooms. That formal dining room they loved the idea of, once moved in it they found it didn't really fit in with their life style so they went ahead and knocked down some walls to create a big open floor plan. Of course, that meant re doing the flooring as well. Remember that extra bathroom they could make do without, turns out that didn't really work for them either, so they've had to add an extra bathroom. Now several months of remodeling, quite a bit more money later and they finally have the perfect home - well, all most. It is still in a less convenient location for them and the size of the yard still isn't what they wanted but those you can't change.

Now had they looked at the house itself and not just the decorating, they would have realized that house #1 had everything they wanted. With some paint and updating (which they ended up doing anyways) they could have had everything on their wish list without any compromising and it would have cost them less.

Instead for more money, and after having to do some rehab anyways, they sorta have what they wanted. That is, if their expectations of the "perfect" house hasn't kept them from choosing one at all. That's not always the case, sometimes the perfect looking house IS the perfect house, just make sure you consider everything, including the potential and not just the surface picture.