Space Heaters Kill Sales

Picture this: a 3300 square foot brick center hall colonial with lots of upgrades, impeccable furnishings and appointments, beautiful decor and furniture, located in a swanky suburb. When I arrived to show it to my buyers, we see a crummy space heater in the dining room, 10 feet from an heirloom chandelier. What are these people thinking? A house like this is selling a lifestyle, so why are the people too cheap to turn up the heat for 15 minutes to get their house sold? What a colossal waste.

If a home is being shown that day, people need to dispense with the space heaters, turn on the lights (don’t make me grope around in the dark), and get lost. Your utility bill will be $50 higher that month but your home will sell for more money, faster.

Another showing later that afternoon, same buyer clients: the co-listing agents meet us, and “double team” my buyers. He’s got the husband engaged in the den, talking about God Knows What, she’s got the wife in the master bedroom blathering about the closets. My showing. My clients. They either saw me glaring or realized on their own that this was too much because they backed off a minute later. This was the worst case of divide and conquer I have seen in ages; what made it worse was a reference one of them made to my client that they had spoken on the phone once a long while ago.  

I should note that both of these listings were nightmares to get scheduled. I blogged about them last week when I wrote Unseen= Unsold. This business isn’t rocket science, folks. A little common sense goes a long way. Turn on the lights. Ditch the space heater. Don’t elbow in on another agent’s buyer clients. We don’t split atoms. It shouldn’t be this hard.