When Your Home Doesn't Sell

Dear Home Diva,
My house has been on the market along time. Why won't my house sell?

Sincerely, P.T. High

Dear P.T.,
There are a number things that factor in why a house doesn't sell. While some additional factors may come into play, the main reasons for a home not selling usually are price, condition and location.

While you can't move your house to improves its marketability, you certainly can work on price and condition. If buyers are not looking or making offers on your home, price could be the primary factor. No one wants to pay top dollar for a home that doesn't merit the price.

While I love their programing, HGTV has conditioned a lot of buyers to expect move-in ready, updated homes. If you're missing some of the bells & whistles buyers expect, then you need to make your price attractive to them.

In today's market in the Dallas/Ft. Worth area with inventory low, homes that are priced right sell fairly quickly, so you may need to look at a price adjustment.

I would also take a step back and objectively look at your house and how does it show? Is there too much clutter? Do you need better curb appeal? Does it need a good cleaning? All these can be factors in buyers passing over your home. --the Home Diva

Keeping New Year's Resolutions

January soon will sputter to an end and with it most people's New Year’s resolutions.

According to people who keep track of those sorts of things, between 40 and 45 percent of us make New Year's resolutions. (Raise your hand if you’re like me and do that sort of thing.)

We begin our journey filled with hope, promise and commitment, but by the end of week two, only 71 percent of us trudge on. By six months end, the number drops to 46 percent. As time goes on, success plummets. It's all rather depressing.

Still, there is a bright spot in all of this. 

Researchers say that those people “who explicitly make resolutions are 10 times more likely to attain their goals than people who don’t explicitly make resolutions.”

Ten times. Whew! That’s a lot–enough to make me re-think and re-start my personal, professional and organizational goals and resolutions.

It may be the end of January, but I'm resolved to start tackling my resolution list again.

And, what you might ask the Home Diva does any of all of this have to do with real estate? Why, I'm glad you asked. Whether you've always wanted to buy a home, or upsize or downsize, a firm New Year's commitment can get you on the path to achieving your dreams.

If you need to sell, now is the time to start organizing, cleaning and getting your home market ready. I've got tons of ideas on my Pinterest boards to help get you started.

If you want to buy a home, now is the time to examine your finances and start the pre-approval process. Do you need to save more? Repair your credit? Find a realtor? Again, check out my Pinterest boards for information.

Remember, if we resolve to do this, we are 10 times more likely to succeed!

The 2015 Color of the Year and My Nomination for 2016 Color of the Year

Unlike last year’s cheery Radiant Orchid that supposedly evoked optimism and sophistication, Pantone’s selection of the muted, slightly muddled Marsala as its choice for the 2015 Color of the Year was greeted with mixed reviews.

Marsala, according to the Pantone’s press release, is the color that will enrich “our mind, body and soul, exuding confidence and stability.” Its touted as a “subtly seductive shade” that promises to draw us in “to its embracing warmth.”

Well, not so fast, Missy.

Others have failed to see its beauty, spewing out less than favorable reviews. Most notably this from The Atlantic, “Think rust, the grimy, gag-inducing type that lines corners or frat boy dormitory-style bathrooms. Or blood, the freaky dried kind whose iron content has been exposed to the air long enough to evoke a dull brick.”

Jeepers creepers, when you put it that way, I’m not sure I want that around my house. But I actually like the burgundy tone of Pantone’s 2015 Color of the Year.

More importantly, I like the name of it. Marsala. It reminds me of chicken Marsala, and, hey, what’s not to like about that tasty little dish? But I digress…

Still, it’s no secret that naming colors would be my dream job. I envision myself sitting in a fancy, schmancy corner office after traipsing around the world visiting exotic places (for inspiration) and coming up with extraordinarily creative names for colors for ordinary paint chips. And, all this, of course, while earning a bazillion dollars.

So Pantone guys and gals… I’ve already got your 2016 Color of the Year.

I call it “Taffy Tabby” reminiscent of Howard of the Shelter Cat. Here’s part of my bazillion dollar marketing campaign press release: “Taffy Tabby spins a luxurious mix of vibrant orange hues and esoteric vanilla enhanced creams evoking a fine zen-like balance between playful and serious.”

It’s a tough job, but someone’s got to do it… why not me?

And Pantone, no need to thank me. Just pop my check in the mail.

Homes for sale in Red Oak & Selling Memories

I’ve never been much of a sentimental kind of gal. No siree, Missy. I trudge ahead, barreling forward rocketing into that great oblivion we call the future.  

I am not a looking-back-kind of gal.

So it’s a bit odd that I’ve been waxing a bit poetic and been a tad sentimental the past few days.

I recently sold a home owned by a former student of mine. At closing, she got a bit teary-eyed, and then that got the escrow officer teary-eyed. But, I (who remained dry-eyed) scurried off to locate a box of Kleenex. Finding none, I returned with a napkin I rustled up from the break room.

The sale was an emotional one for my client because it had been her first home. While she dearly loved that house, she needed to move on.

As I was driving back to the office, I made a mental note to start bringing Kleenex to closings because this (ad)venture in real estate has always been more than just selling houses. 

We sell memories, bringing the promise of new ones and new dreams.

And, at least for me, it’s a moment, a glimpse, a condensed vignette of a life moving forward with faith in the future.

I thought about my client again as I drove on down the road and realized I will always see her as that young teenager sitting on a blanket listening to Tom Petty belting out “Runnin’ Down a Dream.”

But isn’t that what we do throughout our lives? We're all just running down a dream… goin’ wherever it leads…

Howard the Shelter Cat & Pet Rent

Howard the Shelter Cat snubbed my latest idea that he should start paying his fair share in rent. I thought it would be a great way to supplement my vacation fund.

As usual, he just yawned and turned his whiskers aside showing his usual indifference to anything non-food related.

It's a good thing I'm such a sap for the furry guy. Otherwise,  he'd be getting his eviction notice speedy quick.

Apparently, charging renters an extra monthly pet fee is becoming more and more the norm, according to recent news reports. That extra fee is in addition to those hefty non-refundable pet security deposits. Most landlords are charging anywhere from 10 to 50 buckeroos extra a month for the privilege of having a pet.

The extra fees supposedly help to pay for those pet walkways, parks, waste bags and other expenses related to pets.

Lucky for Howie, we don't rent. We own a home. Chalk up one more reason it's better to own, then rent.

Still, if there were some way Howie could work just a bit for his room and board…

The Home Diva Unplugged

I wanted to post something interesting… and uplifting… and perhaps valuable. 

Instead, I've been feeling slightly snarky, and that snarkiness is flowing unabated like floodwaters after a torrential rain.

Heaven help us… We've got the Home Diva here Unplugged.

And that my friends is probably not a very good thing.

No siree, Missy. It's got me singing along with Miranda Lambert and Carrie Underwood, "Got a real good feeling something bad about to happen…"

Since I launched my ad(venture) in real estate, I marvel at the number of people who aren't very fond of real estate agents and who begrudge agents a commission. 

I'm not exactly sure where these people think I live, but apparently they think it's somewhere in never-never land where I can work for free, pay my bills with monopoly money and eat pretend food. Jeepers creepers, if that were the case, I would look a lot more like Barbie than a Cabbage Patch doll. I'm just sayin'.

I wish I could blame the public's perception on Bravo's Million Dollar Listing reality shows where agents come across as self-absorbed prima donnas appearing to rake in a ton of moo-lah while barely breaking a sweat to complete a transaction. 

Instead, sadly, real estate agents need to shoulder some of the blame for this poor public perception. Like the public, I must say I have encountered agents who fail to return telephone calls, fail to communicate in a timely manner, fail to problem-solve for clients, fail to be pro-active, fail to ensure a transaction works… fail to… 

Well, let's just generalize: Fail to do their job. Period. Exclamation Point. End of sentence.

There. I said it. Yep. Home Diva Unplugged. I never said it would be pretty.

These agents are the ones who make it difficult for the rest of us who view this as a career (not just a job) and who really do care about their clients and providing excellent customer service.

When I started this (ad)venture, I read (and was told) that 90 percent of real estate agents drop out after their first year because they under-estimated the amount of work it takes to grow a business, and they didn't realize the financial cost of getting their business up and running. The costs–office fees, MLS fees, marketing, required association memberships, lock box and key card fees, insurance, brokerage commission splits etc.–come at a hefty price.

For me, that attrition statistic rings true. I think I'm the only one left in my office who started working about the same time I did. (An interesting little tidbit, don't you think? What can I say? I'm stubborn and snarky.)

And now, if we could just get those other ones in real estate brokerage firms all across the country who fail to do their jobs to move on… Well then, I think the public overall would have a more favorable impression of real estate agents, and perhaps, I would be a little less snarky.

Perhaps.

13 Years Later Remembering 9/11

There was a time when I walked through the day in a daze.

There was a time when I couldn't and wouldn't schedule anything on that day.

There was a time when I read vignettes from the 576-page Portraits of Grief book.

There was a time when I stared at the photographs of all the first responders who died that day.

There was a time when I tried to make sense of it all.

And so as we approach the 13th Anniversary of 9/11, I realize that life has crossed over into this day bringing bits and pieces of normalcy where none existed before. There are errands to run, appointments to keep, work to do.

And yet, 13 years later, I still have not forgotten you--each and every one who perished on that day. I still hear you like ghosts whispering in the wind.

I will always remember you.

I will never forget.