Why Do Littleton and Highlands Ranch Real Estate Sellers NOT Allow Showings?

It's an amazing phenomenon - but even in a buyers market (where frustrated Sellers have a hard time getting showings and good purchase offers, and where most houses take 3-9 months to sell) - that there are still so many INSANE and outright 'stupid' Sellers who will not accommodate Buyers to show their homes!!!

Can you imagine the 'stupidity' of a Sellers who demands that the Buyer accommodate them, and will decline showings to possibly sell their house - not unless the buyer can come at a later time, or the next day?

NOTE TO ALL HOME SELLERS: Please do NOT ever turn a potential buyer away from seeing your house, no matter how bad the home looks, no matter how many dirty dishes are in the sink - or how tired you are or if your dinner was interrupted...

In the last 2 days, I have had a Buyer in from Oregon who only has 3 days to find and get a house under contract - and who has been DECLINED 6 showings on homes she really wanted to see! Those 6 houses have a 100% probability that she will NOT buy them...and the Sellers and their real estate listing agents should win awards for 'stupidity'!!! Three other Sellers made it very difficult for us to see their homes, but because our schedule had some time open - I went out of my way to drive back to see those homes. Of those 3 homes, my Buyer way not very pleased with the "stupidity of those sellers" and was irritated enough, that she had 'tainted' views of the Sellers homes before we even went in them - she was psychologically stigmatized to my Buyer before we even walked in the house!

After looking at Highlands Ranch homes for sale, Littleton real estate and southeast Denver homes for sale for 2 days with my Buyer - let me give ALL home Sellers and your listing agents some GREAT ADVICE:

1. When a car is parked outside of your home, and a Realtor calls your office to show your home - please DO NOT BE STUPID and say you're too busy or preoccupied to have a showing!

2. When you mandate your showing instructions for "24 hours notice to show"... I'll BET YOU $100 that your house takes 4-9 months to sell - and you get a FAR LOWER price that you 'thought' you'd get!

3. Buyers MUST see the inside of your house to "make up their minds" if they want to buy & live in a house like yours - so PLEASE be accommodating to ALL showing requests! Most showings only take less than 10 minutes...so can't you just walk around the block, sit quietly out on the patio/deck - or go drive and get some milk & eggs at the grocery store - while I try and SELL YOUR HOUSE!!!

4. If you don't like cleaning and home maintenance - then PLEASE hire a professional cleaning company like Merry Maids to clean your house and shampoo your carpet - especially trying to get out all the pet odors (...that you must enjoy smelling?) Hire Handyman Connections to fix all your broken stuff in the house - so it actually looks like you "cared" about your house for the last 5 years living there!!!

The MORAL of this story for all you Denver Realtors and home sellers is this...

I can't sell your house if my buyers can't see the inside of it right NOW - when WE WANT TO SEE IT!!! Did you forget that the term "buyers" means we want to actually buy a house like yours???

Right now, I'm "wondering" if our US housing crisis and glut of too many homes for sale is NOT a component of our economy - but instead, is a component of SHEER STUPIDITY on sellers and listing agents...

Thank God for GOOD CREDIT Loans!

Yes indeed - "Thank God" for those buyers who have good credit so they can keep our real estate market plugging along this summer selling season!

You see, without good credit now (typically a 600+ mid-fico score to qualify for a FHA 30-Year fixed rate) our Littleton & Highlands Ranch real estate market would not be doing very well at all...nor would the rest of the Denver real estate market - or the whole national real estate market for that matter! Statistics show that around 24%-27% of all potential homebuyers in Denver now (and nationally) have lower credit scores and CANNOT qualify to buy a home with the stricter mortgage lending regulations now in place since last fall. Here's why...

What that means is that 24%-27% of the existing Littleton, Highlands Ranch and metro Denver real estate CANNOT be bought now...causing a continuance in the real estate selling problems plaguing the USA now. Yes - that means that about one in four homes for sale will NEVER sell during the 4-9 month listing period - because 1/4 of all potential buyers CANNOT qualify for a mortgage loan now. This is not "doom & gloom" - it's just stating a stastistical fact. To take advantage of this problem, most Sellers ABSOLUTELY need to make sure that their home is in 'fine' selling condition - and priced accordingly!

Selling condition means: 1) Clean and in "model home" showing condition, 2) freshly painted walls in NEUTRAL colors!, 3) remodeled and updated kitchens, bathrooms, new or newer carpet and NOT looking like anything that has "Brady Bunch" era decor, 4) Nicely landscaped exterior & yard - with flower pots on the entry or porch areas, 5) NO CLUTTER and no old wallpaper/old messes/pet odors! Sellers absolutely need to spend more time and MONEY to get your home sold this summer!

Buyers DO NOT want to make you a full price offer if they have to fix-up or remodel your dang house! Worse yet, they will probably find a nicer home in your subdivision that DOESN'T need new carpet, paint and major remodeling - because THOSE other Sellers were given advice that having a nearly perfect house will actually help them sell their house FASTER and for MORE MONEY!!! Buyers are now required to put 3-10% Down Payment to qualify for almost every single mortgage loan offered currently (...there are NO MORE $0 Down loans folks!) which means they will NOT have extra money to do your remodeling, painting and carpet that your home needs!!! REALTOR TIP: You spend the money upfront for all this fix-up stuff and your home will sell faster.

If you'll make your home look pleasant for incoming buyers at your showings, you'll increase your 'probability' of getting a good or reasonably good purchase price offer! Pretty simple - huh?

Unfortunately, I showed homes last weekend in the Littleton area at $250,000 to $280,000 - and 6 out of 10 homes looked terrible when the Buyers walked inside of them! No one wants to buy your crappy looking house - and my Buyers didn't want to spend the time or money to remodel your "mess"!

Read my next blog on: "The Top 3 Reasons Your House WON'T Sell This Summer - and The Top 5 Reasons Why Buyers Will NOT Buy Your House."