Reasons to Sell A House During Fall,

Help for the San Diego Trustee

Rene and I have been working together to prepare her mother’s San Diego house for a successful sale. Her mother passed away in July and as the San Diego trustee, Rene was responsible for selling the home. She and her brother Tom where spending a few days each week going through and organizing their mother’s personal belongings. It was important to them to honor their mother’s wish to donate her things to the humane society and to her church. As they went through boxes, they were surprised and delighted to find little notes from their mother. They shared some of the notes, and I thought what a great idea to lighten the experience for her children of looking through all the things she had saved and stored over the years.

After nearly three months, they were just about done with going through all the personal property and we met again at the home to plan the next step; the preparation step of the home. As we walked through the nearly vacant home, and since the home was built in 1953, I asked if they recalled hardwood floors under the carpet. Since the carpet was 20+ years old, my recommendation was to have the carpet removed to expose the valuable hardwood. I explained that it was a cost-effective repair that would definitely bring a higher price and more buyer interest. They wanted to consider just having the carpets cleaned, and we talked about the cost of cleaning the carpet vs removing the carpet. The decision was made and the carpet was removed a few days later.

We were rapidly moving towards offering the San Diego house to homebuyers when Rene shared that had talked with some of her friends and she was worried about putting the home on the market in the last quarter of the year. She was concerned that as the San Diego trustee having the house on the market during the holidays was the wrong thing to do. I explained that experience shows:

• Less competition because the housing inventory is still under less than a 6-month supply. In San Diego, a normal market would be having that 6-month supply and since that is not the case, there aren’t enough homes for sale to satisfy the buyers that are currently wanting to become San Diego home owners.
• During the holidays, traditional San Diego home sellers tend to not put their homes on the market. If they are on the market, they tend to minimize the available times for showings.
• Buyers on the other hand are actively looking for their dream home and are often competing with one another for the San Diego houses that are available.

I asked Rene to consider the reasons to sell and think about whether it’s worth waiting. Is it better to continue to have the carrying costs of the vacant home and the emotional attachment to the home? Or has the time come for you and your brother to simplify your lives by letting go and allowing a new family to enjoy the San Diego house?

I received a phone call from Rene the next day. She and Tom had made their decision and they were ready to move to the next step of selling. I scheduled a professional cleaning including all the windows. Their mother’s San Diego home was looking it’s best; the hardwood floors were a great improvement over the old carpet. Rene and Tom are outrageously happy with how their mother’s home looked and proud to offer it to home buyers.