Waiting for the magic...

Patience and perseverance have a magical affect before which difficulties disappear and obstacles vanish – John Quincy Adams. That was the saying that a co-worker put into all of her Christmas cards to her fellow Realtors. Likely it is good advice for the Realtors and their clients.

I often go over what I call the “three-P’s of real estate” – patience, perseverance and price – with listing clients. I do that within the context of a discussion of their role in the process. I usually also discuss the three-C’s of real estate – clutter, cleanliness and condition – and help them understand what they need to do and keep doing during the listing to keep the house in showing shape.

In the current market I have to advise that it will likely take 12- 18 months to sell, unless they are pricing at the foreclosure level, so patience is required. The perseverance comes to play every day when they have to get the house in showing shape before going off to work. Of course the price issue is one that we constantly must re-visit in the face of still declining market values.

The three-C’s of real estate are something that must usually be dealt with prior to getting the house on the market and then must be maintained. It is so easy to let clutter creep back into the picture or to not continue to make those little touch-up repairs as things happen during the listing. And, let’s face it; cleanliness is somewhat in the eye of the beholder. Very few homes are kept in a white-glove inspection condition of cleanliness; however, keeping surfaced dusted and cobwebs out of corners isn’t asking all that much. Running a vacuum over the floors once every day or so doesn’t take that long, it’s just not something that may normally be on the daily schedule.

This time of the year would normally be very slow and indeed things have cooled a bit since November; however, the extended and expanded homebuyer tax credit is starting to have the desired effect of getting more people out into the market before it expires on April 30th. I suspect that we’ll see a nice upswing in February and March, as people rush to beat that deadline. I just have to be patient and persevere until that happens.