Ms. San Francisco Real Estate (Janice Lee)

How to sell your ‘ugly’ house when no one is biting In today’s market, renovated move-in ready properties sell at a premium. But what if you can’t or won’t fix up your house? A property that is dated, unrenovated or unloved, can linger on the market for months, pushing the price down. Fixer-uppers may have been appealing a decade ago, but today they leave buyers cold, said McKenzie Ryan, an agent with Compass in New York City. “Ten years ago, most people wanted to add some value and put their own fingerprint on it,” she said. “Now it has been such a shift, particularly with millennial buyers — they want a finished product. They don’t want to put in the sweat equity.” For homeowners without the money or time for a renovation, new options can help sell a property with no out-of-pocket costs. Pre-sale renovations with no upfront cost Some real estate agencies, like Compass, Coldwell Banker and Keller Williams, are offering renovation services with no upfront ...

What further negotiations can take place after an offer is accepted?     - Once the purchase agreement between buyer and seller has been accepted, there are still items that can come up and require further negotiating. One of the most common is the home inspection - and unless a home is flawless-which few are-there will probably be some negotiations between the parties before the close of escrow. The purpose of the home inspection is to find significant defects that would cause a buyer to not want to move forward with the transaction, or, at the very least, have the items repaired. Negotiating repairs after a home inspection should be kept to what is vital, and not previously known prior to writing an offer. When negotiating home inspection items, we always recommend a credit at closing, or a price reduction, whenever possible. There is too much uncertainty and stress on seller to do repair work if it can be avoided. The buyer is likely to be particular about the ...