I’m not sure about you, but I’m so over the housing market variation in quality. One of our favorite pastime ones is to go house hunting (because you never know!) but lately it’s just been more frustrating than not. Our friend is a realtor and after speaking with her, we realized we’re not alone. Here are some changes I wish the real estate market would make:
(1) require the seller to do a fully inspection before the house goes on the market
- this would help buyers and sellers alike be eyes-wide open with what the state of their house is
- sellers can determine which items they will fix (and list which have been fixed) and which won’t
- now someone doesn’t fall in love with something only to find out there are tons of problems and then figuring out what will be fixed or not becomes a whole event
(2) create and implement a scale by which the upkeep of the house is defined and incorporate that into the sale price.
- sorry, but just basing it on square footage alone is no longer ok. I could have a 3000 sq ft house in shambles and another impeccably upkept and they go on the market for the same price? All that does is frustrate the seller and the buyer because it sets unrealistic expectations.
- instead, create a scale (1-5 or 1-10, don’t care) where 1 is completely in shambles and 5 (or 10) is brand new. Then, on a scale of 1-5 you have 4 being “like new / well kept”, 3 being “average” and 2 being “needs work”. Now you factor that into the starting list price and value and, again, eyes wide open. No one is surprised and MAYBE it would incentivise people to actually maintain their properties.
Share other ideas you have in the comments! Happy house hunting.