During my preliminary consult with sellers, I always ask, “Are you ready to sell?”  They always say, “Yes.”

But the fact of the matter is: most of them aren’t.  Here’s why…

Before I delve into the crux of this essay, let me first explain the impetus for the idea in the first place.

I went to see a condominium unit in the east end of downtown yesterday to essentially “preview” it for a couple of clients.

My clients are looking at only 3-4 buildings in the area, and they want something unique.  This unit was definitely unique, but not for the reasons they wanted…

I saw the unit during the agent’s open house around 11:00AM and while the agent was setting up a nice display of cookies, the seller was frantically cleaning.

I’m of the mindset that you shouldn’t be frantically doing anything on the second day of the listing.  This seller was clearly not ready to list, but wait – there’s more…

There were a lot of things about this condo that I simply assumed would change by 7:00PM when I was to show the unit to my clients, but as it turns out, the tidy display of cookies was the only improvement that would be put forth.

For starters, the walls were all “builder white.” 

Sellers – spend $1,000 and get rid of those awful, plain, boring, and finger-printed white walls!  Those walls scream “original owner” as well as “I haven’t spent any money.”  But this unit was seriously banged up.  The walls in the foyer had clearly been banged by a hockey bag about a thousand times, and the finger-prints blended in with all the scuff marks.

Oh – and this unit was also priced above fair market value, so my expectations were lofty to begin with.

The unit was dirty – from the floors, to the bathroom, to the kitchen sink.  There was no attempt to mask the odour with Glade Plug-Ins, or fresh flowers.

But it was when we got to the bedroom that I really felt as if this seller wasn’t ready to sell.

If you could cut the buyer pool in half, what is the easiest way to do it?  Rich versus poor?  Condo-buyers versus home-buyers?  No.  Men versus women.

This seller had proudly displayed three Samurai swords on his dresser, which would immediately put off almost any women (except those that collect Samurai swords, I suppose…).  He also had a giant motorcycle helmet, and then the final item with which to turn off ALL female buyers.

*KISS*

Guys – do you know what I’m talking about?  Admit it – you too were once in university.

Back in 1999, I purchased this fine piece of art and proudly displayed it on the wall…..in my living room of my student residence.  But I was 19-years-old, and it seemed like the thing to do at the time.  For the record, I was the first person I knew to have this fine piece of photographic history, and five years later, everybody and their mother had it.  I felt like I deserved some sort of a medal…

Twelve years later, I know that only a 19-year-old in university should possess this item and/or display it on his wall.

Do you know who should not possess this?  A prospective condo-seller…

Between the motorcycle helmet, the Samurai swords, and the *KISS* photo (that had been taken down off the wall but was leaning against the desk), I concluded that this seller was not ready to sell his condo for top dollar.  The property needed work, it needed de-cluttering, and it needed to be listed about two weeks from now.

I understand that people don’t live in staged condos and houses, but I only know of one way to sell properties: in A+ condition and for top dollar.

In my bachelor years, I also had a Samurai sword or two.  In fact, I owned a set of nun-chucks from Japan (I shipped three sets to my home address in Canada, hoping that one would get past customs), an axe from Israel that was sent to me by my aunt on my 8th birthday (which my father confiscated when he found me hacking the neighbour’s rose garden, and didn’t give back until I was 18-years-old), a 200-year-old Tibetan sword, and a World War II dagger.  I displayed all of these relics on my TV console, and rightfully so – every person who came through my condo thought I was a psycho.

But rocket-surgeons and brain-scientists need not walk through a condo to determine that these items are inappropriate when listing the property on the market and having strangers pass through!  I wouldn’t display anything but crap from HomeSense and Bed, Bath, & Beyond – let alone Bruce Lee’s weapon of choice.

As for the seller in the story above, he clearly got some poor advice from his listing agent.  Or, he received great advice, and chose to ignore it.

Nothing frustrates me more than a seller who says, “Oh, whatever.  People will look past this stuff.  Theyr’e buying my condo – not my jar of shrunken heads!”

Really?  Are you sure?  Because I’m the one who works in real estate, and you’re not.  I’m the one that brings 20+ clients through condos and houses each week and sees how they react to staged condos versus those with dirty socks on the floor – and you’re not.

Sellers say things like, “This can all be fixed up with a coat of paint!  No big deal.”

Well then why not fix it up yourself, before you sell?

Sellers often expect buyers to pay for potential, future improvements, but it doesn’t work that way.

It’s like when you list a 3-bedroom house for sale and put in the fine print (1st and 3rd bedrooms were combined).  So you don’t really have a 3-bedroom house, do you?  You’re basically saying, “Oh yeah – really simply – just get some 2×4 and drywall, hammer up a wall, mud it, sand it, paint it, then fix the floor and ceiling – and voila!  You have a third bedroom again!  Easy does it!”

But you can’t expect buyers to pay for “potential” that isn’t there.

If you want top dollar, then your property has to show to its absolute potential – and beyond.  It is possible to make a property show better than it actually is.  This is done every day, all over Toronto.  But it takes time, effort, money, and careful preparation.

The agent who tells you, “I could have this property on the market tomorrow” isn’t doing his or her job.  If you’re after a quick sale, then fine.  But you won’t get top dollar, and you shouldn’t complain when you receive offers well under the asking price, and/or negative feedback from buyers and their agents (again – a good listing agent should pass along all feedback, whether good or bad).

I take a brutally honest approach when I meet with a prospective seller, and I tell him or her what I really think of the current state of the condo.  Believe me – this has cost me listings before!  I had a woman on Gerrard Street balk at my attempts to stage her condo, when I suggested she remove any/all of her 50 small carpets, take down the dozen photos of Queen Elizabeth-loooking old-ladies, and about ten other suggestions that would only serve to clean up the space and help it to appeal to a larger portion of the buyer pool.

You can’t ask a Honda dealership to sell Toyota’s, and I won’t list a property unless the value is maximized.  It’s that simple.  That is my business model, and I respect the wishes of sellers who just want to throw the unit up on MLS, put a key in a lockbox, and call it a day – but they won’t do it with me.

The Toronto real estate market is flooded with listings for condos that aren’t selling or won’t sell, and there’s a good chance it’s because the property shows poorly.  Too many sellers rush their properties to the market and don’t take time to prepare their largest asset for sale.

I’ve yet to walk into a house or condo that is ready to list, right then and there.  There’s always something that can be done to help increase the potential.

In the end, if you decide to list your property with six cats running around and a giant, half-naked photo of Bon Jovi on the wall, you’re just going to help your competitors with the sale of their own properties…