I showed several houses in Naperville on Tuesday evening. My buyers quickly ruled out the first home which as shown left clearly wasn’t ready for market. Not only did it not show well, the drying paint fumes were horrible!

Can you imagine car dealers selling cars that smell like exhaust fumes inside?

A fresh coat of paint is great, but don’t make buyers endure the odor while it’s drying!

This morning I showed houses in Wheaton and Glen Ellyn. The remarks in the listing for one of the homes included “quality & care”. Shown below is the “quality & care” we found in the basement. Several floor tiles were missing and the cord in the photo was for a large fan running in the other room – not a good way to stage a home!

A house in the west suburbs sure looked nice online. Priced in the $300Ks it even featured a private tennis court. My buyers and I were intrigued, so I scheduled the showing first on our list of homes to see that morning. The basement bathroom (shown below) left us speechless. Yes, that’s pieces of wood the toliet is sitting on. Notice the peeling wallpaper and shower door off its tracks and leaning on the wall, not the mention the filth.

Last I checked they dropped the price $35K. It would have been less expensive to fix the problems.

This week I met with a gentleman who will be listing his home for sale in Glenview. As he showed me around the basement, he mentioned that there was a leak in a corner about twice a year when it rains hard for a couple of days. He wasn’t getting it fixed.

I advised him to at least get an estimate for the repair and explained how buyers would react to the leak which he would need to disclose. First, many buyers won’t even consider buying a home with a leak in the basement, even if it only leaks after a hard extended rain. Second, excess moisture in a basement can lead to mold which will scare off even more buyers.

Yes, it takes time to get estimates and costs money to have the work done, but the payoff is a higher sale price and a faster sale. In this market, buyers expect even older homes to be like new. When the gentleman and I spoke the next day, he informed me that he decided to have the leak repaired. He hadn’t wanted to bother with it, but after some thought realized it probably won’t cost as much as he thought.

I showed a house in Glenview today that had great curb appeal and showed well until my buyer and I reached the master bath. The photo shown left is a close-up of one of the corners of the shower floor. ICK!!!

The mass of hair is bad enough, but the accumulation of crud between the tiles and around the edge of the floor has obviously been accumulating for a long time.

I scheduled the showing yesterday, so the sellers knew we were coming. This is NOT how to stage a home priced in the $600Ks! Buyers expect tubs, showers and sinks to be spotless!!!

Sellers, when you prepare your home for a showing, check not only the shower or tub you used, but the area where you brushed and dried your hair. You don’t want your hair that has been shed distracting and disgusting buyers!

David Ousley, president of Building Specs of Illinois spoke at my office yesterday about pre-listing home inspections. Typically, home buyers hire a home inspector after their offer has been accepted on a home. With a pre-listing home inspection, home sellers hire a home inspector before putting their home on the market.

According to David, homes for sale that have had a pre-listing home inspection may sell for more money and in less time since there will be no surprises from the buyer’s home inspection. Sellers who take care of problems before their homes go on the market also get to choose who will resolve any problems instead of the choice being dictated by buyers.

For more information on pre-listing home inspections, call David at 847.843.8592 or email him at david.ousley@sbcglobal.net.

On Monday I showed 2 bedroom 2 bath condos in Oak Park and Forest Park.

One of the kitchens is shown left. It’s a very nice kitchen for a condo with granite countertops and 42″ cabinets. Unfortunately, the seller is either too cheap or too lazy to paint a wall repair above the cabinets. Does he or she really think buyers will overlook this?

What a shame that an otherwise attractive condo shows so poorly. That area of the wall could be painted in minutes. Even if the seller no longer has that color of paint, the whole wall which was the only wall that color could have been quickly repainted. No wonder this condo has been on the market for 6 months.

Yesterday I showed houses in Roselle and Bartlett. The air vent shown right greeted my buyers and me in one of the houses. It’s located in the foyer. You can’t miss it when you walk in the front door.

The house was so dirty my buyers didn’t even bother going upstairs.

It’s a shame the owners didn’t take the time to clean this 4 bedroom 2 1/2 bath house before moving out. Even if they had a profession cleaning company do the work, it would have cost a tiny fraction of the $33,000 they’ve dropped their price since going on the market.

While on the brokers tour in Schaumburg yesterday I came a across a very nice 2 bedroom townhome priced at $334,000. It’s been on the market 3 months now. In my opinion, one of the reasons it hasn’t sold yet, is that the obvious peeling paint at the entrance (shown right) makes a poor impression.

First, it doesn’t look attractive. Second, it signals the buyer that the home hasn’t been maintained well. If the paint at the entrance is peeling so badly, what else might be wrong with the home?

Touching up the paint around your home’s entrance is one of the easiest, cheapest and highest returning improvements you can make to increase your home’s sale price.

Today I showed 3 bedroom houses in Evanston. One of the houses was advertised as renovated with a new kitchen (shown right). It was one of the poorest renovation jobs I’ve seen.

1. When you tell home buyers that a home has a new kitchen, they expect the appliances to match at least in color. Here we have a black microwave with white appliances.

2. Notice that the tile backsplash doesn’t extend behind the stove where it would certainly be good to have a non-flammable surface. If you had been with us, you would have seen how the tiles didn’t even create a flat surface.

3. In my buyer’s price range, we weren’t expecting 42″ cabinets, but these dinky cabinets are ridiculous! Look at all that wasted space!

4. The house was advertised as renovated, but the rooms on the back of the house weren’t touched.

5. It appears the home had been previously divided into 2 units with one unit in the basement. The renovators didn’t even bother to reconnect the first floor to the basement. You have to enter from the outside to get to the basement.

The listing sheet for this home states, “…this one will not last!” I wonder if they are referring to the house’s ability to remain standing?