Audra, a prominent figure in South Orange County's real estate scene, boasts 20+ years of dedicated service to both sellers and buyers in the housing market. Renowned for her profound market knowledge, dynamic negotiation prowess, and client service, Audra passionately guides clients of South Orange County to realize their dreams of selling or acquiring the perfect property tailored to their specifications and lifestyle. Audra consistently surpasses client expectations through her infectious enthusiasm, adept negotiation skills, and the ability to foster enduring relationships. Her professionalism, commitment to excellence, and determination to safeguard clients' interests and privacy contribute to the maintenance of a robust referral base.
I discovered at my mom's 60-year-old house that just running HEPA air cleaners in a few rooms for a few weeks completely eliminated those walk-in-the-door odors. Now the house just smells clean, with no additional "fresh and clean" fragrance additives.
We sold our house in Alberta for sell price, more than the realtors said the house was worth No realtor fee, we did have to negotiate a little bit for minor things BUT we went through a lawyer in that he supplied contract and filled out contract on our behalf He also gave the buyer the keys only when all the money was in It is emotional but in a hot market it will sell quickly but you have to have mind set to sell
We had a sick cat for a while that vomited or urinated in a few spots on the carpet. Then we had the carpet professionally cleaned, and because the cleaner we used right after the soiling was high pH, the professional cleaning bleached the carpet spots. There are some spots that now look pretty terrible. Should we replace the carpet or offer an allowance for the buyer to replace it? It does look pretty bad in some places, I really hate to have anyone come in and see it. Thank you.
Agree with all your suggestions. When we sold our last house, for every showing, we would remove all dirty laundry, four cats, all litter boxes, toys and food bowls, and drive everything to a nearby park and sit there. Fortunately, the house sold fast so we didn't have to repeat that torture too many times. This time, we have five cats we will be doing that with. Ugh.
Retired broker here. You are 100% spot on. I respect all agents working in today’s world. Being an agent it was an exciting, rewarding job and many buyers / sellers don’t realize how daunting the business can be. After so many years of trying to please everyone 24/7, I’m now somewhat of a recluse these days due to pressure from people all those years. I was tough enough to survive the newly discovered internet marketing, market economics and the 2007 - 08 market crash. I’m saying this primarily to inform buyers and sellers to keep in mind that your agent is always working for you so give them your loyalty and LISTEN to their request and advice and let them do their job! They don’t want to show your home 100 times! Happy sales!
To many DEADBEATS OUT THERE,,,NO WAY WOULD I EVER RENT ANYTHING TO ANYONE,, NO ONE WILL TAKE CARE OF SOMETHING THATS NOT THERES,,,THEY WONT PAY RENT AND EXPECT YOU TO KEEP THE PROPERTY UP AND RUNNING AS IT SHOULD....AND THIS SQUATTERS RIGHTS CRAP IS A DISGRACE.LOVE TO KNOW HOW MANY LAWMAKERS WITH SIDE HUSTLES LET RENTERS STAY WITHOUT PAYING
Emotional support animals have absolutely no rights outside of their own home. Don’t let some idiot tell you this is my emotional support dog so it must stay with me. No it must not. If you can’t take 30 minutes out of your life away from your dog to look at a house, you’ve got bigger issues.
This is sort of hilarious. You got buyers saying that they don’t want to see any evidence of animals and quite frankly even kids. And yet there are also buyers that show up at the house with their animals and their kids to look at it. If that’s not hypocritical, I don’t know what is.
Who the actual hell brings their dog to look at a house? I am blind, and have a Guide dog, and I would probably still leave my dog at home, or at least in the car if the weather was OK.
I got to a closing on a Friday. It was late...the wife heard something I said and got mad and got a call SAT they said nope we are pulling out. However the sellers husband came to his senses. We did close. But carful ....
Common Sense and Experienced suggestions. A home should feel welcoming, but waiting for your style. FEATURES should be emphasized, not your personal taste. I bought my retirement home and painted it in COLORS. Creamy Yellow Kitchen. Palest of beige in the sunroom. Sand in the bedroom, but the laundry room is in a deep orange-red, the living room & dining room is a medium to light sage, the guest room in Oriental Iris, a blue hued purple. My home is colorful. Have it painted in 'neutral' colors after I'm dead.🤪
I have moved 14 times...I wanted to sell but after 8 months on the market for my current 2 nd home. I showed everytime and after the last month. I pulled my 2 nd home.
Do not put any kind of scents in anyone's home without asking. The scent is usually made from synthetic fragrances. If you do it to a chemically sensitive person, you can put them in the hospital or worse they quit breathing. Then you can't get the smell or chemicals out of the house. It is much more serious than an allergy which can also be serious.
I appreciated your video being backed up with some surveys. I know you still need to be mindful of the overall impression, but I've been told so often to completely mitigate the idea of dogs even living in my house, that hearing it might be a selling point is interesting. I do have the fenced yard, outdoor kennel and dog doors, unused, e-fence and even a Maytag pet sanitizing dishwasher, LOL. I think maybe when I sell I need to target that niche market. (As long as they don't bring the dogs to the open house.)
Im a new agent, doing everything I can to educate myself to offer the best service to sellers. You recommend that sellers hire agents with experience and deals under their belt. What would you recommend to me as a new agent to be a “good seller agent”? Thank you
Oh Audra, how i love your helpful videos. You talk about paint costs but it’s the painter’s costs that i balk at. I’m a senior, have no garage for stuff and all i do is expensive! Trying to cut costs! Thanks for your helpful suggestions! I’m getting started for a fall sale!
When I sold my last house I told the realtor "No animals on the property and definitely not in the house. I went to far as to say that I would not even consider an offer from anyone who brought their animal onto the property. I didn't care what the offer was, I would not even look at it. I left a video camera running when I left the house for showings so I knew if someone brought an animal into the house. So I support your comment to leave the animal at home. Another thing I absolutely won't tolerate is someone smoking in my house. Finally if a realtor lit a scented candle in my house, the realtor would be fired on the spot.
Todd while reasonable request - your presentation and absolute chop it off reaction makes me glad I'm not your neighbor :) LOL but more power to you for knowing exactly what YOU want .... just think about being a bit more easy on what OTHERS want too.
What do appraisers do when they are no comps? Seriously; wait until you read the rest of the story... When I went to price my house in 2022, my agent couldn't find comps (due to lot size and house size; neighboring houses were more square footage and all had garages, even on same-size lots). Being an "as-is" sale to begin with, I skipped an appraisal (knowing without comps it was just wasting money), and I cobbled together a price from checking multiple automated value estimators (throwing out the lowest and highest AMVs), and the property tax estimated market value. I wound up with the sole offer just $3,000 less than my asking price. That offer survived the buyer's home inspection, the termite inspection, etc. but I had to exercise my new home contingency and cancel the sale (nothing I wanted, let alone could afford, any place I wanted to move to).
I have nothing against pet owners, but I'm really glad that we don't have any pets. I have enough to do when selling a home without having to think about all of this pet related stuff.
Great advice! I would add as #11 to remove any weapons or lock them up in a gun safe. Also, whenever I hold an open house I put away any kitchen knives stored on the counters. Before I ever became an agent I saw an episode on a true crime show where an agent was stabbed to death by a guy that came into the open house and grabbed a knife from the knife block. It's always stuck with me as so tragic. I don't want to give a crazy person easy access to something that could harm me.
Great tips for sure. I'm super sensitive to smells, so I 100% get where you're coming from. That said, I had a kitty when I sold my last house, and that didn't deter the buyers at all. My realtor wanted me to erase all signs of my cat, but with 2 huge cat trees and 2 litter boxes, that just wasn't possible in my little bitty home. My house is quite clean, though. The 2nd person who came through immediately put an offer on it. I sold the place in less than 2 hours and had a bid over the asking price!
Just started watching your channel. I am learning a WHOLE LOT from your experience. And the comments below are so assuring!!! . I'm starting on my research...of what to expect on hiring a realtor. .
I once looked at a house that was completely empty except for an aquarium containing a very large snake. It was distracting and creepy and really put me off from wanting to buy the house. I kept thinking there were probably 2 snakes before I got there! I heard later through friends that the agent called the owner and yelled at him to get that snake and its snake cage out of the house! 😂
Hi Audra, I come to your videos often. I am in a position financially that I can purchase a home, move my pets and me, and prepare my current house properly for sale. I appreciate the information you have presented and take it all to heart. Thank you!
