I’ve been showing a lot of houses lately. A lot of houses. (and writing an offer here and there as well). This past weekend was a “Chamber of Commerce” weekend – beautiful weather, not much traffic, lots of houses to see … These are a few of the observations from showing about twenty houses over the past few days …

1 – The dead, decaying rabbit in the basement probably didn’t help my clients’ overall impression of the house.

2 – It’s far better to ride with me than try to caravan. Sudden turns (and the occasional U-turn) are easier when there is just the one car.

3 – Vacant houses – consistently about one third of homes actively on the market in the Charlottesville MSA are vacant.

4 – Stinky houses. Floral sprays that are overwhelming from the moment we enter area a detractor, not an enhancer.

5 – Sellers – do this – Stand outside your house and pretend that you are the buyer. Stand on the front porch for a minute or two and look around – what are buyers going to see? What are they going to think? Remove the cobwebs. Paint the trim. Clean the windows. “Good enough” isn’t.

6 – Anecdotally, there are more short sales and foreclosures in the Charlottesville/Albemarle area … I’m showing foreclosures more and more and they are likely to increase. To the listing agents who thought that getting appliances from the dump and putting them in the kitchen is a better presentation than no appliances – you’re wrong. But we had a great laugh.