We were in the thick of the multiple-offer era, a time when buyers felt they would never get a house. I was showing properties to my cousin and her fiancé; we had made offers on several places.
While touring one of the homes, her soon-to-be father-in-law was grilling me, asking all the questions dads typically ask—wanting to make sure the agent his kid was working with wasn’t a shmuck.
She looked at her soon-to-be father-in-law and said, “You do know that Christy is my older cousin and has been selling houses longer than I have been alive.”
That statement surprised me as much as it did him; how could I be that old? He turned around and said, “I had no idea you’d been in the business that long.” Calmly, I smiled and said, “Don’t worry whatsoever. You can ask all the questions; that’s what I am here for.”
My cousin doesn’t even know the end of this story. After she and her fiancé closed on their new house, my uncle—her father—gave me a hard time about selling them such a “dump.”
If you knew my uncle, you’d know he was just joking about the “dump” part, as the house was not a dump at all, but that’s how he liked to razz me. I asked him what he was talking about, and he explained that he was over their painting everything.
I use this part of the story as a reference for future sellers, as the house my cousin bought had just been repainted. It was the turnkey look that experts were saying was in at the time.
However, experts don’t live in your house, and buyers like to make homes their own—usually by repainting. That’s why we recommend cleaning and packing as part of your preparation to sell. Get your carpets cleaned and eliminate any strong odors. However, guessing what to remodel is pointless.