Wednesday, March 9, 2016

What If Selling a House Were Like Selling a Manuscript?

I've been elbow-deep in house listings for the last couple of weeks, and it's gotten me thinking: what if selling a house were like selling a manuscript?

"Please describe your home in two hundred and fifty words or less. No pictures or attachments, please."

"I'm afraid I'm just not connecting with this house as strongly as I would have liked."

"I liked the exterior, but the kitchen was outdated, the second bathroom was unsightly, and the basement felt too big."

"That said, if you address those issues, I'd love to take another look!"

"I actually walked through this whole house, and though I liked the first floor, the second floor ran out of steam."

"If you decide to sell another house, I'd love to take a look at that one!"

"I love this house. I'm going to run it past my spouse, my kids, my mom, my lawyer, and my accountant. More soon!"

"Unfortunately, my lawyer thinks the market for Dutch colonials is saturated at the moment, so we're going to have to pass."

"We think this home is fantastic and would love to make an offer of seventy-five hundred dollars."

Sold!

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

I love this! And I wrote something similar when we were selling our house four years ago: https://michelleimason.wordpress.com/2012/06/14/how-querying-is-like-selling-your-house/. Yours is funnier, though :). Also, my office no longer looks like it did in this picture. I am now surrounded by toys ...

Krista Van Dolzer said...

Thanks for the link, Michelle. I really liked what your realtor said about what a house is worth to YOU. The house that seems like the best deal is probably the best house for you because it's the one you would have paid the most more for (if that makes sense).

Jennifer Prescott said...

So funny! I stumbled across this and realized that I, too, had written a blog entry about querying being similar to selling a house. (In my case, at the time, a very crusty old house which we eventually unloaded a few years after I posted this.) http://thepartypony.blogspot.com/2011/06/query-my-house.html

Shanika L. Bynum said...

Loved this! Spot on for the type of responses I've gotten from agents (wish I could get that last one though!).

Krista Van Dolzer said...

Great post, Jennifer! It made me literally LOL.

I'm glad you liked it, Leiann! And for what it's worth, editors send the exact same types of responses:)

Myrna Foster said...

So funny! But I'd rather be querying than showing a house. I hope things are going well!

Krista Van Dolzer said...

Thanks, Myrna! The house isn't on the market yet, but I think it's about to be.