You may be able to hang a picture over a crack in the wall, lay an ornate throw rug over an electric iron mark on the floor or glue falling plaster back into place.
But there`s not a dropcloth large enough to camouflage the high school across the street from your house or a device to silence the regularly scheduled train that rocks its way past your back yard or the jumbo jet that roars amazingly close to your rooftop. Some problems just won`t go away.
Short of enlisting the artistic services of Las Vegas-style magician David Copperfield, there`s not much you can do to make the obvious problems of a home you`re trying to sell disappear.
So how do you market a house that most buyers aren`t likely to have on their ”must-see” list? Some real estate professionals say it`s all in the price, but the trick also comes in matching the right buyer to the right house.
Price it right
”The first thing you do is look at the price,” says Susan Preston, a real estate broker with Baird & Warner in Chicago. ”The price should be adjusted to reflect the obvious faults before it`s shown to buyers. There is no way to get around a house that is across the street from a school or backed up against the `L,` but most buyers are willing to look at the house if the price reflects the problems it may have.”
David Hall, vice president and managing broker at Kahn Realty on the North Side, agrees.
”It`s important that the price reflect the school that is across the street, the store that is adjacent to the house or the busy Clark Street address,” he says.
In addition to the price, real estate professionals say it`s important to stress the strengths and look at the positive qualities a house has to offer, such as good room size, recent renovations, overall size and proximity to public transportation or expressways.
”Anything can be construed to be a positive,” says Hall. ”There might be some things to offset the negatives.”
Look at the bright side
For example, Hall says, the house across the street from the train might have a large master bedroom; the busy Clark Street address could boast a large home with a beautiful Victorian facade; and both homes could cost ”thousands of dollars less” than comparable ones in all-residential neighborhoods.
Hall, who handles properties on the Near North Side and in Lincoln Park, has had his share of homes that have the ”L” practically in the back yard.
”I`ve sold homes whose east side has been against the `L` or whose west side has been against the `L,` ” says Hall. ”The houses that are not on the same side of the street as the train are going to sell for more and the ones on the side of the train are going to sell for less.”
Real estate professionals say both buyers and sellers must realize there are some things you can live with and some things you can`t.
View of the pool
For almost seven years, an Edgewater couple lived in a two-bedroom condominium on the fourth floor of a high-rise. The unit, on Sheridan Road, had an unobstructed view of the lake, downtown and park, but it also had an eye-level view of the outdoor pool, which also was on the fourth level.
The couple saw the pool view as an asset, but when they decided they wanted to sell and buy a single-family home with a back yard, they learned that prospective buyers didn`t share their enthusiasm.
The unit was on the market for almost a year. Buyers looked, but there were no bids.
”People loved the lake views and the unit, but they didn`t like being so close to the pool,” says the 37-year-old owner. ”They felt like they were in a fishbowl because they could see people at the pool and people at the pool could see them.”
But buyers who wanted to live in a high-rise building but didn`t want to be on a high floor found what they were looking for in the fourth-floor unit. The buyers, an older couple, liked having the view of the pool because it made them feel part of the action, the former owner says.
Hall says condominiums and homes that have view problems, such as this Edgewater unit, can have location in their favor.
”You may still be able to get a buyer for the unit if you`re talking to someone who wants to be in a particular building because of prestige, the security or other factors that are important to them,” Hall says.
A buyer for everything
Real estate professionals insist that the adage is true: There is a buyer for every house.
There is even a buyer for the house that seems doomed. Hall tells the story of a Lincoln Park home that was infested with ”vermin and all kinds of crawling things that met you at the door.”
While the vermin and crawling things were not listed in the ads for the house, Hall says, he told buyers who called about the infested condition.
”No one likes surprises,” he says. ”When you`re not upfront with people it takes away your credibility.”
Hall says the frame single-family home was not in move-in condition, but it was priced well at $100,000 in an area where other homes were at least $20,000 more.
The building was sold to a builder and a developer who bought it for the location and who had planned to gut it and begin again. It was on the market for three months.
It`s important to determine whether the obvious flaws are a deterrent to a sale or make no difference at all.
”There are times it doesn`t make a difference, such as the example of the contractor who wanted to gut the frame house,” Hall says.
Your minus, my plus
Alice Biddell, a real estate agent at Century 21 in Calumet Park, found that ”what can be a minus for someone can be a plus to someone else.” For instance, a two-story home that was located across the street from an elementary school wasn`t drawing any offers.
”The house had many strengths and that`s what I stressed,” Biddell says. ”One of the strengths was the school, even though some buyers didn`t see it that way. If you had small children, this location meant you could watch your children come and go to school.”
But Biddell says young couples who looked at the house were turned off by having a school so close.
Instead, an older couple bought the home, she says, because they liked the idea of being around youths and were comfortable having children around.
”(The couple) now sit on the porch in the mornings and watch the children go to school,” Biddell says. ”They see it as a continuation of their life.”
Biddell says houses that appear to be problems can also be the solution for those who want a certain house but wouldn`t be able to afford it under other circumstances.
”A person can look at the fact that they would like to buy a $90,000 home where their tastes are, but they can only afford an $80,000 home,”
Biddell says. ”Homes that pose a challenge because of their location can often give a buyer who is willing to compromise what they want.”
My neighbor, the school
Baird & Warner`s Preston notes that buyers can be flexible about the close proximity of a school.
She tells the story of a couple who recently bought a Lincoln Park home across the street from a school.
They were not thrilled with the school as a ”neighbor,” Preston says, but wanted to live in Lincoln Park.
”This house had all the bells and whistles,” she says. ”If it had been in another location, it would have sold for at least 15 percent more than the $500,000 price it went for.”
Preston says the buyers got a good house in an excellent neighborhood at a price they could afford.
The real challenge comes when a house is located near industrial areas that buyers view as a threat to their health.
”Sure, this is a challenge,” says Biddell. ”But one of the ways to market a house like this is to have all the answers to the questions before the buyer asks them.”
Call the EPA
In these cases, Biddell checks with the Environmental Protection Agency to get ratings on the area and gives prospective buyers this information.
Whether it`s a school, a factory, a commercial strip or a train, Preston says most buyers are hesitant about living near anything that isn`t a residence.
”There is anxiety and concern about security,” Preston says. ”The anxiety about living near a school is generally stronger if the school is a high school. People want to know what will their life be like if they choose an environment they are unfamiliar with.”
Preston says other issues for buyers of homes in commercial-residential areas are noise and traffic.
”The best way to market homes like these is to answer the buyers`
questions as honestly as you can,” Biddell says. ”In the end it comes down to price and it comes down to whether the buyer will feel comfortable living there.”
