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On the House: Selling a House is Less About Smell and More About Marketing - By Al Heavens Philidelphia Inquirer Real Estate Columnist

For years, even during the corpse that passed for a real estate market in the early to mid-1990s, every agent and broker passed along to sellers the same list of tips for getting their houses ready to show.

The list, I believe, was originally drawn up by William Penn's real estate broker, who could sell a cave on the Schuylkill to Martha Stewart for twice its 1682 value, about 2 pounds, 6 shillings and a cocked hat.

Apparently, Penn's broker also was into bread, cinnamon sticks and potpourri, because all three appear on the list of "what your house should smell like during a showing."

I remember baking bread, boiling sticks and potting pourri when we were trying to sell our Queen Village estate at the start of the late-1980s slowdown. It succeeded only in making me nauseated and the house-hunters suspicious.

"What are they trying to hide?" I heard one prospect say to his spouse as I passed them on my way inside after the open house.

I didn't know it at the time, but the aroma was masking the odor they add to natural gas so you know there's a leak before the house explodes. We had a faulty gas meter in the basement.

Today, with a lot of houses available, selling one is less about smell and more about marketing.
A couple of weeks ago, our online operation asked me to participate in a video interview of Realtor Allan Domb. I told him I'd recently interviewed a first-time buyer looking in both city and suburbs. The buyer said that he'd found suburban sellers more willing to negotiate.

"If that's true," Domb said, "the listing agent is at fault. If the seller isn't willing to negotiate, the agent is not providing the necessary education."

I know some agents will tell you what you want to hear - that's why your house hasn't had a showing in six months. You're going to have to change - maybe get an agent more interested in selling than listing.

Change isn't easy, especially if you remain unconvinced that it's needed. To sell a house in this market requires flexible thinking. As hard as it is to part with a single penny of equity, you just might have to.

In fact, you may have to hire a stager. Many real estate agents know what they are and use them, with great success.

"I had a listing on Delancey Street for $1.1 million that was on the market for three months," said Bari Shor, an agent with Prudential Fox & Roach. "We brought in a stager, there were three bidders, and the winner paid the asking price."

When sellers asks her why, she tells them to watch HGTV, which has become the home-staging network.

Diane Williams, an agent with Weichert Realtors in Spring House, reports similar success with staging.

"I had an 18-year-old contemporary house that was so personalized that it was not a good candidate for a quick sale," she said. "The homeowner was moving to Arizona and had no time to make changes."

The seller was familiar with staging, so she told Williams to proceed.

"The house was listed on a Friday, and the agreement of sale was signed on a Sunday," Williams said.

Sale price: $700,000.

I'll be the first to acknowledge that the market is not what it was two or three years ago. Sales are down almost 12 percent year over year, and median sale prices, which regionwide are steady or slightly higher than they were a year ago, are down in some locations throughout metropolitan Philadelphia.

That said, Global Insight, a Lexington, Mass., economic-forecasting firm, recently reported that this housing market is close to being valued properly rather than overvalued, as many other regions still are.

So, how do you get a house ready to show?

Shor met with a seller who had several children and suggested that the house needed to be decluttered.

"You mean make it like no one lives here?" the seller asked.

And while you're at it, cancel the potpourri.