Buyers Look at Home, Not Family’s Lifestyle

I’m responding to the Aug. 2 article by Ellen James Martin, “Keep Home Orderly but Still Have a Life.”

Give me a break!

Buyers are not buying the lifestyle of the present owner of a home the buyers are seeking to buy. Buyers are not buying personal property of the owner of the home the buyer is seeking to buy. Is the picture clear, yet?

I really feel strongly about the claptrap owners are fed by so-called expert real estate professionals who take over the life of owners when owners decide to sell their residential property. People live in their homes. Buyers are not buying the family who own that home or their belongings or their habits or their principles.

When are agents and brokers going to start working for their client instead of their own self-interest? There is out there some mystique about how an owner must act when he or she puts a home up for sale. Rot! Balderdash!

Yes, homes need to be “salable.” Yes, homes need to have that appeal that buyers will say to themselves, “I want you” and yes, owners must be flexible in that spur of the moment potential buyer who wants to view the house.

The potential buyer must also be flexible for what he sees when he gets there. If a project is on-going--that’s life for that family and the family cannot be penalized for living its life. Do you honestly believe that a potential buyer is going to care if a project is on-going when he views the house? No--not if given the proper information by the professional real estate agent who takes him.

Give the public a little credit for common sense. People are not and need not be in limbo while their homes are for sale.

BARBARA SELLECK

Orange County