Vlad – First Impressions

Years ago, when I was just twenty-two years of age, I went on my first sales call with my dad. We were selling Croscill, which was a top ready-made bedding manufacturer who we wanted to do business with. Making conversation, I told the designer about Vlad, my pet piranha from college. After the meeting my dad said, “Maybe next time leave that out, as it might not make the best first impression.” (More about Vlad later.)

Lots of us make bad first impressions. Comedian Dana Carvey in the mid-1990s did a sketch comedy with the original name “The Dana Carvey Show.” Carvey was insanely funny on SNL and could have taken over for Johnny Carson if he wanted the job. He nabbed unknowns Louis CK, Stephen Colbert, Steve Carell, Bob Odenkirk, Robert Smigel and more. Impossible to fail, right? Wrong! It had something like 10 million people watching it in its debut. Carvey did one bizarre sketch portraying George Bush that plummeted his numbers in seconds. The show was hilarious, but that first impression sealed it after 7 episodes. Grandma the Clown and others were just too much for family hour on prime time. Watch Too Funny to Fail if you’ve never seen it and want a good laugh.

One of my favorite Curb Your Enthusiasm episodes stars Ed Asner. For you youngsters, Asner played and looked like the guy from the animation Up. He goes to see a lawyer about restructuring his estate, and first impressions of “dress for success” come into play.

In politics, Vice President Dan Quayle made a bad impression that ruined any presidential aspirations with his spelling of (I had to ignore spell check here) potatoe.

First impressions can run the opposite way, when my Chicago Bears’ and Palm Beach County’s own Devin Hester made the best Super Bowl, or in all of sports, first impression. It didn’t last as the Bears lost by 1,000 droplets of rainwater as I sat in the freezing downpour pinning all my hopes on that first hopeful impression.

New Coke had a disastrous first impression but turned it around with Classic Coke in maybe the best rebound from a bad first impression. Restaurants typically open during the off-season to get all the kinks out in order to make a good first impression.

Real estate is no different. Since it’s the time of the year when everyone is getting ready to put their home on the market, here are 6 critical ways to make sure you make a good first impression.

1. Permits

The worst one I had was a former Masters champion (deceased) who, near the end of his life, was taking care of the house for one of his kids and bought a “hot” air conditioning unit. This came during inspection, and it almost blew up the deal. Inspection companies and title agencies are going to run the report on unclosed permits. Sometimes things are very minor, sometimes major (additions without permits), but they can delay a closing or have a Buyer completely back out of a transaction.

2. Pre-Inspection

Do it. Yeah, it’s going to cost you some dollars going in, but the return on investment pays off in two ways.

First, it typically saves you money. Every purchaser is going to do their own inspection, although a handful of times when you do a pre-inspection the Buyer will take yours and pass on it. Once they do the inspection, they want the items fixed by a licensed contractor and at times dictate the most expensive one they find. Repairing items up ahead of schedule allows you to pay a cost far less than they might find.

Second, if the list from the inspection the Buyer does is long, you run the risk of them cancelling. Major items like mold or leaks, at times people pass on or ask for more money than it costs to repair. It’s not just the money though; Buyers sometimes don’t want to deal with what they perceive as a money pit or an uncared-for home.

3. Staging

This goes hand in hand with pre-inspection to an extent. Inspectors will find some cosmetic things or low-cost things to do. Cleaning up a dirty exhaust or repairing a loose door handle may seem small, but they are both part of making a good impression. Staging is a deeper discussion, and it’s imperative to hire a Realtor who has a sense of style. Curb appeal is most critical. Landscaping, your door handle being free of spots, adding a new doormat, and replacing the plastic white doorbell with something modern, all tell a Buyer that your home is worth seeing before they open the front door.

4. Little Things

Scuff marks that need to be painted or cleaned up with a Magic Eraser, unsightly cords, mismatched yellow/white light bulbs, worn window screens, or dirty exhausts get a Buyer into a rhythm. Once they see that first impression unsightly mark, they get into a rhythm of looking for more.

5. Getting rid of stuff

If it’s hurting the showing and you aren’t taking it with you, throw it out. Usually this applies to furniture, but think about clothes that you don’t need in your closet, junk in your garage, or an old bedspread. You are going to move, so you might as well dump the house contents before the sale rather than after it goes under contract. You must do it anyway. If your bedspread is dated, get a new one now as it will make your home show better.

6. Get it on Early

If you wait too long for the beginning of the season, you could start to rush to get it on. A bad-weather two-week period can delay all the marketing. It’s also good to test the market out and get feedback. When you have more time to sell, you can hold on to prices easier. The one thing with real estate is that the first impression is only on the new buyer. With the next buyer you will have another chance to make that first impression, which can be different from the others.

As for Vlad, I wanted something interesting and he was great during college as everyone was always fascinated about meeting him. He lived for ten years and had a good life. I was distraught when he passed, as having a living creature, even a piranha, as a pet for a decade is emotional. My wife went to the taxidermist, and he is still on our mantel today. “He was more than a fish. He was a friend” is on his tombstone. I introduced him to my wife Veronica on our first date, so it must have made a good first impression!