I am a REALTOR®, not a magician. I just left a listing appointment and unfortunately the owner of the home is….a hoarder.
Living in the home for over two decades this owner has accumulated rooms filled with stuff. It’s almost impossible to walk through the home. Hiding the floor is clothes, books, stacks of furniture, papers, cartons, boxes of junk, etc.
The hoarder
Wikipedia says, “Compulsive hoarding, also known as hoarding disorder, is a behavioral pattern characterized by excessive acquisition of and an inability or unwillingness to discard large quantities of objects that cover the living areas of the home and cause significant distress or impairment.”
A car hasn’t been parked in the garage in years. It also is full of junk, trash, old furniture. Signs on some of the furniture suggest they tried to sell it in an estate sale. However, no one bought it because it is well….just old junk furniture.
“Antiques” is what he calls the old furniture. I guess that’s how a hoarder thinks.
As a result, the house wasn’t selling at the previous listing price .
It needs a lot of repairs. There’s rotted siding, broken windows, and you can see where squirrels have eaten through the soffit and are probably nesting in the attic.
Mr. Seller wanted to put the house on the market with me at the same price at which it failed to sell. So, I explained how that wouldn’t work. I offered some suggestions for removing some stuff that would help the home to sell. We discussed reaching out to others for help in decluttering the home.
The Problem
Nope. The owner will not consider changing a thing. No decluttering, no repairs, and no price improvement. A hoarder doesn’t see what we see.
Consequently, the market isn’t supporting his price.
And, oh, by the way, in my mind I was thinking,
“There is a difference between a true antique versus an old piece of furniture that needs to be sold to the highest bidder in a garage sale.”
So, I asked, “Mr. Seller, what are you doing to do?”
He replied, “I guess I’ll just stay.”
So, right now, the hoarder is the highest bidder for this home.
Like I said, I’m a REALTOR®, not a magician.
