![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/hutomo-abrianto-p5CFpOiYweU-unsplash-480x320.jpg\")
If I can tell that the sellers are divorcing, they are costing themselves money.<\/p><\/div>We plant the seed of love and it takes root and grows toward the sun, a straight, proud, sturdy tree.<\/p>\n
That’s the hope, anyway.<\/p>\n
Sometimes, alas, the sapling of love withers and dies. Pulling it up by the roots can occasion no end of problems, but the real-estate problem may be the one of greatest financial consequence.<\/p>\n
Consider this: I walk into a home, escorting buyers. In the living room there are two pieces of furniture: a big-screen television and a lawn chair.<\/p>\n
The bedrooms are empty, except for the master bedroom, where there is a bare mattress. In the kitchen, there are dirty dishes in the sink and half-empty takeout containers and beer in the fridge.<\/p>\n
It’s a divorce, of course. Mom and the kids are gone. Dad got custody of the TV.<\/p>\n
It would be funny if it weren’t so nakedly tragic.<\/p>\n
I get paid to hear the stories that empty houses whisper. This house tells me not just about the divorce, but that the divorce isn’t a relatively smooth one. It hints that the house is in pre-foreclosure or is for sale by a judge’s orders.<\/p>\n
It confides in the certitude of silence that my buyers can steal it for tens of thousands of dollars less than market value.<\/p>\n
Together, the sellers own a valuable asset. But neither wants to see the other prosper from their past together. So, out of spite, they are deliberately sabotaging the sale of their home.<\/p>\n
“I might lose out,” he growls at the big-screen TV, “but at least she<\/i> won’t win!”<\/p>\n
“He can go to hell with that TV!” she seethes from her new apartment.<\/p>\n
This is a mistake.<\/p>\n
Frankly, both of them should move out, leaving the home vacant. If one is to stay, then they should agree to leave the furniture behind – and clothes in the closets. I should not be able to tell that the sellers are divorcing.<\/p>\n
It’s sad the marriage didn’t work out. But properly staging the home for sale can at least help to pay for a happier divorce.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
If I can tell that the sellers are divorcing, they are costing themselves money.We plant the seed of love and it takes root and grows toward the sun, a straight, proud, sturdy tree. That’s the hope, anyway. Sometimes, alas, the sapling of love withers and dies. Pulling it up by the roots can occasion no […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_crdt_document":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[212,6,5],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-16993","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"hentry","6":"category-flourishing","7":"category-marketing","8":"category-real-estate","10":"no-featured-image"},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":440,"url":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/440\/blogoff-post-63-divorcing-couples-need-togetherness-on-sale-of-house\/","url_meta":{"origin":16993,"position":0},"title":"Blogoff Post #63: Divorcing couples need togetherness on sale of house . . .","author":"Greg Swann","date":"September 26, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"This is a special favorite from my Arizona Republic column:Consider this: I walk into a home, escorting buyers. In the living room there are two pieces of furniture: a big-screen television and a lawn chair. The bedrooms are empty, except for the master bedroom, where there is a bare mattress.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Marketing"","block_context":{"text":"Marketing","link":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/category\/marketing\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1659,"url":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/1659\/divorcing-the-real-estate-commissions-is-simply-a-matter-of-hud-1-bookkeeping-effected-by-the-mortgage-lender\/","url_meta":{"origin":16993,"position":1},"title":"Divorcing the real estate commissions is simply a matter of HUD-1 bookkeeping effected by the mortgage lender","author":"Greg Swann","date":"July 15, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"In a charmingly romantic post this morning, Jonathan Dalton gets bogged down in the all-too-common idea that divorcing the Realtors' commissions would impose some new financial burden upon buyers, resulting in their loss of representation. This is false. Although we operate by the fiction that the seller pays the real\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Lending"","block_context":{"text":"Lending","link":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/category\/lending\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":3383,"url":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/3383\/unchained-melodies-divorcing-the-commissions-slays-the-nar-vampire\/","url_meta":{"origin":16993,"position":2},"title":"Unchained melodies: Divorcing the commissions slays the NAR vampire","author":"Greg Swann","date":"July 18, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"Start here. Technorati Tags: disintermediation, real estate, real estate marketing","rel":"","context":"In "Disintermediation"","block_context":{"text":"Disintermediation","link":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/category\/disintermediation\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2202,"url":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/2202\/a-consumers-guide-to-the-divorced-real-estate-commission-cataloging-benefits-starting-with-a-complete-catalog-of-available-homes\/","url_meta":{"origin":16993,"position":3},"title":"A consumer’s guide to the divorced real estate commission: Cataloging benefits — starting with a complete catalog of available homes","author":"Greg Swann","date":"November 10, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"Part IV: Divorcing the real estate commissions will result in benefits not just for buyers but also for their agents and for the real estate market as a whole The National Association of Realtors is embroiled right now in a protracted anti-trust suit brought by the United States Department of\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Marketing"","block_context":{"text":"Marketing","link":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/category\/marketing\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2208,"url":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/2208\/a-consumers-guide-to-the-divorced-real-estate-commission-undermining-the-arguments-in-support-of-the-status-quo\/","url_meta":{"origin":16993,"position":4},"title":"A consumer’s guide to the divorced real estate commission: Undermining the arguments in support of the status quo","author":"Greg Swann","date":"November 11, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"Part V: Why arguments for the current method of compensating real estate agents and against divorcing the real estate commissions must fail As I write this, the National Association of Realtors is preparing for its annual convention, to be held this year in America's playground, Las Vegas, Nevada. This year\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Marketing"","block_context":{"text":"Marketing","link":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/category\/marketing\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1666,"url":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/1666\/the-divorced-real-estate-commission-file-an-organic-compendium-of-arguments-pro-and-con-on-divorcing-commissions\/","url_meta":{"origin":16993,"position":5},"title":"The divorced real estate commission file: An organic compendium of arguments, pro and con, on divorcing commissions","author":"Greg Swann","date":"July 16, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"I had the idea of building this last night, cataloging the BloodhoundBlog posts on the subject. Lani had a better idea, so I appropriated it. Attached below is a fairly comprehensive list of posts, both for and against, on the idea of divorced commissions. I think this is the most\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Blogging"","block_context":{"text":"Blogging","link":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/category\/blogging\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16993","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16993"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16993\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16996,"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16993\/revisions\/16996"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16993"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16993"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16993"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}