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Posts tagged ‘Selling Your Home’

When Your Home Is Not Selling

As the real estate market returns to a normal pattern of buying and selling, some sellers are easily frustrated. If your home is not selling, here are a few practical tips.

When Your Home Isn’t Selling

Selling a home is similar to a job interview or a first date. Presentation tends to go a long way in determining the outcome. That might sound a bit shallow, but it is simply a fact of life in many endeavors including real estate. To this end, sellers have developed bad habits when it comes selling their home out of the recent hot seller’s market. A few basic tips can get you back on track. 

Most real estate comes with a garage. If you have lived in the property for any amount of time, you have undoubtedly stored numerous things in your garage. I have! When the time comes to sell your property, however, you need to give your garage the once over. Items you consider priceless heirlooms might be considered junk by buyers. A messy garage is also a negative. Remember, buyers expect you to have the home in pristine condition. Anything that does not reflect that will hurt you in the eyes of these individuals.

Undoubtedly, your home has some amazing interior features. Instead of just assuming the potential buyer understands the value of them, you should highlight the features. The best method for doing this is lighting. Make sure you have sufficient lighting in the relevant area by opening drapes or going with more powerful light bulbs. If you have beautiful marble flooring and counters in your kitchen, make sure there is sufficient lighting to make them stand out. 

Your lawn is the first thing a potential buyer is going to see when they pull up to the property. Keep it trimmed and cut back any jungles. Give some thought to the walkway to the front door. Planting flowers and such can go along way. 

Make sure the entrance is a positive aspect of your home, not a negative. Make sure the front door is in perfect shape. The entry area should also be focused on. Add plants, rugs and what have you to make a good impression. Next, walk in through the front door and take in the view. Is there anything that gives you pause and can be improved? If so, do it!

The real estate market has cooled to the extent that homes are not selling in three days anymore. Return to the basic fundamentals of selling a home is the key to getting the offer you need.

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For The Home, Real Estate Tips, Seller Tips

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3 Tips to Staging the Outside of Your Home Like a Pro

Are you considering putting your house up for sale, but not sure where to start? Afraid it will take too long to sell, or that you won’t get the price you want? Think about “staging” your home, or in other words, setting the scene for immediate buyer interest in your property.

To be really effective, you need to look at both the outside and the inside of your home. Here are 3 tips to get you started with the outside of your home:

1. Go stand on the street to see what clients see when driving up to the house. Be aware that any negative impressions they get outside the house (landscaping not maintained or non-existent, peeling paint, etc.) is just going to make them think that the house itself has not been well taken care of. So even if you have spent the time and money to fix up the interior, it would all be wasted if the clients get a bad first impression as they drive up to the house.

2. Next, step outside your front door and close the door; then stand on the stoop and look around for 5 minutes. While the realtor fumbles for keys and tries to figure out how to open the door, the clients are standing behind and looking around. So what are they seeing? Dead plants, old Halloween decorations in the middle of January, cobwebs?  Again, not a good first impression!

It’s definitely worth it to take some time and clean it up. Want to go a step further? Try a new coat of paint or some new furniture or accessories.

3. Don’t forget the backyard. While that might not be part of the potential buyers’ first impression experience, you still should make sure it’s in the best condition possible. Pull up weeds, water plants, do some sweeping (if that’s applicable in your case) and maybe even purchase new furniture or accessories (plant pots, bird houses, etc.)

And the biggest tip of all? Imagine yourself as a potential buyer looking at your property for the very first time. What impressions are you getting? Would YOU buy your house? What would you like to see changed before you put an offer on your house?

And don’t worry about spending several thousand dollars to get your house ready to sell   you’ll get it all back when your house sells. Proper staging helps you sell your house in a shorter time and at the price you want.

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Real Estate News, Real Estate Tips, Seller Tips, SW Real Estate News

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Home Prep Needed For Great Sales

If you are considering putting your home on the market, realize that it will take some preparation to get your home up to show quality. Experience is proving that when a home is staged, it can bring in up to many thousands of dollars more than the asking price. Also, staging helps in all types of markets. When there are a glut of homes for sale in an area, what they call a buyer’s market, the home that’s staged is more noticeable to buyers, and the price for it can’t be low-balled the same as a house that doesn’t look as good. Alternatively, in what they call a seller’s market, when there are few homes for sale and real estate is in high demand, staged homes again stand out, often attracting numerous offers. In this way, the price can get driven up as buyers compete with each other for the home. Either way, the homeowner who took the time to stage comes out the winner.

Home staging can mean different things. Everything from just de-cluttering a home, or a rearrangement of furniture, up to making minor repairs, or even completely emptying the house and renting new furniture, are all considered efforts to stage a home. It appears that the more effort, and money, one puts into staging the home, the more they are re-paid for their efforts when the home sells. Not only that, staged homes tend to sell much more quickly than as-is homes.

While many people these days are choosing to hire a professional home stager, and whether or not you can afford that is up to you. Professionals certainly have good ideas, and the experience to know what works and what doesn’t. However, there’s no reason you can’t do the prep work yourself, with a bit of research and applied effort.

Their area few key elements to home staging that tend to be universal. First and foremost, getting rid of excess furniture and knick knacks seems to be key. A cluttered house becomes invisible to a viewer, blanketed under the accoutrements of someone elses life. If necessary, rent storage for all your extra stuff. If you have a storage room, empty it, or set it up to look like an office or weight room, to highlight features you don’t use, but someone else might love. Sometimes all that’s needed is an objective rearranging of your things to create more space and order.

Another key area is repairs. Don’t launch into major renovations, but do fix up really obvious minor flaws, especially around the front door. First impressions are key. Keep in mind that people viewing your home will likely open cupboards and closets. Repair squeaks and sticks so they don’t notice a problem. Since doorways have a tendency to get worn, consider new paint.

If you’re planning to sell your home, you might want to do a little research online to help with your staging ideas, or even look into hiring a professional in your area. No doubt you’ll be glad you did.

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