The Secret To Selling Your Home Faster Than The Competition
Filed under: Archives, At Home, Home Improvement, Selling A Home
If you are trying to sell your home fast, you may need to invest some money and time prior to putting it on the market.
The latest “secret” to selling a home faster, is called home staging. Home staging could be compared to making your home look like a model home.
In times when the real estate market is slow, staging may not equate to extra dollars, however, a quick sale is often what sellers need.
Earlier I wrote an article about how to stage your home. Here is a link to that article:.How to Stage A Home For Sale
With home staging, you must get creative and show potential buyers how spaces can be used. Spaces must be defined.
A junk room, is not a space, nor is a garage that is filled with boxes, sports equipment, and miscellaneous stuff.
Turn that junk room into a bedroom or home office.
Clean out that garage, so buyers can envision parking their car in it.
Nothing will turn off a buyer faster than massive junk, dirty kitchens and bathrooms, or clutter.
Do not assume that they can “see past it”. Most can’t.
When buyers see uncleanliness, they may also assume routine home maintenance has also been neglected.
It’s not uncommon for a buyer to tell their Realtor “I’ve seen enough”, and move on to the next property.
Many individuals are not creative with space planning.
It becomes your mission to give buyers ideas. Now is the time to dredge up those creative juices and turn your home into an oasis for family time and relaxation.
Let buyers envision living in your home, sitting in a nook with a good book, eating at a small cafe table on the patio, or relaxing on a rocking chair on the porch.
Here’s a short list of simple ideas that can be used for home staging:
1) Use an upholstered chair, small table, and lamp for a reading area. Place an open book on the table, with a pair of glasses sitting on top of it
2) Get a pretty throw to lay across the corner of a bed.
3) Use a small cafe table and two chairs to create either an indoor or outdoor intimate eating area. Set the table with pretty linens, dishes, and maybe a vase of flowers
4) Use a vase of fresh flowers on an end table, sofa table, or bedside table
5) Place a large bowls of lemons, limes, oranges or apples on the kitchen counter or table
6) If you are short of artwork, find pretty pictures in books, tear/cut them out, and frame and mat them.
8.) Candles are an inexpensive decorating item. Simple white candles, of different heights, grouped together on a charger, with some rocks, makes a very pretty accessory.
9) Remember to keep things to a minimum. The less furniture and/or clutter your home has, the larger it will look.
Concentrate on boxing up excess items. Or, this may be a great time for a garage or yard sale.
10) In the kitchen, keep clutter and appliances off of the counter tops. Many home stagers suggest to only have one appliance on the counter top.
11) Wall mirrors (those attached to the walls) are now “dating” a home. Consider removing them.
12) Remember, buyers do not want to look at your home, and start making a list of projects they will have to do. This can turn off some buyers, and/or encourage a buyer to offer a lower price.
If your goal is sell your home fast, now is the time to complete those unfinished household projects, clean your house from top to bottom, and get busy staging your home.
Tags: clutter, home maintenance, home staging, junk room, look like a model, model home, Selling A Home, space planningBest Home Improvements To Make
Filed under: Archives, At Home, Home Improvement, Projects, Selling A Home
If you are remodeling your home, for yourself, or with the thought of resale in mind, making the right home improvements, can add value to the price of your home and attract more buyers.
Approach home improvement project on an “as needed’ basis. Some homes won’t require any remodeling, but may need something as simple as a coat of fresh paint either inside and/or outside.
If your home is older, the following are possibly some of the best home improvements you can make, to receive the biggest return on your money.
1) Repair or replace the roof – Use reputable roofing contractors
2) Repair, replace or repaint the siding – Call for quotes from licensed siding contractors
Kitchen remodeling often gives you a good return on your money. Stick with a budget. Overruns are easy to encounter.
3) Replace or repaint the kitchen cabinets. Painting is the least expensive option, followed by replacing or refacing the doors and drawer fronts of your kitchen cabinets. Home improvement stores offer many choices for new kitchen cabinets. Obviously, custom cabinetry will be the most expensive option.
4) Replace the kitchen counter top. Laminates are the least expensive. Other alternatives include concrete, granite, butcher block, tile, solid surfacing, glass, plus many other stone products.
5) Replace kitchen appliances. Currently stainless steel is popular, however, using white appliances provides for a clean look. Colors can”date” your kitchen. Choose carefully. Look for appliances with the energy star label.
6) Replace kitchen flooring. Vinyl is the least expensive. Other options include hardwood or tile.
7) Perform either a major or minor remodel to the bathroom(s). Check with a local bathroom contractor, hire a handyman for simple repairs and upgrades, or even do it yourself.
Homes with more than one bathroom are more desirable.
8.) Repaint, all rooms, as needed. Painting contractors may offer a discount if more than one room is being painted. However, painting is a fairly easy project so it could be added to the do it yourself list.
Keep in mind, if a buyer is looking at a new home, it will have a coat of fresh paint. Painting is an inexpensive way to update a room, and give it a clean look. Consider painting rooms that need freshening up, or rooms that are not painted in neutral colors, especially if you are thinking of selling your home.
Be aware, that following the current trends in major home improvement projects, can be risky. Trends can “date” a home. Neutral colors will appeal to most buyers. If you like the trendy colors, keep it to your decorating items…i.e. bedroom comforters, bathroom towels, rugs and/or window treatments, etc. These are items you can easily, and inexpensively change, in the event you decide to sell your home.
Anytime you are doing a remodel or making improvements to your home, take time to do research, and find out what buyers are currently looking for in a home. Most home improvement stores offer brochures which show what’s popular.
Even though you may not be thinking of selling your home anytime soon, try to take on your projects by keeping “resale” in mind. We never know where life will take us, therefore, it is wise to spend those remodeling, home improvement dollars on timeless projects.
When contemplating a home improvement or remodeling project, prior to selling your home, consider the current real estate market. Will your remodeling project reap extra dollars for you, or will it only help you to sell your home faster. In a slow real estate market, the competition is great. Be an informed seller. Talk to a real estate agent. You may even consider getting a home inspection, and avoid “surprises”. Do research online.
Want to know how to “stage” your home for potential buyers? Read my previous article, titled: How To Stage A Home For Sale
How To Stage A Home For Sale
Filed under: Archives, At Home, Making Money, Selling A Home
Staging a home, which will be for sale on the market, may help to sell a home quicker. How to stage a home, is actually quite easy, but can be time consuming. If you watch HGTV, you can find many television shows that talk about staging a home.
What is “staging a home”? To stage a home, is to “prepare” your house before you put it on the market. Just as it’s important to “dress for success”, when you stage your home, you are “dressing” your home for potential buyers to see.
Let’s get started:
1) Declutter your home. Take everything out that you’re not going to be using, until you move into your new home. It’s best not to stack this stuff in your garage. It may be well worth the investment, to rent a storage unit in which you can store the excess items.
2) Clean your house. Wash the windows. Shampoo the carpeting, if needed. Wipe spots off of walls and doors. Cleanliness is very important.
3) Repaint as needed. If you have a room that’s painted an “odd” color, use primer, and repaint the room a neutral color.
4) Make necessary repairs. If faucets drip, or toilets run, fix the problem. Walk through your home using a critical eye, and take notes of all repairs you can do, without spending over your budget. If you don’t know how to use a “critical eye” on your own home, ask a friend to do it for you.
5) Remove as many of the “personal” items as possible. Too many family photos, can add clutter, as can too many toys. Some buyers cannot see past a “mess”.
6) On days your home is being showed, make sure it smells good-no pet smells, foul cooking and/or tobacco odors, etc…>
7) Put your toothbrushes, prescription bottles, ashtrays, dishes (dirty or clean), and laundry, away. Do not stuff items in closets or cabinets, as buyers often open doors and drawers. Remember to also put any valuable items in a safe place.
8.) Keep you counter tops clean and free of clutter. The more you place on the counter tops, the smaller they look to buyers.
9) If you have wallpaper, border, or amateur looking faux painting, consider removing it, and painting the walls a neutral color. You need to appeal to buyers with many different tastes.
10) If you have too much furniture in a room, it will make the room look small. Consider removing some of the furniture.
11) This may be a great time to have a garage sale (see previous article: How To Have A Successful Garage Sale)
12) Think minimalist. Keep the decorating simple.
13) Outside the home, give your home curb appeal. Do people want to stop and see the inside? Trim bushes, pull weeds, plant some flowers, put down bark chips, mow the grass, sweep the driveway, wash the windows, pressure wash the house, repaint as needed, haul away any junk cars, clean up the yard.
Most buyers want a “turn key” home. One they can “turn the key in the lock, and move their things into”. Most buyers prefer not to paint, take down wallpaper, shampoo carpeting, etc…before they move in. They may make changes at a later date, but they need to get on with their lives, now. Not adhering to this, may turn buyers off.
Remember, you’re leaving this home. Soon you will be in a new home, and the home you’re staging will belong to someone else. If you just “love” that red room , or duck wallpaper border, take a picture of it. Create a lasting memory.
Remember, you’re moving on. This is the time to let go of any emotional attachment you may have to your home.
With a properly staged home, your home may sell faster than others in the same price range. It may be a time consuming process, however, in this very competitive housing market, not staging your home, could cost you lost time in moving, and more importantly…..money.
To read more on home staging and how it may help to sell your home faster, read my latest article: The Secret To Selling Your Home Faster Than The Competition
Tags: emotional attachment, garage saleLife Saving Tips
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