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Dec 4, 2019
Making your Home more Appealing from the Outside
Your focus shouldn’t be just on the interior of your home if you want to generate interest in it. Street appeal refers to the outside of your home and it should be very enticing. This is what will make people take notice of the ‘For Sale’ sign in the yard. It will also be the first impression people get when they show up to inspect the property. First Impressions are Hard to Shake While we are told not to judge a book by its cover, the reality is, we do. You can’t help it when you see a home that just doesn’t look great from the outside. Buyers don’t want to move in and immediately have to get to work with updating the exterior. With that in mind, take an inventory of what doesn’t work. You may find an expert opinion is what you need to get this all in order. Invest to Impress It doesn’t have to be a huge expense to make the exterior of your home look better. A coat of paint, cleaning the front entrance and even adding some flowers or pot plants to the doorway can make a huge difference. The lawn should be well cared for and the fence repaired and painted if necessary. If the area of town is dark at night, consider some solar lights along the path from the driveway to the front steps. Make sure all of the glass is clean. If you have windows that need repairing or have missing screens, those issues should be addressed too.
Nov 26, 2019
Reasons to Consider a Stylist when you want to Sell your Home
A stylist can help you to get your home ready to sell. You may be experiencing tunnel vision due to your emotional attachment and your own sense of style. The problem is what you find appealing, may not be the same for the masses. You want your home presented in a manner that potential buyers find to be very appealing. Hiring a Professional With a stylist, they can come to your home and get it set up so it will appeal to a particular audience. They know what is going to get your home to sell and they can eliminate issues that would cause it to remain on the market. Their professional touch can also make it so appealing people are quick to put in a good offer. A stylist can help you get your property ready to go before you put it on the market. The small but significant changes they offer can make a difference for your property and how much you get for it. They know what will set a good impression and what won’t. Even the location of the furniture and the display items in your home can either invite or repel those looking for a home to purchase. Maximise the Potential Your home isn’t perfect, but a stylist can help you to maximise the potential it does offer. You may have a huge living room and dining room. Accenting them can help to make up for a smaller bathroom. You may have a large family room and that can make up for not having large bedrooms. Creating the right ambience and overall décor can make a difference between your home selling right away or sitting on the market for an extended period of time. You may overlook the little things such as fresh paint or the lighting in various rooms of your home. A stylist is going to come in objectively and with a checklist of items that buyers are looking for. They then can go through your home room by room, and explore the exterior. Finally they can sit down with you and create a plan of action for changes. All of this should be done before your home is advertised on the market.
Nov 19, 2019
Lighting Matters when it Comes to Selling your Home
Don’t overlook important matters if you want to sell your home. One of them is the lighting you offer. The right kind of lighting can make any room appear larger, bright and appealing. It needs to be excellent in every room of the home. If it isn’t, you should invest in upgrading it with various types of light fixtures. These should complement the existing décor of the home or in some cases, can work as a feature or focal point of a room. Dark Shadows A lack of lighting can result in dark shadows cast in your home. They can make the house less appealing. Potential buyers can have concerns about these dark areas and they may worry it is going to cost them a great deal of money to upgrade. One simple way to reduce dark shadows is by simply adjusting the wattage of bulbs in all of the rooms. Function A home with lighting that is functional and adjustable can be a huge selling point. Some rooms have slides that allow you to control the level of lighting, creating the perfect environment for a range of experiences. This is a wonderful feature and one that allows potential buyers to see the possibilities they have with such a home.
Nov 12, 2019
Getting your Home Ready to Sell in the Spring
Most people take part in the annual spring cleaning rituals! This can be a prime time to get your home ready for going on the market. Then you can relax and wait for people to start coming to look at the home. Statistically, more homes are sold in the spring than in the winter due to the warmer temperatures. Deep Cleaning Spend ample time in each room of your home to remove anything you no longer use. Donate usable items and toss out the rest. Clean from the ceilings down to the floors. Go through all of the drawers and cabinets. It is going to be time consuming but a necessary part of getting the home ready. Do this with your garage and shed too if you have such components on the property. Inspect your Home Go through the house and conduct a detailed inspection. Make a list of any problems you identify. Make sure you check the walls and the floors for any signs of water issues. Look under the sinks for signs of leaks. Check all pipes, your hot water system and your air conditioning units. Check for any signs you may have a problem with pests such as insects or rodents. Take care of any necessary repairs or painting that may need to be completed. Destroy Odours No one is interested in buying a home where there can be lingering odours. They may come from your garbage bin, musty carpets and furnishings or your pets. If you smoke, stop doing so in your home. Work on destroying all of these odours and not just covering them up. A professional steam clean inside the home is worthwhile to spruce up carpets and flooring. Staging and Pricing Hire a professional real estate agent to help you with the staging of your home. They are experts with this and they know what will get the attention of the potential buyers. They can also help you to create the right pricing for your home. This will be based on the quality of your home, the size of your home, the neighbourhood, and the other similar homes on the market being sold.
Nov 5, 2019
How to make your Open House a Success
Decluttering your home and staging it with a theme for each room is going to make your open house a success. You need to remove up to 80% of the items in each room that you no longer need to have. You also want to give the illusion of plenty of open spaces. If there is too much packed into a given room, it can hinder people from thinking the home is right for them. Reduce Furnishings Take out furniture from the rooms you don’t really need. This is going to offer more open space. It helps potential buyers to see where they would put their own items. You can move those furnishings out to the shed or better yet, rent a storage space. That is the best option, so the visitors can look at every area of your home inside and out, and not see your piles of belongings removed. Reduce Extras Take the time to reduce extras in all rooms of your home. This includes your children’s rooms where they’re likely to have an abundance of toys and books. Keep some of their favourites and put the rest in storage. If your home is on the market for a period of time, you can rotate what they have available to them. Display Items for Focal Points Each room in your home needs to have a focal point which is attractive to the eyes. This can be a picture, a sculpture, or even a shelf where you have some neat items displayed. Less is more for these areas too. Clean Cupboards and Closets Out Don’t be tempted to just remove items from sight. You can’t just store them in the cupboards or the closets. Potential buyers are going to want to look in those locations too as they explore your home. If they are filled to the brim with items, it can prevent them from making you an offer. They will want to feel that the homehas enough storage space for all their belongings.
Oct 29, 2019
How to Stage your Home to Reduce the Amount of Time it is on the Market
Getting your home ready to sell so it doesn’t linger on the market is very important. A bit of time invested before you put it out there is well worth it. If you don’t have the time to take care of these things, hire someone to do it for you. The end result will be offers on your home, in very little time! Visually Appealing You aren’t going to gain the interest of potential buyers entering the home for viewings, if it isn’t visually appealing from the outside. Take some time to clean the footpath and your driveway. Make sure your lawn is mown and edging is neat and tidy. Place some baskets of flowers or potted plants at the front entrance so it is inviting. Make sure the windows are clean. If your exterior needs to be painted, get it done! If you have an outdoor entertaining area, it should be clutter free and very inviting with some simple furnishings. Clean Inside and Out This is the time to take some additional care for the cleaning of your home – inside and out. Take care of the small details such as a stain on the carpet and getting the windows to all be dirt and streak free. Scrub the grout in the kitchen floor and the bathroom tiles. You can hire a cleaning service to take care of all of this in a single afternoon for you. Avoid odour issues too as they can send potential buyers packing! If your home smells like smoke or pets then it can be a huge turnoff. Get rid of those smells rather than just masking them. The use of scented candles isn’t going to appeal to all potential buyers. Use products such as vinegar or bi-carb soda to remove odours successfully. Clean walls and carpets to remove odours around your home. Clutter Free You don’t want a potential buyer to feel your home is too small for them. If it is cluttered, that is the impression it will give. When you are staging your home, get rid of what you don’t need. Ideally, go through each room and take out the non-essentials. Pack them up and label them. You can stack them neatly in the garage or you can rent a storage facility. Don’t overlook cleaning cabinets and closets as those are key areas people will be looking in. Leave the closet doors open too because some potential buyers will hesitate to open them, but you do want to give them a peek inside.
Oct 23, 2019
How much should I Spend on Advertising to Sell my Home?
Spending money to advertise and sell your home can be a wise investment. However, you need to make sure you don’t spend too much for it. You also need to feel like you get a reasonable return on that investment. Not all advertising is really going to help you reach potential buyers. You want to target the advertising so you are reaching qualified buyers. These are people ready to buy and who qualify for a home loan. Quality Listings Matter Qualified buyers don’t want to waste their time, and you should keep that in mind. They want to find out where a home is located and the asking price. They want to see photos of the inside and the outside. They want to find out about the square footage and the overall floor plan of the home. Such information is going to help them narrow down those locations they want to see in person. With that in mind, it is worth investing in professional pictures so you have something amazing to show them. If the photos are poor quality, there is nothing about them to entice the viewer to look at your home. Consider websites with a strong reputation where you can list the property and upload the images. Consider listings in your local newspapers too. Quality Agent You may be considering listing your home on your own, but it can be a hassle and difficult. You will be responsible for all of the viewings and the questions. You will be accountable for the paperwork and determining your price. You will also need to get your own advertising out there. It is a better investment to start with a top notch real estate agent from the beginning. They are the experts and can help to get everything arranged. You don’t pay them anything until the home is sold, and then they get an agreed upon percentage of the sale price.
Oct 15, 2019
Furnishing or Not when it Comes to Selling your Home?
There is conflicting information out there, about whether you should have furniture in your home when you sell it or not. Some will tell you having it gives people a chance to see the home lived in, which makes it warm and inviting. Others will tell you potential buyers like an empty property allowing them to picture their items in the prospective home. It also feels less invasive to them to look around a home without someone else’s personal belongings all over it. Furnishing When it is furnished, potential buyers may spend time sitting down and talking. If it is an open house, you do want to have places for people to sit down and relax. Most of the time, research shows a home with some furniture will sell before one that is without any. Of course you want to make sure the furniture is clean, organised, and doesn’t look cluttered, if you choose to have it in the home. Without Furniture It may be easier for you to move all of your belongings and then to put the home on the market. You do not want the hassle of leaving furniture behind that you will need to pay to be shipped later on. It may be best to take it all with you and to leave the home empty. If your home is appealing inside and out, and has a great price, it is going to sell either way.