10 Spruce-Up Tips in 10 Days. Get More Added Value to Your Home Before You Put it on the Market!!

Getting Ready for the OPEN HOUSE!!!

This is one that I have mixed emotions about.  I've had a lot of sellers that insist on having an open house for their home.  Very rarely, it's how you sell your home.  It's really a tool that the real estate agents typically use to get more clientele.  Regardless, I want to give you some tips on how to make your open house a successful one.

First, make sure your agent is on top of it.  This means that they are sending out invites to their fellow real estate community, including other agents, mortgage bankers and brokers, home inspectors, etc., not to mention their own client base.  YOU also have a responsibility to be proactive in getting the word out about the Open House.  Make sure that everyone knows that your house is on the market, when the Open House is, and what time it will happen.  

Second, make sure that your house is show-place looking, sparkly clean, absolutely perfect both inside and out.  ZERO excuses.  I don't care how tired you are.  How long your week was.  This is completely your responsibility.  

Third, make sure that your agent is bringing snacks and drinks.  This is one of the draws for people to come!  Seriously!!!!  If your agent isn't planning on bringing anything, either fire your agent and find one that will do it right, or make your own snacks.  And don't complain if you make your own snacks.  If you won't find an agent that will do the job right and you refuse to fire them, that's on YOU!  So don't complain if you aren't doing what's necessary as far as holding your agent's feet to the fire!

Finally, LEAVE and let your agent do their job!  It's not comfortable for perspective buyers to come into your home while you're there and openly discuss how they truly feel about your home.  They will say a lot more to the agent (it's even better if your agent has feedback cards for them to fill out) than they will to you.

Make sure that you sit down with your agent, go over the feedback, and do what you can to fix any issues that seem to be cropping up constantly with more than just one or two potential buyers.  (You will not please everyone.)  Take your emotions OUT of what the people are saying, and focus on what you can fix within reason!  Don't worry about what's out of your control.

Good luck and Happy Selling!!

10 Spruce-Up Tips in 10 Days. Get More Added Value to Your Home Before You Put it on the Market!!

Staging Is More Important Than You Realize!

This is one of those steps that I really enjoy, but I expect that there's a lot of people that don't.  Again, it does involve work.  You will probably be sore if you do this on your own.  (Which I don't recommend.  Furniture can get heavy!) But, once it's done, you will see the results and be glad that you did!  You can also hire someone to do it if you live in an area where there are companies that stage.  Your agent should be able to help you with either finding a company, or walking you through the process.  Your agent may have also taken a staging course, which would really benefit you during this phase.

However, there are many folks who don't want to spend the money it would take to professionally stage a home, and they prefer to do it on their own.  If that's YOU, then listen up!  I have some tips that will help you along the way!

First, depersonalize everything you're able to.  Pack up your wedding pics, family pics, kid pics, everything that doesn't help to perspective buyers visualize anyone but them living in the home.  If you haven't done so already, declutter!  Seriously, it makes a HUGE difference.  If you can afford to, go buy nice baskets to put things into them like games, puzzles, toys, video game controllers and games, you get the idea.  If you go to yard sales or thrift stores, you can get some at those places that are mismatched and spray paint them all so they're cohesive to your space.  When you're on a budget, you HAVE to get creative!  Just make sure that you store things neatly into the baskets that you've gotten!

Next is to move your furniture around in your rooms.  You want the rooms to feel open and spacious.  NOT sterile.  There's a HUGE difference.  Sterile makes people feel like they're in just a house.  You want your house to feel like a home.  Look through magazines/websites to get inspiration.  HGTV has both.  Better Homes and Gardens has both.  There are probably about a zillion options to choose from!  Just start thumbing through the pages either in the magazine or on the website to get some great inspiration for your different spaces.  You would be amazed at what you can find.  Just don't overwhelm yourself with too many ideas.  Simplicity is key here.  You want every room to be cohesive with the next.  You want the rooms to feel comfortable.  The bathrooms need to feel almost spa-like.  This is what buyers expect more and more often now.  Your master bedroom needs to be a retreat.  The other bedrooms need to be comfortable and welcoming for kids or guests.  Your living room/family room needs to be a place where people can feel like they can gather with family.  Get the picture??

With some time, effort, and hopefully some friends, you should be able to get your home staged and nearly ready for sale!

Happy Selling!

10 Spruce-Up Tips in 10 Days. Get More Added Value to Your Home Before You Put it on the Market!!

De-cluttering the Day Away...Day 2

So you've read about curb appeal, which I believe is very important in selling your home.  This tip is another one that many people overlook, at times without realizing it.  You assume that, because you LOVE your wedding pictures on the walls~all 20 of them~that everyone else is going to LOVE them, too.  Wrong answer!  This is one of those times that you need a friend, a real friend who's going to be completely honest with you, to help you with this task. 

The first thing I would recommend doing is getting a place to store all of your items that you're going to pack away.  (Don't go into shock!  This could potentially get you more for your home!  Suck it up and do it!)  If you have a garage, it may be okay.  However, remember that, with all of the boxes that are stored there along with everything else that you normally keep there, you're losing the visual square footage.  And you know what that means, right?  You're losing DOLLARS!  So, if your budget can stand it, rent a storage space.  If you can't, make due with what you can, but make it as visually appealing as possible.

The second thing I would do is pack away everything you can that's personal.  Typically how I would start the process is pack away as much as I can, and then bring out a few of the items to help make the place homey.  Just not TOO many.  Pack up some of the kids' toys.  Little Johnny will be alright.  I promise that it won't scar him for life!  You want to pack up enough things so that it looks clean, but not plain.  Adding a few items on tabletops is okay.  However, having 50 things on your coffee table is NOT.

Third, go through your kitchen.  If it's summer and you have a ton of baking pans that you only use all of during the Holiday Season, pack up as many as you can.  Pack up the cookie cutters, the decorative dishes, and things that you don't use that often.  If you think that buyers don't go through your cabinets, you couldn't be more wrong!

This is also a great time to get rid of expired medicines.  So number 4 on the list is bathrooms!  Again, buyers will go through your medicine cabinets, drawers, etc., when looking at your home as potentially theirs.  Go through your bathroom(s), and get rid of things you don't use.  I promise that you will survive.

Finally, I highly recommend getting rid of old magazines, newspapers, books that you dust and don't read, and so on.  If you save your children's artwork and schoolwork, pare it down!  Also, a great idea that I've seen a friend do is keep what's most special and put these things into three-ring binders.  You can get one for every school year.  It's great to look through the years, kind of like scrapbooks, to see how your child has progressed.  Then, you can pack the binders away as well!

Basically, if something pulls at your heartstrings, it probably won't for potential buyers.  Keep that in mind as you pack.  And one huge benefit is that you've already started packing for your next home!  You'll be way ahead of the game when you move, and opening those boxes will be like a treasure hunt when you get to open them!

Good luck and happy packing!