Provo UT Real Estate Blog | Homes for Sale, Real Estate Market, Buying a Home, Selling a Home, Home Listings

Inside Real Estate
Let Me Help You!
(801) 787-2266
Follow My Blog
RSS
michelleminzghor
Michelle Minzghor
Associate

Direct: (801) 787-2266

Office: (801) 765-9111

Email Me

» About Me » Visit My Website
Company Info

@Home Realty
1815 N. 1120 W.
Provo, Utah
(801) 765-9111

Real Estate Tools
Schoolsschools
Communitiescommunities
Calculatorscalculators

Selling a Home

Selling Strategies for a Soft Market #5

Thursday, March 11th, 2010

Home Improvements

There is a general rule in real estate that says, “Property will always gain value while the structures on it will always diminish in value over time.” But no matter the age of a Utah County home, no matter its location, regardless of its style of construction and decoration, as time goes by property owners have to continue to update and maintain their homes in order to maximize their real estate investment. How much of a return on your investment can you expect to glean from various remodeling projects, and what affect can they have on your Selling Success?

Key #5 – Return on Remodeling Investment & Competitive Edge

You will not glean a dollar-for-dollar return on your investment from remodeling and updating projects.

There, I said it.

Almost without exception, the money you spend on your home is not recouped in full when you sell it. Yes, a property’s value is maximized when it is in great shape and reflects the current trends in design, amenities, and layout. Yes, spending time and money upgrading and updating your home produces positive benefits in addition to the fact that you are living in a nicer home (don’t forget that part). But certain remodels, replacements, and additions generate a greater return on investment at resale than others.

Real estate industry lore says start with kitchens and bathrooms — that is what people care about the most and where you will gain the most bang for your buck when it is time to sell.

Not necessarily, says the analysis done by Hanley Wood LLC for the National Association of Realtors this last year. According to their study, upscale siding replacement earned the largest return on investment in the Utah County area, just over 82 percent of the job cost recouped.

Talk about unsexy! Most of us would much rather be picking out gorgeous granite countertops and hip appliances, or luxurious claw foot bathtubs. Next on the list is a kitchen remodel at (73 percent) return on investment, followed by adding a deck (72 percent), and replacing windows (71 percent).

Two additions that are commonly suggested in the Utah County area as excellent addition investments for a home recoup a surprisingly low percentage of the job cost, according to the study: adding a garage (59 percent), and adding another bathroom (58 percent). Curiously, adding a garage on a Pacific coast home recouped 88 percent of the job cost. I don’t think anyone from Hanley Wood has recently had to broom 10 inches of snow off of their car and scrape the ice off of their windshield before heading in to work on a frigid morning, in the dark.

Remember to put costs and values into context. Seemingly small differences in project scope or material quality can dramatically affect the final costs. It is also important to consider whether a remodeled space reduces the perceived number of rooms or the available finished square footage of a home. A small bedroom converted into a home office, or cannibalized for your cavernous new master bathroom, while a positive development in many respects, may reduce the number of bedrooms below the minimum expectations of prospective buyers, for example. Carving a half-bath out of unused storage space under a staircase, or over a garage, is an obvious gain.

Also, the older the remodeling project, the smaller the recouped job cost, but the longer a home owner gets to enjoy the benefits of the project. If you are getting ready to list your home on the Utah County real estate market, consider what your job costs will be, how long you will get to enjoy those home amenities, and what affect those improvements will have on the sale price of your property and its time on the market. A good real estate agent can help you with these questions a lot.

Finally, all other things being equal (read: asking price), the newer, nicer home sells first. Exterior projects seem to have the greatest affect and are the best value. Remember our discussions about the importance of Buyer’s first impressions? While some prospective Buyers seek properties that have remodeling needs, what many of us refer to as “fixer-uppers,” they are seeking properties whose asking prices are below the Utah County real estate market averages. The possibility of sweat equity can be a selling point, but the sale price will be negatively affected from the Sellers standpoint.

Stay tuned as we round out our 8 Keys to Selling Success – Strategies for our “soft” market by discussing #6 – Sales Incentives & Marketing Extras, #7 – Power Pricing, and #8 – The “It” Factor.

Remember to leave your question as a comment below, or e-mail MichelleMinzghor@homerealty.com

All the Best,

Michelle

Tags: , , , , , , , ,
Posted in Selling a Home | No Comments »

Home Improvements Strategies for a Soft Market #5

Thursday, March 11th, 2010

Home Improvements

There is a general rule in real estate that says, “Property will always gain value while the structures on it will always diminish in value over time.” But no matter the age of a Utah County home, no matter its location, regardless of its style of construction and decoration, as time goes by property owners have to continue to update and maintain their homes in order to maximize their real estate investment. How much of a return on your investment can you expect to glean from various remodeling projects, and what affect can they have on your Selling Success?

Key #5 – Return on Remodeling Investment & Competitive Edge

You will not glean a dollar-for-dollar return on your investment from remodeling and updating projects.

There, I said it.

Almost without exception, the money you spend on your home is not recouped in full when you sell it. Yes, a property’s value is maximized when it is in great shape and reflects the current trends in design, amenities, and layout. Yes, spending time and money upgrading and updating your home produces positive benefits in addition to the fact that you are living in a nicer home (don’t forget that part). But certain remodels, replacements, and additions generate a greater return on investment at resale than others.

Real estate industry lore says start with kitchens and bathrooms — that is what people care about the most and where you will gain the most bang for your buck when it is time to sell.

Not necessarily, says the analysis done by Hanley Wood LLC for the National Association of Realtors this last year. According to their study, upscale siding replacement earned the largest return on investment in the Great Lakes region, just over 82 percent of the job cost recouped.

Talk about unsexy! Most of us would much rather be picking out gorgeous granite countertops and hip appliances, or luxurious claw foot bathtubs. Next on the list is a kitchen remodel at (73 percent) return on investment, followed by adding a deck (72 percent), and replacing windows (71 percent).

Two additions that are commonly suggested in the Utah County area as excellent addition investments for a home recoup a surprisingly low percentage of the job cost, according to the study: adding a garage (59 percent), and adding another bathroom (58 percent). Curiously, adding a garage on a Pacific coast home recouped 88 percent of the job cost. I don’t think anyone from Hanley Wood has recently had to broom 10 inches of snow off of their car and scrape the ice off of their windshield before heading in to work on a frigid morning, in the dark.

Remember to put costs and values into context. Seemingly small differences in project scope or material quality can dramatically affect the final costs. It is also important to consider whether a remodeled space reduces the perceived number of rooms or the available finished square footage of a home. A small bedroom converted into a home office, or cannibalized for your cavernous new master bathroom, while a positive development in many respects, may reduce the number of bedrooms below the minimum expectations of prospective buyers, for example. Carving a half-bath out of unused storage space under a staircase, or over a garage, is an obvious gain.

Also, the older the remodeling project, the smaller the recouped job cost, but the longer a home owner gets to enjoy the benefits of the project. If you are getting ready to list your home on the Utah County real estate market, consider what your job costs will be, how long you will get to enjoy those home amenities, and what affect those improvements will have on the sale price of your property and its time on the market. A good real estate agent can help you with these questions a lot.

Finally, all other things being equal (read: asking price), the newer, nicer home sells first. Exterior projects seem to have the greatest affect and are the best value. Remember our discussions about the importance of Buyer’s first impressions? While some prospective Buyers seek properties that have remodeling needs, what many of us refer to as “fixer-uppers,” they are seeking properties whose asking prices are below the Utah County real estate market averages. The possibility of sweat equity can be a selling point, but the sale price will be negatively affected from the Sellers standpoint.

Stay tuned as we round out our 8 Keys to Selling Success – Strategies for our “soft” market by discussing #6 – Sales Incentives & Marketing Extras, #7 – Power Pricing, and #8 – The “It” Factor.

Remember to leave your question as a comment below, or e-mail MichelleMinzghore@homerealty.com

All the Best,

Michelle Minzghor

Tags: , , , , ,
Posted in Selling a Home | No Comments »

FSBO v.s. Realtor

Monday, February 8th, 2010

As we formulate your bullet-proof Master Plan to sell your Utah County real estate in our “soft” seller’s market, we need to address the possibility of taking on this challenge yourself vs. hiring a real estate professional.

The real estate industry term for home owners who attempt to tackle the preparation, pricing, marketing, buyer qualification, seller disclosures, inspection process, contract negotiation, contingency removal, contract closing, deed transfer, and successful sale of their own home is FSBO, short for “for sale by owner.”

While it is not impossible to market and sell your Utah County home by yourself, it takes a LOT of insight, hard work, persistence, patience, and thorough knowledge of the laws, responsibilities, and norms of the real estate and financial industries to be successful. Selling a home is now more complex and time consuming than ever before.

The percentage of gainfully employed, non-real-estate-license-holding individuals who achieve FSBO success is in the single digits. The vast majority of for-sale-by-owner properties, more than 90 percent of them, end up listing with a real estate brokerage because they grossly underestimate the time, money, knowledge, and effort required to sell their property by themselves — and that is in a typical Utah County area real estate market. Readers of this blog are acutely aware of the nature of our current sellers market, and it’s not pretty.

Most FSBOs know enough to put a “for sale” sign in their yard. Many will try to tell their friends and neighbors they are trying to sell their home. Some will try to figure out a way to get their property listed on their local Multiple Listing Service (MLS) without actually listing it with a real estate brokerage. A few will even go as far as trying to gain some Internet exposure in their attempt to sell their home. Unfortunately, these attempts do not take into account how most home buyers search, view, decide on, and purchase homes.

In keeping with our propensity for numbered lists, here are the Top 10 Reasons for hiring professional real estate representatives:

1. To optimize the sale price/market time relationship
2. To achieve “show quality” condition for your property
3. To maximize your property’s market exposure
4. To qualify prospective buyers
5. To help guard against misrepresentations and claims
6. To provide buyers comprehensive property, community, school, neighborhood, and market information
7. To ensure privacy, confidentiality, and safety for both sellers and buyers
8. To minimize the demands on sellers through the planning, marketing, and sale process
9. To utilize the methods and avenues used by most buyers
10. To negotiate for top dollar and maximum seller advantage

Let’s look at how you should arrive at an accurate and marketable price for your Utah County property as an example highlighting the challenges facing the do-it-yourself-er.

How will you arrive at a fair and marketable price for your home? Do you go with the “I’d love to get X”-price? How about the “my neighbor wants X for his home and ours is SO much nicer”-price? Or maybe you try to utilize the appraisal you paid for when you refinanced a couple of years ago. You know, the same type of appraisal that has helped send the secondary mortgage market into its current calamity.

(May we give you a hint? Banks make money loaning money; the appraisal the bank generated when you sought to borrow more money against your property is not worth the paper it is printed on.)

Good real estate agents typically research and analyze at least half a dozen different indicators to establish the real market price for a given property in a given market. We will then include additional factors like what a seller’s goals and time frame are, what they owe on the property, and other factors that will affect the successful marketing and sale of a home.

While it is possible to attempt the preparation, pricing, marketing, buyer qualification, seller disclosures, inspection process navigation, contract negotiation, contingency removal, contract closing, deed transfer, and successful sale of your own home, it is no where near the best plan. In a market where only a painfully small percentage of the available properties are selling at all, further hindering your success by trying to also be a part of the fraction of FSBOs that achieve success is not only bad math, but a bad plan.

Yes, we’re biased in our opinions, but we also spend all day, week-in and week-out, intimately involved in Utah County real estate market, achieving success for both our buying and selling clients.

There are of course some who claim that they not only sold their home themselves, but that it was a breeze, and that they don’t have any idea why any sane person would ever hire a professional. These are often the same people who claim to be great drivers because they’ve never had an accident, or who always win at their local casino despite the fact that said casinos annually report their cash profits in the tens of millions of dollars a year!

Claims of no-hassle, anyone-can-do-it, why-pay-a-professional real estate dealings and “I do real well at the casino on a regular basis” fall under the same general heading — I’ll let you give it your favorite moniker.

Ask the Realtors readers are learning that to achieve selling success in today’s Utah County real estate market, you need to maximize all the available positives while trying to eliminate as many negatives as humanly possible. Utilize the very best professionals you can to help ensure your selling success in our soft market.

Tags: , ,
Posted in Selling a Home | No Comments »

Strategies For Our Soft Market

Tuesday, February 2nd, 2010

8 Keys to Selling Success — Strategies for our soft market. You must understand the effect that buyer’s first impression has on their interest in buying your Utah Valley home.

Key #3 – First Impressions:

1. Pick it up

2. Clean it up

3. Finish it up

4. Paint it & Un-decorate it

5. Illuminate it

One of the Four Fundamental Factors of Utah County real estate property values is condition.

The real estate industry statistic/urban legend says that a buyer formulates a strong first impression of your home within 15 seconds of seeing it. Multiply that by the “Internet factor,” or the shortened attention span of most (real estate buying) surfers who are looking at property, and the importance of first impressions takes on its true importance. Unlike the location of your property (which you cannot change), you have direct control of the condition of your home.

Remember our discussion of “Show Quality?” A home in “Show Quality” is clean, organized, and inviting. Pick it up and clean it up. Get rid of all but the last month’s magazines. Empty your property of all of the garbage on the premises. You may want to take this opportunity to re-establish your definition of “garbage” (and maybe your spouse’s definition as well). Take all of the recyclable materials to the collection centers. Make sure all of the laundry is cleaned, folded, and put away in its proper place. If something does not have a proper place, you probably don’t need it as badly as you need your house to sell.

Go after the garage and the basement too, while you’re at it. Remember, you want your home to stand out amongst the legions of other houses for sale in your price range, and this is an area that you can have a dramatically positive affect on.

Clean your house like all of the church ladies are coming over with their white gloves on! There are several really good cleaning professionals locally that can give your home a sparkle it may have never seen before, and for the price, this is an excellent option almost every time.

Pay particular attention to the window glass. We humans are a visual species, and even a little grime on a window, inside or out, is easily detected and will give an impression of dirtiness regardless of how spotless the rest of the home is.

We’ll learn about the importance of illumination below. Suffice it to say that you want to utilize your daylight as much as possible with your squeaky-clean windows. I cannot picture a home that is too clean.

My favorite is finish it up. Finish all of the little projects you have started, but never finished, around your home. You want to be selling your home as a finished product, not a work-in-progress. One of the best ways of soliciting low offers on your home is to have a list of items that are not complete. Buyers will “naturally” deduct the expense of finishing your projects from whatever your asking price is.

Again, this is an area where you can directly affect the successful sale of your home, so no complaining about your lack of selling success with a laundry list of home projects that you are trying to pass off on an unsuspecting buyer. “Honey Do’s” can be very expensive for a seller.

Another great Utah County real estate adage is: “Paint is worth $20 in the can and $2,000 on the wall.” Paint it & un-decorate it. Even a fresh coat of whatever great color you have on your walls will go a long way, but pay attention to your trim in particular.

Un-decorate is counter-intuitive. Most people have too much stuff, particularly if you have collections of anything. Pack most of your stuff (whatever you cannot sell, give away, or recycle) carefully away in boxes and get it off the walls, floors, and shelves. De-clutter. Clutter makes rooms seem much smaller, and your house less bright and inviting. People’s tastes vary widely, so your stellar collection of race cars, seashells, and all things nautical may very well turn off a buyer who is more interested in a clean, bright, well-cared-for home and great location.

Finally, illuminate it. As we have already said, humanity is a visual species. All forms of illumination take a back seat to our heavenly source 92 million miles away. Sunlight is your friend. Open the blinds and curtains. Replace any burned out or low-wattage bulbs with fresh new ones. If you are able, turn on every light in your home before any prospective buyers are scheduled to come view your property for sale. It makes a big difference, even in photographs.

Incorporate these first impression builders into your solid, well-thought-out plan to sell your home and you will be on your way to selling success, even in a “soft” market.

Tags: , , , , , , ,
Posted in Selling a Home | No Comments »

Selling Strategies for a Soft Market #2

Wednesday, January 27th, 2010

What Sells a Property?

Last week I covered the first step in successfully selling your home in our “soft” seller’s market – 1. Make a Plan.

This week’s second installment of 8 Keys to Selling Success — Strategies for our Soft Market says your plan needs to understand and address the four fundamental factors that affect the sale of real estate in Utah County.

Key #2 – What Sells a Home:

1. Location

2. Condition

3. Price

4. Marketing

Location is the factor you have the least ability to affect; the location of your real estate is fixed by definition. (Goes without saying, doesn’t it?) It is the primary factor a buyer decides upon, and is the one factor on which a seller should spend the least amount of worry and effort. Beware of pouring money into improving a property that’s value is limited by its location and/or neighbors.

Conversely, it is the property itself, and its location, that constitutes the largest component of overall value. In general, property gains value over time, and structures lose value over time.

The next three factors are where you need to spend the most effort, construct the strongest plan, and make the best decisions.

The Condition of your home and property is vitally important to its successful sale in our soft market, and this is a factor you have a lot of control over. With the sea of Utah County real estate for sale, your home needs to stand out amongst the competition within its price range. I suggest to our @Home Realty clients that their property needs to be kept in “show condition” while it is being marketed and shown for sale. (We’ll go into great detail about this in the coming weeks.)

Very few of us live in homes that are in show condition, much like very few of us drive cars around that are in show condition. We can all come up with excuses why we cannot keep our homes in show condition, but read very carefully: All things being (even close to) equal, the home in the best condition sells first.

Picture going through your used car’s interior with a toothbrush cleaning every nook and cranny, and using every cleaner, polish, and special tool in your arsenal to get it ready to sell. Now apply that mentality to your home. Clean it, put it away, and get rid of all of the clutter.

For heaven’s sake, try to limit the pet hair, not to mention the litter box odor. Replace all of the burned out light bulbs. Fix the sticking door. Actually paint the back bedroom with the can of paint you bought two years ago.

Remember, “show condition.”

How and where you Price your property for sale is of vital importance, and unfortunately not clearly understood by most sellers, and even some real estate agents. Realize that in today’s Utah County area real estate market, residential property has become more of a commodity and sellers (and their agents) need to adjust their pricing accordingly to be successful.

If you are shopping for a white refrigerator and have $400 to spend, you have literally dozens of possibilities to choose from right here in our area, and you are going to get the absolute best white fridge for your dollar. The current Utah County real estate market is no different.

Buyers in any segment of our market have literally dozens of candidates available, regardless of what they are looking for or how much they want to spend. Your property has to stand out amongst its competition to even be in consideration.

Finally, the Marketing of your Utah County property is the crux of your challenge, and needs to be cunningly incorporated into your plan.

Read the last sentence again for me.

There’s a LOT of competition, but if you are serious about selling your home, utilize all of the tools that you can bring to bear to achieve success. That includes hiring the best real estate agent(s) you can find, developing a strong marketing plan with them, and implementing that plan aggressively.

Be creative and flexible. Spread the word. Concentrate as much energy on the Internet as possible. Not only has the World Wide Web become the most dominant aspect of real estate marketing, it becomes more so every day.

You can try to market your home by yourself, but how thorough a plan can you develop and implement? Will that really be your best chance of achieving success? If your time or financial options to sell your home are limited in any way, we implore you to seek the very best professional help you can find as quickly as possible. It is not a coincidence that between 80-90 percent of all for-sale-by-owners eventually list their properties with a real estate brokerage to successfully sell them… and that’s in an average seller’s market.

We are experiencing a “soft” seller’s market, but with a well-designed and executed selling strategy that successfully addresses the four fundamental factors that sell homes, you can be one of those sellers in the Utah County area that find willing and able buyers.

Tags: , , , , ,
Posted in Selling a Home | No Comments »

8 Keys To Selling Success

Tuesday, January 26th, 2010

This week, lets talk about the “soft” seller’s real estate market in the Utah County area with our 8 Keys to Selling Success — Strategies for our Soft Market.

If you are selling your home — if you are even considering selling your home — you absolutely cannot ignore these guidelines, especially right now when it is so challenging to be successful.

When tackling any major event (and selling your home is a major event), you first have to define your objectives very clearly.

1. Make a plan.

Like any well-coached team, the greater the plan and preparation, the greater the likelihood of success. If you are married, you need to actually sit down with your spouse and reach a firm agreement on these important questions:

What are your motivations for selling your home? What happens if it doesn’t sell? (You know, like three quarters of all the other properties listed For Sale out there…)

What is your realistic time-line? What happens if it takes longer than you’re planning to sell your home?

What is your financial situation? What are your options? What is the best course of action for your financial health and future? Who do you know that you can trust, and who can actually help you assess your options? What if your financial situation is in already in distress, or about to be?

How are you going to go about answering these questions? And then how are you going to go about implementing your plan and selling your home?

Keep tabs on us for the next number of weeks, and by Ground Hog’s Day you will be ready to implement your carefully crafted plan for selling your home. We will go over a complete selling strategy, piece by piece, so you can “Wow!” the Utah County area real estate market like a well-oiled machine.

Feel free to leave your question or comment below, or e-mail MichelleMinzghor@homerealty.com directly.

All the best, and

THINK SNOW!

Tags: , , , , , ,
Posted in Selling a Home | No Comments »

Selling Your Home In The Winter cont…

Friday, December 18th, 2009

Here are more tips when selling your home in the winter.

Make sure to get the windows washed. Buyers act on the first impression. Windows are the one thing that Sellers don’t even consider. In winter, that strong southern light can reveal grime and make it look like the home hasn’t been well maintained.

To help warm the place up, play music softly in the background. To create a little atmosphere, turn the radio to the local classical or jazz station. Turn it down so that you barely hear it in the background. It is soothing and seems to have the most appeal to buyers.

Make it comfortable and cozy. Set the scene and help the buyers see themselves living happily in this house. Consider things such as putting a warm throw on the sofa or folding back the thick comforter on the bed. Set a breakfast tray on the bed containing a coffee cup, saucer, napkin and rolled-up newspaper. For baths or spas, roll up wash cloths, tie with a ribbon and place in a basket on the counter. Set up a grouping of soaps, lotions and shampoo. Tap into the simple things this time of year that make you feel like you are home.

Tags: , , , ,
Posted in Selling a Home | No Comments »

Selling Your Home in Winter

Thursday, December 17th, 2009

The winter season makes home staging even more important. If you do it right, you can really make your house stand out.

1. Keep snow and ice at bay. If the buyer can’t get in easily, the house won’t sell. That means keeping walkways and driveways free from the frozen stuff. Just like trimming the lawn in summer, you want to make the home look like it has been maintained. If you are away frequently or live in an area that is subject to bad weather, it can pay to hire a service to regularly salt or shovel the driveway and sidewalks.
2. Warm it up. If you are showing during the winter, think “warm, cozy and homey.” Before a Buyer comes through, adjust the thermostat to a warmer temperature to make it welcoming. Sellers like to trim the temperature down because of heat costs, but Buyers who come in and aren’t comfortable won’t stay long. If you have a gas fireplace, turning it on right before the tour can give the home a little ambiance. With a wood-burning fireplace, you’ve got to be a bit more careful. If the house is vacant, don’t chance it. But if you are still there and will be there during the tour, it can be a nice touch. Many times, Sellers leave right before the agent or prospective Buyers arrive. In that case, adjust the heat to a comfortable level and have the hearth set for a fire. Buyers see the warmth and feel the potential.
3. Take advantage of natural light. Encourage showing during the high-daylight hours. Make most of the daylight you do have. Have the blinds cleaned and open them as wide as possible during daytime showings. Clean all the lamps and daytime fixtures, and replace bulbs with the highest wattage that they will safely accommodate. Before the home is to be shown, turn on all the lights.

To be continued…..

Tags: , , ,
Posted in Selling a Home | No Comments »

Tips on Selling your Provo House in today’s Market

Monday, September 14th, 2009

Selling your house in today’s market can be a challenge with so many homes on the market.  I thought I would share some tips with you today on some strategies that can help.

1. Curb Appeal

I’m sure you have heard more than once that you only get one chance to make a good first impression. So tip number one, since  curb appeal is the first impression a prospective buyer gets when they come to see your home, you want to make sure it is a good first impression. Make sure the lawns are mowed, weeds are pulled and walks are cleared. Consider planting some flowers, trimming trees, painting fences as well as keeping the yard and driveway clean of debris.

2. Does Everything Work?

Make sure everything in the house works; replace old appliances that don’t work up to par, make sure the water heater is working or replaced. Now is the time to repair the leaky faucet or damaged drywall. It is amazing the difference the bathroom looks with a new toilet seat or shower curtain. Selling your house in today’s market requires that people feel you have kept the home well maintained.

3. De-Clutter

Rent a storage unit and move everything that you absolutely do not need to storage. Doing this will not only give you more room but add to your house feeling bigger when it’s not jam-packed full of stuff. An un-cluttered house will give energy to the prospective buyer and be much more inviting.

4. Keep Everything Shiny

Along with de-cluttering your home make sure the sink and everything is nice and shiny and you keep it dusted as well as get any pet odors removed so the prospective buyers don’t remove themselves before they have a chance to see your home. Also, try using a soft air freshener, candles or even bake cookies in the oven to add that comfortable home like feeling.

5. Paint

A new coat of paint goes a long ways. Painting walls with a neutral color helps your home to look and feel cleaner. Keep in mind that the pale green or bright reds that you might like and seems modern might turn a prospective buyer away.

6. Carpet

Replace existing flooring such as old wore out carpet or outdated linoleum can both add to the value of your home and the desirability of it. Of course you want to keep this within a budget and do this only if a good cleaning doesn’t do the job. I also recommend that you shop around when looking for flooring; many times you can find great deals at discount stores or online.

7. Brighten Things Up

Make sure there is plenty of light by opening the blinds; you might also consider getting brighter light bulbs, especially for areas such as a basement. This also helps a house feel bigger, and is more inviting.

8. Selling Price

Be realistic about the selling price of your home, the homes that are selling on the market are the ones that are priced at a fair price. Check out what other homes similar to yours are selling for in your area. Selling your home a little below what the average homes are selling for will make a difference, it depends on how fast you want to sell. One must also keep in mind the opportunity cost involved with pricing higher but taking a lot longer to sell.

9. What is the Competition doing?

Take a look at other homes for sale and see what they are doing to get sold. Take tours of these homes and look at them as if you were going to buy the home. This will give you great ideas of what prospective buyers are looking at and what you will need to do to sell your home in today’s market.

10. Most Important Rooms

Once your prospective buyer gets passed a great looking yard, you want to wow them with a fantastic looking front room. Make sure the entrance way is simple but nice, maybe hang some simple plants or wall hangings, maybe a few pictures. Keep the room vacuumed or swept if it is hardwood and the room is arranged nicely. You could find some great ideas online or looking through magazines at your local library or Home Depot.  If you need to put any dollars into upgrading any part of your home, the kitchen and bathrooms are the most important rooms to paint and/or update, not only to appeal to the prospective buyer but to add value to your home.


Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
Posted in Selling a Home | 1 Comment »

Market Recap

  • Avg. Sales Price: 379,000

  • Avg. Days on Market: 69

Free Market Alerts

Get local reports delivered to you
 
market alert newsletter

Get free market reports delivered to you. » Sign up today

- Copyright © 2010 Inside Real Estate, LLC

Inside Real Estate does not endorse the agents on this site, and does not guarantee the content submitted by the site's members. Blog and page entries, content, and other information contributed by agents that are members of the site are accountable to the particular agent. Inside Real Estate and Omnia Alliance LLC take no accountability for the content contributed by members to the site.