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Adrienne Cortez
H.S.E.
At your request, you'll receive a Free Home Staging Consultation when you list your home to sell with my husband Robert Cortez. I'll provide you with ideas on rearranging and/or paring down the furnishings and accessories you already have in your home to attract the largest number of potential buyers. My objective is to contribute towards getting your home SOLD in the least amount of time & for the most amount of money.
In addition to your home being priced appropriately, a decluttered, staged home is more attractive in MLS photos, has an edge over competing properties, and requires little to no expense relative to the potential return.
Decorating, which is personalizing a home to your taste, is the opposite of Home Staging.. The purpose of staging is to depersonalize & remove most of your personal items (family photos, extra furniture pieces, collections, etc). The goal is for a prospective buyer to mentally "move in" while they tour the property & envision their family & their furnishings in your home.
Tips for the "do it yourself"ers:
Get your Home Ready to Sell
Making a good first impression can mean the difference between receiving serious offers for your home or being subjected to months of lookie-loos dropping by but never buying. Although you may be comfortable with your furnishings and effects as they are presently arranged, your current set-up may not be the best way to show off the house well. Decide right now to stop thinking of the property as a home, and instead, think of it as a commodity you want to sell for the highest dollar possible. Homes that are staged sell faster in slow markets, and at higher prices in stronger markets. How can you ensure that your home will make the best impression possible? Here are seven tips for smart home sellers:
1. Focus on curb appeal. The outside of your house can be the source of a very good first impression. Keep the grass well-watered and mowed. Have your trees trimmed. Cut back overgrowth. Plant some blooming flowers. Store toys, bicycles, roller-skates, gardening equipment and the like out of sight. Sweep the porch and the front walkway. After dark, turn on your front porch light and any other exterior lighting.
2. Clear out the clutter. Real estate agents say buyers won't purchase a home they can't see. If your home has too much furniture, overflowing closets, crowded kitchen and bathroom countertops or lots of family photos or collectibles on display, potential buyers won't be able to see your home. Get rid of anything you don't need or use. Fill up your garage or rent some off-site storage space if that's what it takes to clear out your home.
3. Make all necessary repairs. Buyers expect everything in their new home to operate safely and properly. Picky buyers definitely will notice-and likely magnify -- minor maintenance problems you've ignored for months or even years. Leaky faucets, burned-out light bulbs, painted-shut or broken windows, inoperable appliances and the like should be fixed before you put your home on the market. These repairs may seem small, but left undone they can lead buyers to question whether you've taken good care of your home.
4. Introduce lifestyle accessories and make your home as comfortable and attractive as possible. Set the dining room table with a vase with fresh flowers or some other decorative piece. Put out your only-for-company towels. Make up the spare bed. Hang some fresh curtains.
5. Get a buyer's-eye view. Walk up to your home and pretend you've never seen it before. What do you notice? How do you feel about what you see? Does the home seem inviting? Well-maintained? Would you want to buy this home? Your answer should be an enthusiastic yes!
6. Furniture/Room arrangements. Any main room or feature room, such as a living room, dining room, or master bedroom should always be set up to play to the function of its original design. For example, if you're currently running your home office out of the formal dining room, it needs to be transformed back into a formal dining room. Potential buyers are going to be walking in with certain expectations. If a formal dining room is part of your home's design, you need to show that to the buyer. That's what you're selling, and that is what they came to see. Otherwise, you will be giving the impression that the house is simply out of space and needed to be modified to be functional. If you have turned an extra bedroom into a home office, that's fine. As long as it's neat and tidy, and as long as you have other bedrooms to endorse.
7. Outdoor Living. It's as important as indoor living to most buyers. Stage your yard, patio or deck with outdoor furniture. The outdoors then becomes an extention of the living area. This adds value in the buyers' mind.
When you sell your home, you're selling a fantasy. Even though the buyers won't live in your home the way it looks in its staged for sale condition, they'll be attracted to it because it presents a lifestyle they aspire to.
Most of the problems listed below are home selling issues you can correct without spending a lot of money. Do it now, before you put your house on the market, because if your house develops a reputation among agents as the house that smells, the house with the huge barking dog, or the house where the owner won't leave people alone, it will be too late. Your home will be last on their list to show to potential buyers.
Avoid these Home Buyer Turnoffs
Ready to sell your home? Did you know that even though home buyers are all looking for something different, the majority of them will turn around and walk back out of your home if they notice one or more of these problems:
1. Odors
House odors are number one on the home selling uh-oh list. And narrowing it down, odors from cigarette smoke and pets urine take top billing, with mildew not far behind.
If you smoke indoors--the house smells like cigarettes. If you have pets, the house might smell bad--even if you don't notice it. Ask someone who doesn't live there to take a sniff, and don't get angry when they tell you the truth.
Eradicate the odors so that you can present potential buyers with a clean, fresh atmosphere--not a house that's full of perfumes or sprays to try & cover up the odors, they only make matters worse.
2. Dogs that Meet You at the Door or in the Driveway
Dogs frighten some people and irritate others. You'll have a much better response from showings if you control your pets--dogs, cats.
Animals get stressed, and if someone they don't know is walking around their territory, they might nip. They might bite. They might scratch. And you might get sued.
Remove pets during showings if possible. If you can't, contain them in crates for their own safety and to show respect for the feelings of potential buyers.
3. Dirty Bathrooms
Grimy bathrooms are an instant turnoff. Scrub them, paint them, buy a new shower curtain and towels--do what it takes to make them shine. If you're serious about selling the home, the extra work is a must.
4. Dimly Lit Rooms
Dark homes are a turnoff to most home buyers, so try to brighten them up:
- Replace dim light fixtures
- Remove or open up heavy drapes to let the light stream through windows
- Trim tree limbs & shrubs that shadow the house and make your home hard to see.
Dirty and fogged windows are another buyer turnoff. Clean them inside and out to bring in more light. If possible, replace any double-pane windows that have broken seals.
5. Bugs
Roaches, spiders, any insect that shouldn't be in the house. Get rid of them.
6. Poor Curb Appeal
You must grab a buyer's interest from the curb if you want to sell the home for top dollar. Home buyers often refuse to go into a house with an unkempt yard, sagging doors or peeling paint. Paint is realtively inexpensive and gives you the most bang for your buck. Get that yard in tip-top shape and grab a screwdriver to fix those doors.
7. Sellers Who Hang Around for Showings
Yes, you... leave the house during showings. Home buyers feel awkward about opening closet doors and lingering for a really good look at the house if the seller is home. Give potential buyers some space please, don't hover.
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