Selling your home can be stressful enough but add messy kids to the mix and you have a challenge on your hands. But it can be easy to sell your home when you have kids if you do some small things to remedy clutter:
How to Ruin Your Chances of Selling Your Home
Why isn’t your house selling? It may not be the market, instead it could be what you are or are not doing. Believe it or not you can ruin your chances of selling your home. So, how can you capture the attention of potential buyers? Read on to find out if you are making any of these mistakes. Missing or Bad Photos Buyers love to look at photos. They love to look at lots of photos so include lots of photos in your online listings. There is such a thing as a bad photo though. Pictures of unattractive rooms, toilets and messy areas can also turn a buyer off. Make sure every photo has great light, shows off your home and shows a neat and clean home. Place the best shots at the beginning so it is the first thing the buyer sees on the listing site. Lack of Curb Appeal Most buyers will search for homes online and then jump in the car and drive by. If your home has bad curb appeal they may eliminate it before they even walk through the front door. Be sure to create curb appeal by trimming the trees, fertilizing the lawn, and sprucing up the landscaping. Remember first impressions mean a lot. Bad Advertising The words that advertise your home are vitally important. Avoid clichés and instead use your creativity and talk about the best features of your home. You only have so much space for text so make it count! Price Too Low/High Pricing a home too high won’t produce an offer, but sometimes pricing it too low leaves buyers wondering what is wrong. Use a real estate professional to help you strategically price your home to sell in the current market. You’re Hovering When potential buyers are looking at your home there is nothing more awkward than finding the homeowner is still there. Buyers can’t picture the home as their own if you are there. When the house is being shown make sure you are not home. There are things in your control in the selling process of your home. Take the time to make sure your home is staged and looks ready to sell and avoid the above mistakes and you should have a sold sign in no time.]]>
A Study on Home Buyers
If you are a seller, you need to know how buyers think. A study by the National Association of Realtors asked buyers who they are, why they need to buy, and what would make them buy. Here is just a few highlights from that study which provides detailed insight into the home buyer’s experience with this important transaction. Here are highlights from that report.
- Sixty-six percent of recent home buyers were married couples—the highest share since 2001.
- For forty-two percent of home buyers, the first step in the home-buying process was looking online for properties. While fourteen percent of home buyers first looked online for information on the complete home buying process.
- The use of the Internet in the home search process rose slightly to ninety-two percent.
- The typical home buyer searched for 12 weeks and viewed 10 homes.
- Eighty-eight percent of buyers purchased their home through a real estate agent or broker. This share steadily increased from sixty-nine percent in 2001.
- Eighty-eight percent of sellers were assisted by a real estate agent when selling their home.
- Two-thirds of home sellers only contacted one agent before selecting the one to assist with their home sale.
- The share of home sellers who sold their home without the assistance of a real estate agent was nine percent. Forty percent knew the buyer prior to home purchase.
8 Reasons Why Your Home Didn't Sell
Is your house a listing loser? Have you been on and off the market for years? There are many factors that influence whether a house sells or not. While most people will point directly to price, that may not be the only reason why a home sits on the multiple listing service without showings or offers and ends up on the expired list. Here are just a few of the reasons why homes don’t sell: 1. Price The most common reason and usually the biggest factor is price. Often a home is priced too high because sellers have unrealistic ideas about what their home is worth. Other sellers insist on basing the price of their home on their own personal financial situation and not the market. Even if a seller is willing to adjust the price of a home after listing it too high, it is the original asking price that matters. Pricing a home competitively will ultimately yield a higher sale price. 2. Location, location, location It is true location matters. Even the nicest house cannot always overcome a bad location. Homes that are on busy roads, close to high tension wires, power plants, waste-treatment facilities or other objectionable locations will struggle to sell. The only way properties in undesirable locations sell is when the seller understands that the asking price is significantly lower than similar homes in prime locations. 3. Having the nicest home in the neighborhood It may feel good to have the largest or nicest home in the neighborhood but buyers won’t appreciate that. Buyers are not only paying for the home but also what is around it. If your home offers much more than other homes in your neighborhood you will have a tough sale. 4. The decor A home should appeal to almost everyone. So if your home has loud wallpaper, brightly colored walls, or an outdated kitchen it will be a turn-off. Most buyers won’t be able to look beyond the 1970s kitchen and see the good qualities a home has to offer. 5. A dysfunctional floor plan The addition you added on may be your pride and joy but when the buyer looks at it they see it as a barrier to a sale. Many homeowners add additions or change the floor plan of their home to suit them. They were not thinking that it might not be okay for a future buyer to walk though a bedroom to get to the family room addition. This sometimes applies to older homes as well, smaller rooms and lack of storage does not top a buyer’s wish lists. 6. Too many repairs If the home needs a lot of repairs, the buyer sees a money pit. Today’s buyer is much more reluctant to take on a lot of renovations. 7. Bad Marketing This can be the agent’s fault as much as the seller’s fault. Are there agents who could do a better job marketing a home? Of course there is. Often times, the agent is limited by the seller’s willingness to help. Agents that are forced to show photos of messy, outdated homes on MLS are not starting off on the best foot. There is only a small percentage of buyers who are able to see past the mess and cosmetic issues. 8. Unavailability Sellers sometimes do not make their home available for showings and this can hurt the sale of the home. Buyers have tight schedules and often want to view homes at inconvenient times. Sellers must try to accommodate as many showings as possible. You never know who the buyer will be or when they will want to look at the home.]]>
Pets and Staging Your Home
Staging your home for potential buyers can be quite the hassle. You may start moving your furniture around spontaneously, or become tense when your children or spouse make messes in a room that you just prepped for show. With all of the planning that one can put into making their home shine, one crucial step in home staging is often overlooked: your family pet. For the sake of simplicity, I will outline a few things that you must keep in mind when cleaning up after your pet in a home for sale. Pet presence – For obvious reasons, some pets can’t leave the house. Giant enclosures, aquariums, and disabled pets are hard to relocate sometimes, and a lot of people will be understanding of this. But if your dog or cat is healthy, then you’ll want to strongly consider relocating your pets temporarily. Many people aren’t pet owners, and don’t like being around an excitable golden retriever or a yippy chihuahua when they are trying to imagine their family occupying your home. Remember….You are trying to make the potential buyer as relaxed as possible. Ask a friend if they wouldn’t mind looking after your loved one for a bit, and if all else fails, look into a reputable boarding service for your pet. Fur – Fur can get everywhere. Even in places that you, as a resident of your home, don’t necessarily notice all of the time. Be sure to give your couches, chairs, and love seats proper attention. That means taking the pillows and cushions off, and using a hand vacuum or brush to remove all of the fur you see. After you are sure that they are thoroughly cleaned, use a fabric freshener to finish it off. Try to do this well in advance of the potential buyer, as some people have sensitivities to fabric fresheners. Litter – No matter what kind of animal you have, odds are you have do deal with some form of waste. It may sound pretty obvious, but make sure your litter beds are clean and well hidden. Even if you own an exotic pet like a reptile of amphibian, this includes you too. Many people don’t like snakes, but they’ll like a messy snake cage even less. Another important thing to remember as an exotic pet owner is this: even though you may not be able to smell anything offensive coming from your reptile’s cage, that doesn’t mean that there isn’t an odor. Many people who live with reptiles get used to the subtle odors that emit from the cages, and will tend to spot-clean their animal’s cage without giving it the proper scrub-down that it needs. Odors – Don’t use air fresheners to mask pet odor. It is meant to freshen the air…Not cover pet odors up. Instead, use powdered cleaners on carpets and rugs that your pets frequent. These can be purchased at your local pet store in the cleaning isle. Odds are, if someone has a severe allergy to animals, then they are going to be at risk of having a reaction. The cleaner the house, the less dander will be in the home.]]>
Video Marketing in Real Estate
Video marketing is the wave of the future. They say a picture is worth a thousand words. If that is true how much is a video worth? According to Dr. James McQuivery of Forrester Research a one minute video is worth 1.8 million words. Imagine being able to convey a 1.8 million word message to a consumer in just 60 seconds. Social media sites like You Tube are allowing real estate professionals the opportunity to create messages and have them go viral all over the internet. One statistic that You Tube likes to tout is that in the very near future 90% of web traffic will be video. This may or may not be true but what we do know is that buyers and sellers search the internet and are drawn to videos. But what better way to advertise a home for sale than to have the homeowner tell its story. Here are some video marketing ideas that you can do to help your agent sell your home: Give the buyer a personal showing Grab your camera or smartphone and take prospective buyers on a walking tour of your home and go ahead this is your chance to brag. Go on a neighborhood tour Drive or walk through your community pointing out areas of interest like schools, businesses and parks. Get a few video testimonials Bring your camera to the best advertising there is for the area; the neighbors! Capture video testimonials from friendly neighbors touting why it is such a great place to live. ]]>
Why Homes Don't Sell
Is your house a listing loser? Have you been on and off the market for years? There are many factors that influence whether a house sells or not. While most people will point directly to price, that may not be the only reason why a home sits on the multiple listing service without showings or offers and ends up on the expired list. Here are just a few of the reasons why homes don’t sell: 1. Price The most common reason and usually the biggest factor is price. Often a home is priced too high because sellers have unrealistic ideas about what their home is worth. Other sellers insist on basing the price of their home on their own personal financial situation and not the market. Even if a seller is willing to adjust the price of a home after listing it too high, it is the original asking price that matters. Pricing a home competitively will ultimately yield a higher sale price. 2. Location, location, location It is true location matters. Even the nicest house cannot always overcome a bad location. Homes that are on busy roads, close to high tension wires, power plants, waste-treatment facilities or other objectionable locations will struggle to sell. The only way properties in undesirable locations sell is when the seller understands that the asking price is significantly lower than similar homes in prime locations. 3. Having the nicest home in the neighborhood It may feel good to have the largest or nicest home in the neighborhood but buyers won’t appreciate that. Buyers are not only paying for the home but also what is around it. If your home offers much more than other homes in your neighborhood you will have a tough sale. 4. The decor A home should appeal to almost everyone. So if your home has loud wallpaper, brightly colored walls, or an outdated kitchen it will be a turn-off. Most buyers won’t be able to look beyond the 1970s kitchen and see the good qualities a home has to offer. 5. A dysfunctional floor plan The addition you added on may be your pride and joy but when the buyer looks at it they see it as a barrier to a sale. Many homeowners add additions or change the floor plan of their home to suit them. They were not thinking that it might not be okay for a future buyer to walk though a bedroom to get to the family room addition. This sometimes applies to older homes as well, smaller rooms and lack of storage does not top a buyer’s wish lists. 6. Too many repairs If the home needs a lot of repairs, the buyer sees a money pit. Today’s buyer is much more reluctant to take on a lot of renovations. 7. Bad Marketing This can be the agent’s fault as much as the seller’s fault. Are there agents who could do a better job marketing a home? Of course there is. Often times, the agent is limited by the seller’s willingness to help. Agents that are forced to show photos of messy, outdated homes on MLS are not starting off on the best foot. There is only a small percentage of buyers who are able to see past the mess and cosmetic issues. 8. Unavailability Sellers sometimes do not make their home available for showings and this can hurt the sale of the home. Buyers have tight schedules and often want to view homes at inconvenient times. Sellers must try to accommodate as many showings as possible. You never know who the buyer will be or when they will want to look at the home.]]>
Scentmosphere; what is it?
Independent studies have confirmed that deploying particular scents in a home for sale can dramatically increase the home’s appeal to a potential buyer. With that being said, what is the best way to go about changing your home’s “scentmosphere”? 1. – The Friend Test – Often times, we get used to particular scents in our home, so much so that we don’t even notice that they’re there. Litter boxes, old couches, bathrooms, and bedrooms can all breed their own “scentmosphere”, and some can be more noticeable and offensive than others. Have a friend come over and, well…..Smell your home. Your friend doesn’t live in your home. They can pick up on things that you may not be able to, like the smell of dirty laundry, a musty-smelling finished basement, or a well-lived-in bedroom. These “other person” smells can turn off a buyer in a heartbeat. If you are a smoker, then stop smoking inside while your house is on the market. Keep children’s rooms tidy and clean-smelling. 2. – Kitchen Comfort – There are many scents that can be utilized in the kitchen to make it more appealing. Candles, lemon wedges chopped up into a garbage disposal, cinnamon sticks in the oven, and fresh-cut flowers can be utilized for this purpose. Some people swear by citrus scents, others by baked goods, but it really boils down to personal preference. Lavender has been shown to produce a calming effect, and fruit scents like apples and peaches can carry classier undertones. 3. – Subtlety is key. You want a noticeable “scentmosphere”, but not one that is overpowering. Pick your scents accordingly. If you overdo it, people may think you’re trying too hard to cover something up. Remember that because we breathe, we smell things constantly. Each individual smell shouldn’t be strong enough to cover multiple rooms in your house. You don’t want your entire downstairs to smell like the cinnamon you have in the kitchen. Likewise, a fresh lemon scent all over the entire house can make it seem like there are smells that will creep into the “scentmosphere” once the lemon scents wear off. Less is more. ]]>
Preparing Your Home for Selling
When selling your home, you want it to appeal to a wide variety of people, not showcase your personality or preferences. While you might love deep red walls in your dining room, it might be too bold for a potential buyer. Your goal is to sell your home and having the right buyer appeal is key. There are a few things to think of when staging your home. Paint color is a must unless you already use neutral colors in your home. When looking for paint colors think of beige, olives, yellows, tans and greys. Outdated wallpaper patterns are a big no-no. Not only will an outdated look not be appealing to a buyer but the thought of having to take it down after buying the home can be a negative to a buyer. Taking down the wallpaper, fixing any imperfections in the walls with spackle and sanding, and applying a new coat of paint will go a long way. Choosing a paint with a low sheen will help hide any imperfections that may still remain. De-cluttering your home will give it a clean, organized look that will appeal to a buyer. Minimal items should remain in your home and going through your space to take out anything you don’t need and sending it to storage is ideal. Think about your furniture as well, since often too much furniture can cause spaces to look small. In addition, by pulling furniture away from the walls and placing them in conversational groups, you add space to a room. Having the right decorative items can help to create an inviting space. Rather than having items lined up, trying grouping different items together, like on the coffee table. Hang pictures and art work in groups as well, avoiding a traditional straight line on the wall. Make sure that you have things such as decorative towels and soaps in the bathroom to help set the scene. And adding the right lighting can help set a welcoming mood. Make sure you have a variety of lighting in each space, from table lamps, to accent lighting, and whole room lighting. Basically, when staging your home, you want to make it a place that someone would want to live. Little touches here and there can really make a difference. With a little investment you might just find you are getting the offers you were hoping for.]]>
How to Sell Your Home When You Have Kids
Selling your home can be stressful enough but add messy kids to the mix and you have a challenge on your hands. But it can be easy to sell your home when you have kids if you do some small things to remedy clutter: