All Financial Matters

Five Reasons to Use Staging

When a buyer puts their house on the market, they want to get the best price in the shortest time possible. Staging can help you sell your home. It uses the artistic vision of a staging professional to bring out the hidden personality of your home.

Staging puts the finishing touches on your home. You already know that your home is cozy and warm, but now it is time to give that impression to potential buyers. Staging can be expensive, but the results are worth the investment.

1. Staging adds to the work that you have already done. You still need to clean, make repairs, straighten the yard, and get rid of old junk. Stagers come in after you have done all that you can and add their bit of magic. You can make use of your own furnishings or opt to use items provided by the stager. Take your lead from them.

2. Vacant houses benefit from staging. Not to say that buyers don’t have an imagination, but an empty house can be overwhelming. Potential buyers can’t get a feel for what the house can become if there’s nothing in it. One vacant house looks like another. A stager engages the mind of buyers. They’ll want to buy the home as is.

3. Staging comes with a showroom full of goodies. We’d all like to get new furniture and other accessories to fix up our home to sell. The problem is the expense and the utter lack of artistic talent. When you hire a stager, you receive all of the beautiful furniture that you would have bought plus the know-how to arrange it to the best advantage.

4. Staging reduces the amount of time that a home stays on the market. The work that these professionals do is beyond anything we could think of. They make their living from their imagination. A dressed home resembles a home you would see at a gallery of a homes show. I chose the current home that I live in because I saw the potential in another home just like it that was decorated beautifully.

5. You can get the full asking price for a staged home. Staging isn’t just about bringing in new things to replace your stuff. It is feng shui and arranging pots, furniture, baskets, and other items in such a way that it catches the eye and draws the buyer in. A home that is staged from the beginning has a better chance of selling.

Staging is an option for those who want to sell their homes for the best price. It is the icing and the cherry on the cake that is your family home. If you are thinking about selling your home, do some research on staging or visit a local stager to see what they can offer you.

Five Places to Advertise Homes

No one can buy your home if they don’t know it is on the market. Advertising is the key to getting the word out to potential buyers. If you want to sell your home, here are five places to advertise that your home is on the market.

1. Go to the newspapers. Newspapers are still a good place to advertise if your home is for sale. I don’t subscribe to the newspaper but I purchase a Sunday paper each week. My husband looks at the home ads on a regular basis. So do others including those looking for a new home. Include a photograph of your home to accompany the ad. Be careful when wording your ad, though. Too many abbreviations can stop a potential buyer from reading if it gets confusing.

2. Advertise on the Internet. More people are advertising on the Internet these days. There are several options for dressing up your ad and some of them are free. Visit sites like Realtor.com to see how others have advertised their homes for sale. Some Internet sites let you create online flyers for free and post them in other places where they will be seen. Be creative and upload pictures that show your home in a flattering light.

3. Go to the television. Local realty companies have shows on public television that showcase homes for sale. The host takes you through several rooms of the house and the yard. They give information about the surrounding area (schools, stores, restaurants) and the development. I have watched these shows and they are well put together. They direct you to their website for more details on the house being shown.

4. Try using a direct mailing list. We’ve all received those postcards with a picture of a home and the address. This is what you can do: Instead of spending money buying a large mailing list, choose a list that complements the characteristics of your home. If you are selling a bungalow you wouldn’t want to waste your time advertising to a family with three children. The same goes for a beach home. You wouldn’t want to advertise to a person who loves to go to the mountains on vacation. Tailor your mailing list to appeal to a target audience for a more effective campaign.

5. Advertise in your front yard. We work so hard to get the word out in different media that we forget the obvious place: our front yard. Whether you are selling your home through a realtor or on your own, no one will know about it if you don’t have a sign in your yard. On Saturdays, there are probably lots of people that ride through neighborhoods like your own. They could be looking for a yard sale or for a new home. A yard sign invites them to stop and talk to you or at least copy down the telephone number and call for more details.

Get the word out. Advertise in as many places as you can to make your home highly visible to potential buyers. Then, watch as the offers start rolling in.

Don’t Neglect the Yard

What is the first thing that you see when you go to someone’s home? Unless it is dark outside, the first thing that you notice is the yard. How many times have you wished that your yard looked better than it does? If you are trying to sell your home, don’t forget that the yard is a part of the total package.

Buyers look at everything. If they miss something, trust me - the agent with them will not. The land surrounding your home, no matter how little, is too big to ignore. It is part of the property and a buyer won’t think twice about passing you by if the yard is not up to snuff.

Now you don’t have to have a movie star lawn with shrubs clipped in the shape of squirrels and other woodland creatures. The grass doesn’t have to be the color of fresh green beans to be healthy and acceptable. But, the lawn has to be dressed just like the home for the potential buyer to accept the total package.

A poorly kept lawn can lower your property value and therefore the worth of your home. Your neighbors won’t appreciate that and neither will you when you see the offers that come in as a result. Investors may see this as an opportunity to lowball you. They will turn around and do what you could have done and sell the house for a profit. The yard is important. Curb appeal will get buyers to stop instead of speeding on past.

Buyers don’t want to pull out their shovel and rake as soon as they move in. A lawn with problems is not something that they will want to tackle even if the house is top notch. A ragged lawn is an eyesore.

Consider hiring a landscaper and/or a yard service. Yards with bald spots and crabgrass will need the attention that a gardening professional can provide. A yard service will tell you how to get the grass back into shape. If you have had problems growing grass, they can offer aerating services and other solutions for that.

To hide a bald patch you can put in a gazebo as a backyard centerpiece. Consider extending the deck to cover the area. Large multi-level decks are a great selling feature that will enhance the value of your home.

Landscapers don’t just plant shrubs and trees; they create designs that will complement your yard. They can recommend practical changes like privet hedges if you don’t have a fence, and which plants or trees to use on hilly property to prevent land erosion. Between them and the yard service, the yard surrounding your home will be whipped into shape in no time.

Determining a Home’s Market Value

What is your home worth? That is the million dollar question. When you’re selling a home, there is a fine line between asking too little and asking too much. It can make the difference in a home that sells in two weeks and one that takes several months. Learn how to determine the value of your home.

A home value can depreciate. It is necessary to understand that first. We see it in neighborhoods where the neighbors aren’t as diligent about keeping up the value of their property. No one will pay top dollar to live next to a house with an unkempt yard or a car propped up on cinderblocks. Your home may be worth $150,000 according to the size and style, but you won’t get that much for it with messy neighbors.

Fixing up your home can return it to the proper value. Over time, our home goes through many changes. When we have kids we expect to have juice stains on the carpet and crayon marks on the walls. It’s okay to have those things while we are living in the home. You can place a throw rug over that stain and no one will know. When it comes time to sell your home, things change.

Fix the things that will make a difference to potential buyers. I wouldn’t want to have to change the carpet as soon as I move in. I also wouldn’t want to have the hot water heater go kaput after a month or two in the house. Save yourself and your buyer the headache and make repairs before putting the home up for sale.

Additions to the house increase value. Over the years, families make changes to the home. Adding a swimming pool, an office, or turning the garage into another bedroom all add to the value of the home. These things increase square footage and living space.

A real estate appraiser can give you an idea of what the home is worth in relation to other homes in that size. We pay a certain amount for our home and over time it appreciates. The market value can be much more than this if the home is in a good neighborhood, near schools, close to shopping centers and banks, and governed by a neighborhood association. I mention the last point because a neighborhood association keeps owners accountable for the appearance of their property. No one is allowed to bring down the property value of another.

The number the appraiser puts on your home is not the final value of your home. There are several things that feed into the market value. This is just a place to start.

A real estate agent can help determine the fair market value of your home. This takes into account the things above and the climate in the market. A buyer’s market makes it harder to sell homes at a good price, but it can be done.

Advantages to Auctioning your Home

So your home isn’t selling right now. The market may be saturated with the type of property you want to sell. There are other options to get that home sold. One such option is to auction your home.

When we think of auctions we think of either Sotheby’s or an estate sale. One is a prestigious way to get a large sum for your product and the other is an attempt to get whatever you can. Selling a home at an auction is actually neither of these things. You can get a good price for your home if you have been unsuccessful using the conventional method.

One advantage to using a home auction is the turnaround time. Auctions use a specific timeline to advertise and market the property before holding the auction. The time is typically six weeks from the time you sign the contract with the auction house.

During that six weeks they are doing all they can to advertise your home along several avenues. They get the word out in direct mailings, ads, brochures, newspapers and television. Some use radio and/or television if the property is a high profile one.

Before you sign the contract, be aware that a seller has the right to dictate the minimum price of the sale. If you have already been through the price dropping process with the conventional method, you may be firmly set on a price for the home. You have that right. Selling that is subject to reserve means that they price will go no lower than the minimum price set by you.

Auctions also offer the option of an “absolute” auction. This means that the house will be sold regardless of the dollar amount of the winning bid. It could be your requested price or it could be much lower. Owners who want to sell the house quickly may use this option.

Auction bidders have the money to back up their bids. Traditionally, financing may fall through at the last minute and a deal stalls. That is not the case with auctions. There is no financing or other negotiation. A bidder must have their financing in place before being allowed to bid. Auctioning is a cash only transaction. Whoever wins the bid is guaranteed to pay up.

Auctions are also subject to fluctuations in the real estate markets. Bidders are not going to pay more than the market value if there is an inventory of property. The more they have to choose from, the lower the price will be for the seller. Sellers are also required to pay the marketing costs out of the sale price receive for the home.

There are many advantages to selling a home at auction. If you need to sell your property and it hasn’t moved with your real estate agent, give auctioning a try.