Tag: Listing

Preparing Your Home For The Market

Deciding to put your house up for sale can be a difficult decision to make. It can feel both scary and exciting. When you’re ready, investing some time to declutter and make small repairs can be beneficial and help you get your home market-ready.

All sellers want their homes to do well when it hits the market, and speaking with a professional real estate agent is the first step to getting ready. They can help you determine what exactly needs to be done before you sign a listing agreement and put that for sale sign in the yard.

To help you get ahead of the game, let’s review 5 easy ways you can prep your home when you’re getting ready to sell it.

1. Organize and Purge Your Space

Home buyers love seeing a place that shows off how much space is available in a house. Kitchens, bathrooms, and storage space are often selling points in homes, and clean, organized areas can stand out.
For example, buyers look at the following when viewing a home:

  • How big of a kitchen they’ll have to cook meals in.
  • How nice the bathroom is.
  • How much closet space they’ll have for their necessities.

These things can help a buyer decide on whether they submit an offer or choose to look at other properties.

Cleaning up and decluttering can make a huge impression on buyers. To make things easy, try starting with your closets and cabinets by getting rid of, selling, or donating items that are old, out of date, or are things that you no longer need.

The slightest improvement to these areas can help you tidy things up as well as ease any anxiety you may be feeling about putting your home on the market. From there, work outwards towards the rest of the space in your home. Aim for your living room, garage, and any open spaces where you can eliminate clutter.

During this process, it can be beneficial to invest in storage bins, baskets, or cubbies that can be easily tucked away or stacked neatly. Not only can this help make an impression on buyers, but when a professional real estate photographer comes to capture the beauty of the home it’ll show in the pictures.

One additional benefit is that decluttering can also assist you with packing when it comes time to move.

2. Identify Needed Repairs and Get Estimates for Fixing Them

Believe it or not, a fresh coat of paint doesn’t always equate to being a ‘home improvement’. In the mindset of ‘if it isn’t broke, don’t fix it’, painting isn’t always a necessity.

Depending on the current market and your specific situation, your REALTOR® may tell you not to worry about painting before listing the place. This is because many homebuyers have specific colors, shades, or hues that they’re dreaming of when they look at a home. They may paint over the colors that are currently there as soon as they close on the property, which can defeat the purpose of you putting in all of that hard work in the first place.

The best rule of thumb is that if you want to touch up some areas, that’s fine, but if it’s not desperately in need of a paint job then you can save yourself time and money.

Hinging on your time and ability to do so, making everyday or major repairs isn’t always something you need to do before selling your home. Cost-efficient and quick fixes that may benefit viewings once your home is listed include:

  • Changing out dim or dull lightbulbs
  • Pressure wash the siding of your home, garage doors, and porches
  • Patch small holes or cracks in walls and ceiling

For major repairs, you may not want to or be able to fix them right away, but you can get estimates on the cost of fixing them for potential buyers. This can help home buyers with seeing the potential in the home, and some may want to handle the repairs themselves.

Potential issues to check for are:

  • Leaky Faucets
  • Test all appliances to see if any aren’t fully operational
  • Faulty electrical outlets
  • Wear and tear on shingles
  • Standing water in attic spaces and crawlspaces

Making any repairs is entirely your choice. When you list a property, you can always choose to sell the place as is, but small things that are easy to fix can help market your home.

When a good offer comes in, there will likely be a negotiation period to address concerns and discuss potential repairs following an inspection. Your real estate agent can assist you with deciding how to negotiate.

3. Utilize Your Green Thumb in the Yard

Everybody loves a green yard. It’s the first thing you notice when you pull into a driveway and the last thing you see when you leave. You may not be a magician when it comes to plants and bushes, but you don’t have to be to get your yard market-ready.

As you’re getting your house ready to list, completing simple tasks such as mowing the grass, trimming back hedges, and getting rid of any weeds or adding fresh mulch can make a big impact.

The yard helps highlight the house. It accentuates the place by making that important first impression, and home buyers will notice a home more if the yard is tidy and well kept.

You don’t need a professional landscaper to come in and completely redo everything, but if you have the ability to plant a few colorful flowers, it can really help make the small details pop.

Bonus Tip: Check for Warranties

Depending on how long you’ve had your appliances, it can make a home buyer feel like you’ve gone the extra mile if you’ve compiled any warranties for appliances you’re considering leaving behind. If you’ve had any roof repairs, landscaping, foundation, or general construction done on or in the home within the last few years, you might also find that those services are still under warranty.

Want more tips on how to get your home ready to put on the market? Give me a call today and we’ll discuss what you can do to prepare.

Agent Maralee – (706)-498-0943

3 Rooms Buyers Pay The Most Attention To

Putting your house on the market can be nerve-wracking. It’s a big step in the right direction towards major change. While it can leave you feeling a little anxious, it can also be filled with excitement for the next chapter as a homeowner.

When you get ready to talk with a real estate agent about putting your house up for sale, knowing what buyers are looking for can make a world of difference in helping you prepare.

Things like a tidy space can definitely make an impression on buyers when they view the property, just as much as a well-kept yard can. However, many homebuyers look at homes with the mindset that they’ll change the aesthetics of a living space to meet their desires as a homeowner.

What a lot of buyers are looking for when they view homes are:

  1. How much space is available
  2. What kinds of repairs need to be done
  3. What’s the curb appeal of the home
  4. Where’s the property located

In addition to these things, here’s a fun fact: buyers prioritize three rooms over the rest of a house when looking. Can you guess what they are? It may seem like pretty easy answers, but the results might surprise you.

1. Kitchen Galore

A key component of any home is a functioning kitchen. It doesn’t have to be picture perfect, but having a nice space to prepare home-cooked meals is a perk. 73% of homeowners enjoy cooking in their kitchen because it provides them with a sense of accomplishment.

This could be one of the many reasons why the kitchen space is one of the first rooms in a home that buyers look at, but it’s definitely not the only reason.

Whether you’re single, married, have kids, or don’t have kids – the whole shebang – cooking at home is a great way to save money, eat healthy, and test out your master chef skills. The kitchen is often one of the most utilized rooms in a home, often being visited more frequently than bedrooms and bathrooms combined.

Home buyers look for a nice kitchen when hunting for their dream house because most of us spend a lot of time there. It’s a comfortable setting and the home base for many nights of entertainment, fun, and dining.

2. Primary Bathroom

Every buyer checks out the primary bathroom when they’re viewing a home. It’s a place of comfort and safety, the one place we all unwind. Often, the bathroom is where most of us begin and end our day. It’s a space of cleanliness, relaxation, and one of the biggest deal makers when buyers are looking at homes.

As odd as it sounds, the primary bathroom in a home is the place that sort of sees everything. This is why it’s such a key player in buyers making their decision whether or not to make an offer on a property.

3. Pantry and Storage Space

While the number of bedrooms in a home, and the primary bedroom can play a huge part in a buyer’s ultimate decision, storage space actually plays a more important role. The pantry isn’t always a separate room in a home, but it is commonly a closet space where we keep the essentials.

Home buyers pay close attention to how much room they’ll have to store items they don’t consider everyday necessities, and how well they can use that space to organize items to keep the main rooms of the home tidy.

How Can I Use These Rooms to Market My Home?

As you prepare to list your home, the best way to highlight these rooms for potential home buyers is by keeping them clean.

Most buyers recognize and understand that homes they’re looking at are often currently lived in, so don’t feel an overwhelming sense of pressure to deep clean every aspect of the space before a showing.

However, it can be beneficial to do things such as going through your kitchen and bathroom to store away items you don’t use daily. Try to get rid of outdated foods, donate items you no longer use and declutter a little bit.

This can make your space stand out more when an agent shows the property, and it can also help you start the process of organizing and packing for the big day when your house sells.

Do you have questions about your home’s equity, how to best get ready to list it, or want to better understand what’s going on in today’s real estate market? Contact me today and let’s chat.