Advice on selling your home

Your best asset in selling your home is your REALTOR®. They are professionals with knowledge and experience in doing what is best for you.  Whether you live in Eidelweiss Village, Freedom, North Conway or somewhere else, ask their advice – they are here to help you. But one thing they all agree on is that large piles of boxes, cluttered kitchens and walls full of personal pictures all contribute to poor showings and unimpressed buyers. Taking care of a few small tasks when you put your home on the market can make a world of difference in the price you want and what you get.

Nothing is worse than an overgrown entry or broken lamp at the front door. Most people go by their first impression. Also, many potential buyers drive by a listing before viewing it. If the initial impression is bad, they will not even ask to see the interior even if it is spectacular!

Another thing that people overlook is the actual space. A room with piles of boxes makes a space feel small and inadequate. Kitchen shelves covered with appliances and items shouts out to buyers that the kitchen has little or no cupboard space. “Clear away the clutter” is a phrase heard quite frequently in Real Estate Sales and we agree.

When I was selling my home my REALTOR® joked “Spruce up, straighten out and fly right.” What she meant was clean the rooms really well, straighten up and freshen up rooms and keep it that way for all showings! When buyers view a home, cobwebs, dust and dirt make them feel that you didn’t care about the home.  “What else is wrong?” is what they will think next.

There are many other important things to remember – Family pictures are great but too many make potential buyers nervous. Pleasant scents are great but don’t over do it (some people have allergies to these scents also). And when people are viewing the home sellers should not be present.

HGTV has two televised shows that deal directly (and bluntly) with some of the problems faced with selling homes. Designed to Sell is a program about homeowners doing projects that compliment their homes and increase its value. Secrets that Sell follows a mother and daughter team as they evaluate homes and bluntly provide feedback to the homeowners. These shows are also available for online viewing.   Another great tip is to get a home inspection before placing your home on the market. Greybeard Realty has an excellent blog article on the subject.

It’s important in today’s competitive real estate market to do everything we can to make a listing as pleasing as possible. Your REALTOR® is your first and foremost authority on evaluating, pricing and marketing your home for sale. But don’t forget that preparation is a vital key to success!

This entry was posted on Tuesday, July 15th, 2008 at 4:20 pm and is filed under Real Estate Sales. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.