CHOOSING THE RIGHT AGENT

So you have decided to sell your home and think you have a fairly good idea of what it is worth. Being a sensible homeowner you schedule appointments with three real estate agents who have been stuffing things into your mailbox for years now. Each Realtor comes prepared with a Competitive Market Analysis” on fancy paper and each recommends a specific sale price. Amazingly two of the prices are lower than you expected. While the Realtors back up their recommendations with recent sales of similar homes in the area, you remain convinced your home is worth more.

When you interview the third agent, their figures are much more in line with your own anticipated value, or even higher. Suddenly you are an excited and happy home seller, already counting the money. If you are like many people, you will choose Realtor number 3. This is an agent who seems willing to listen to your input and work with you. This is an agent who cares about putting the most money in your pocket. This is an agent willing to start out at your price and if you need to drop the price later, you can do that easily, right? After all, everybody else does it! The truth is that you may have just met an agent engaging in a questionable sales practice called “buying a listing.” He
“bought” the listing by suggesting that you may be able to get a higher sales price than the other agents recommended. Most likely, he is quiet doubtful that your home will actually sell at that price.

The intention from the beginning is to eventually talk you into lowering the price. Why do agent “buy” listings? There are basically two reasons. A well-meaning and hard working agent can feel pressure from an owner who has an inflated perception of their home’s value. On the other hand, there are some agents who engage in this practice routinely. Whichever the case, if yo start out with too high a price on your home, you may have just added to your stress level, and selling a home is stressful enough.

 

GETTING YOUR HOUSE READY TO SELL

EMOTION VS.REASON

When conversing with Real Estate agents, you will often find that when they talk to you about buying real estate, they will refer to your purchase as a “home”. Yet if you are selling property, they will often refer to it as a “house”. There is a reason for this. Buying real estate is of ten an emotional decision, but when you are selling real estate you need to remove emotion from the equation. You need to think of your house as a marketable commodity. Property! Real estate! Your goal is to get others to see it as their potential home, not yours. If you do not consciously make this decision, you can inadvertently create a situation where it takes longer to sell your property.

The first step in getting your home ready to sell is to “de-personalize” it. This is so that potential buyers view it as their home. For example when a potential homebuyer sees your family photos hanging on the wall it puts your own brand on the home and momentarily shatters their illusions about owning the house. Therefore, put away family photos, trophies, collectible items, knick-knacks, and souveniers. Put them in a box. Rent a storage area for a few months and put the box in the storage unit. Do not just ove the box into the garage or a closet. Part of preparing a house for sale is to remove “clutter”, and hat is the next step in preparing your house for sale.

REMOVING CLUTTER, YOU MAY NOT THINK OF AS CLUTTER

This is the hardest thing for most people to do because they are emotionally attached to everything in the house. After years of living in the homes clutter builds up in such a way that may not be evident to the homeowner. However, it does affect the way buyers see the home even if you do not realize it. Clutter collects on shelves, counter tops, drawers, closets and garages. Take a step back and pretend you are a buyer. Let a friend point out areas of clutter, as long as you can accept their views without gettingdefensive. Let your agent help you too.

KITCHEN CLUTTER

The kitchen is a good place to start removing clutter, because it an easy start. First, take everything off the counters. Everything! Even the toaster, put it in a cupboard and just take it out when you need it. Find a place for everything in a cupboard or drawer. You may find that you do not have enough cupboard space. If so, clean them out, pack all the pots and pans you rarely use into a box and put that into storage too. Homebuyers will open cupboards and drawers, especially in the kitchen, to make sure there will be enough room for all their things. If all your cupboards and drawers look crammed full it sends a negative message to the buyer and does not promote the image of plenty of storage space. So the best thing to do is to have as much “empty space” as possible.

For this reason if you have a junk drawer, get rid of the junk. If you have a crock pot you rarely use, put it into storage. If you have a large amount of foodstuffs crammed into your pantry, begin using them – especially canned goods. Canned goods are heavy and you don’t want to have to lug them to a new house anyway. Let what you have on the shelves determine your menus and use up as much as you
can. Beneath he sink is also critical. Make sure this area is as empty as possible. Scrub the area down well and determine if there are any tell tale signs of water leaks that may cause a home buyer to hesitate in purchasing your home.

CLOSET CLUTTER

Closets are great for accumulating clutter, though you may not think of it as clutter. We are talking about extra clothes and shoes – things you barely wear but cannot bear to be without and shoeboxes full of mementos. Do without these items for a couple of months by putting them in a box and into storage. These items may your cupboards look crammed full, and create an appearance of lack of space.

FURNITURE CLUTTER

Many people have too much furniture in certain rooms – not too much for your own personal living needs – but too much to give the illusion of space that a home buyer likes to see. You may want to tour some builders’ demonstration homes to see how furniture is place throughout them. This will give you ideas of what furniture to keep and what to put into storage and where to place the various items.

STORAGE AREA CLUTTER

Garages and sheds accumulate not only clutter, but junk. These areas should be as empty as possible so buyers can imagine what they would do with the space. Remove anything that is not essential and put it into storage.

 

FIRST IMPRESSIONS

First impressions are lasting when potential buyers view a house. A bright and cheery home invites interest, so it is important to follow a number of simple “rules” when preparing a house for sale. Following are a few suggestions to help us sell your home faster and for the best possible price.

THE INTERIOR

PLUMBING AND FIXTURES

All your sinks and fixtures should look shiny and new. If this cannot be accomplished by cleaning, it could be worth looking into buying new ones. If you go for something that is not too fancy they are relatively inexpensive and they are fairly easy to install. Make sure that all hot and cold taps turn on and off with ease and that none of your taps are leaking. A washer is usually the solution and they are very easy to change. Make sure that you have good water pressure and there are no stains on any of your porcelain. If you have a few stains that you can not get rid of it may be worth hiring a cleaning crew for a one time clean, they seem to be highly effective at making stains disappear.

CEILINGS, WALLS AND PAINT

Check all the ceilings for water stains. Sometimes old leaks leave stains even after they are fixed. Of course, if you do have a leak you will have to get it fixed, whether a plumbing problem or a roof leak. Do the same to walls, looking not only for stains but also areas where dirt may have accumulated that you haven’t noticed. Plus, you may have an outdated colour scheme. Painting can be the best investment when you are preparing to sell your home. It is not very expensive and you can do it yourself. Choose colours not to your specific tastes, but that will appeal to the largest range of buyers. Off-white is a good colour because not only is it easy to match and  personalize a room with your tastes but, it helps a room appear bright and spacious.

CARPET AND FLOORING

Unless your carpet appears old and worn, or it is definitely an out-dated style or colour, you should probably do no more than hire a good carpet cleaner. If you do choose to replace it use something inexpensive, hardwearing, and in a neutral colour. Repair or replace any broken tiles, but do not spend a lot of money onanything, remember, you are not fixing he place up for yourself. You want to move. Your goal is simply, to remove anything that could give a prospective purchaser a negative impression of the house.

WINDOWS AND DOORS

Check that all windows open easily and do not squeak. If they do a spray of WD40 will usually fix them. Make sure there are no cracked or broken windowpanes, if there are replace them before you begin showing your home. Do the same thing with doors. WD40 will also make doors open smoothly and silently. Be sure that your door knobs turn easily and that they are clean and polished. As buyers inspect the house they will go room to room opening doors and you want everything to help create a positive impression.

ODOUR CONTROL

For those who smoke, you should try to stop or minimize smoking inside while you are trying to sell your house. Also think about buying an ozone spray that helps to remove odours without creating a masking odor. Pets of all kinds create odours that you may have become used to, but are immediately noticed by those with more finely tuned olfactory senses. For those with cats, be sure to empty kitty litter daily. There are also products that you can sprinkle into the kitty litter to help control odour. For those with dogs, try keeping the dogs outside as much as possible. Also think about sprinkling carpet freshener on the carpet on a periodic basis.

COST OF REPAIRS

Do not do anything expensive such as remodeling. If possible, use savings to pay for any repairs or improvements – do not go charging up credit cards or obtaining new loans. Remember that part of selling your house is preparing to buy the next one. You do not want to do anything that will affect your credit rating or hurt your chances of qualifying for your next mortgage.

 

FIXING UP OUTSIDE THE HOUSE

Most real estate advice tells you to work on the outside of the house first, but unless there is a major project involved, we believe it is best to do it last. There are two main reasons for this. First, the first steps in preparing the interior of the house are easier. They also help develop the proper mind set required for selling – beginning to think of your home as a marketable commodity. Second, the exterior is the most important. A homebuyer’s first impression is based on his or her view of the house from their car. So take a walk across the street and take a good look at your house. Look at nearby houses, too, and see how your home compares.

LANDSCAPING

Is your landscaping average for the neighbourhood? If not buy a few bushes and plant them. Don’t put in trees. Mature trees are expensive and you will not get back your investment. If you have an area for flowers, buy mature colourful flowers, and plant them. They add a splash of vibrancy and colour and create a favourable first impression. Do not buy bulbs or seeds, they will not mature fast enough to create the desired effect and you don’t want a patch of dirt for buyers to look at. Your lawn should be evenly cut, freshly edged, well watered, and free of brown spots. If there are problems with your lawn, you should probably take care of them before working on the inside of your home. This is because certain areas may need re-soding, and you want to give it a chance to grow so that re-sod areas are not immediately apparent.  Plus you will want to give fertilizer enough time to be effective. Always rake up loose leaves and grass cuttings.

HOUSE EXTERIOR

The big decision is whether to paint or not to paint. When you look at the house from across the street, does it look tired and faded? If so a paint job may be in order. It is often a very good investment and really spruces up the appearance of a house, adding dollars to offers from potential buyers. If you do decide to re-paint, when choosing a colour, it should not be something garish and unusual, but a colour that fits well in the neighbourhood. Of course, colour also depends on style. For some reason, different shades of yellow seem to elicit the best response in homebuyers, whether in the trim or the basic colour of the house. As for the roof, if you know your house has an old leaky roof, replace it. If you do not replace a leaky roof you are going to have to disclose it to buyers and the buyer will want a new roof anyway. Otherwise, wait and see what the home inspector says. Why spend money unnecessarily?

THE BACK YARD

The back yard should be tidy. If you have a pool or spa keep it freshly maintained, and cleaned. For those who have dogs, be sure to constantly keep the area clear of “debris”. If you have swing sets or anything elaborate for your kids, remove it. It takes up space and you want the back yard to appear as big as possible, especially in newer homes where the yards are not as large.

THE FRONT DOOR AND ENTRYWAY

The front door should be especially sharp, since it is the entry into the house. Polish the fixtures so the front door gleams. If the door needs refinishing or repainting, make sure to get that done. If you have a cute plaque or shingle with your family name on it, remove it. Even if it is just on the mailbox. You can always put it up again when you move, but in the house you are trying to sell it will break a prospective buyer’s illusion. Get a plush doormat, too. Something else you can take with you when you move. Make sure the lock works easily and the key fits properly. When a prospective buyer inspects the property, the agent unlocks the front door if there is trouble with the lock the buyer is left twiddling with their thumbs while the agent struggles to get into the house. This sends a very negative first impression. While this all seems like a lot of hard work, it will hasten the sale of your home. There are also a lot of simple things that you can do to get the mood right to SELL your house.

 

SELLING TIPS: What you can do to help

Remove any objects such as children’s toys on the front steps, which might cause accidents. Keep the front entrance and stairway clear. Try for uncluttered ppearance. Neat orderly rooms look bigger, especially bedrooms. Tidy up all rooms for a spacious appearance. Check and double-check your bathroom. Bright and clean bathrooms sell many homes. When you are showing your home three is a crowd. Avoid having too many people present for inspections. The prospect will feel like an intruder and will hurry through the house. If possible go out for a short walk. If you can’t go out, stay out of the way. Do not accompany the prospect and the sales person around the house. The Agent knows the Buyer’s requirements and can better emphasise the features of your house when alone. They will call you if they need you. Love me, love my dog does not apply when selling a house. Pets are best kept out of the way, even taken on a walk when there is an inspection.

Never apologize for the appearance of your home. After all, it has been lived in. Let the real estate agent answer any objections that are raised, that is their job. Switch off the TV during inspections it is very distracting. Put on some mellow music that will get prospective purchasers relaxed and in the mood for buying. It is best not to discuss price, terms, possessions or other factors with the buyer. Refer them to the agent. Real Estate Agents are better equipped to bring the negotiation to a quick and favourable conclusion. You and your Real Estate Agent need to work as a team. If you feel they have overlooked some important selling points, feel free to discuss them once you are alone together. Sweep all the walkways to create an impression of constant maintenance to your house. Remove excess mail from your letterbox. Park extra cars, which do not fit in car parks, away from the property. Clean windows and window coverings. Make sure gutter and down pipes are clean and in working order. Fresh flowers inside the home can add extra colour and vibrance. They also appeal to a Buyers sense of smell with their exotic fragrances. Having a pot of fresh coffee brewing or a loaf of bread baking will also add a pleasant aroma to your house.

Open curtains and turn on lights so the house feels warm and bright. If people unaccompanied by your Real Estate Agent ask to see the property, for security reasons, refer them to your real estate professional for an appointment. Have an air freshener in the toilet and bathroom to have a fresh, clean smell. Place a bowl of fruit with a
variety of colours in a prominent position in the kitchen. It is important that a home gets a buyer in the right mood to buy, all the above tips and hints will help to do this. You can also use the season to your advantage. If it is wintertime make sure that the house is warm. It is very welcoming on a cold day and adds extra character if you have the fire burning. If it is summer time ensure that the house is cool by using, fans, airconditioners or opening all the windows to make the most of any breeze.

 

A FEW HANDY TIPS TO KEEP EVERYTHING SHIP SHAPE

FLOOR BOARDS

Wooden floorboards are easily scuffed – glue felt to the bottom of furniture to avoid scuffs. A rug will help to define the shape of the room and also reduce echo from the polished surface. Darker toned finish will lend the room a cosy feel, but may show up mop streaks more than a brighter polish.

DIY PAINTING TIPS

• Using cool, pale colours gives the impression of space and comfort in a hot climate.
• In rooms that get plenty of sun, consider whether paint will fade.
• Painting two thirds of the way up a wall and painting the remaining third and ceiling white will make a small room appear larger.
• Use horsehair bristles for oil-based paints and synthetic bristles for water based.
• To avoid buckling, do not paint one side of a door and allow it to dry before painting the other side.
• Always use a sample pot to test colour in it’s true light.
• Always allow a couple of days before sleeping in a freshly painted room – fumes can be harmful.

CRACKS IN PLASTER WORK

• Cut the edges of a crack back until you have a clean edge with the undamaged wall.
• Apply mesh repair tape over the crack, overlapping the edge by at least 3 centimetres.
• Mix plaster or filler according to pack directions.
• Apply rapidly to crack before plaster begins to set. Apply into and onto mesh until plaster level is slightly higher than mesh level.
• Allow to dry overnight and sand back level with the wall.