If you plan to move while your home is still listed for sale, you may face a marketing challenge - the vacant home. While lived-in homes may be more attractive during showings, there is much you can do to present your vacant property successfully.
On the outside, give your home an occupied look by asking a neighbor to park their car in your driveway, open and close your drapes, and retrieve any mail that still arrives. During the warm season, have a lawn service maintain the yard (in the winter, a snow removal service may be in order).
On the inside, create a sense of space by leaving some strategically placed pieces of furniture, like a few chairs, tables and lamps. You can create a "bed" by covering an empty mattress box or several moving boxes with a thick comforter.
If you remove furniture that reveals blemishes on the walls, repair and repaint those. If you notice that the carpeting is faded after you've moved furniture, consider replacing it if possible.
Keep it feeling pleasant indoors during all seasons by keeping your power on after you move, and having a neighbor or family member set the temperature at a minimum comfortable setting according to seasonal conditions.
Your agent will have even more suggestions for marketing a vacant home, so put that experience to good use!
Showing posts with label home. Show all posts
Showing posts with label home. Show all posts
10/16/09
10/9/09
Take The Plunge
Are you looking for some good reasons to take the plunge into homeownership? Certainly, there are many, but here are a few to chew on before you call an agent and begin your search.
If you haven't owned a home in the last three years, then you qualify as a "first time buyer," and you are eligible for up to an $8,000 tax credit if you purchase a home before December 1, 2009. Combined with low interest rates, now is an excellent time to seek financing and make your move. If you get a fixed rate mortgage, your monthly payment will always remain the same, while rent and everything else keeps going up.
The investment potential of buying a home is very attractive right now, because values that were driven down by foreclosures will climb back upward. That means the value of the home you buy now will rise, and soon, resulting in instant equity!
And think about the return on that investment. If you put $10,000 into the stock market and earned 10%, your profit would be $1,000. Put that same $10,000 into a home purchase that appreciates 10%, and you've made $10,000.
Finally, there is simply the security of owning your own home and having absolute control over making it as comfortable as possible for your lifestyle. Need more reasons? Call an agent today!
If you haven't owned a home in the last three years, then you qualify as a "first time buyer," and you are eligible for up to an $8,000 tax credit if you purchase a home before December 1, 2009. Combined with low interest rates, now is an excellent time to seek financing and make your move. If you get a fixed rate mortgage, your monthly payment will always remain the same, while rent and everything else keeps going up.
The investment potential of buying a home is very attractive right now, because values that were driven down by foreclosures will climb back upward. That means the value of the home you buy now will rise, and soon, resulting in instant equity!
And think about the return on that investment. If you put $10,000 into the stock market and earned 10%, your profit would be $1,000. Put that same $10,000 into a home purchase that appreciates 10%, and you've made $10,000.
Finally, there is simply the security of owning your own home and having absolute control over making it as comfortable as possible for your lifestyle. Need more reasons? Call an agent today!
7/6/09
The Difference Between Selling & Dwelling
There is a special mindset associated with "staging" your home to sell in a soft market. Staging refers simply to the act of improving your home's appearance in order to appeal to the widest segment of potential buyers. The approach you must adopt is to see your home with an objective eye.
Stop looking at your home as your "home," and start visualizing it as the "product" it becomes when it enters the market. Both a real estate agent and a professional home stager can help to market your product successfully by highlighting positive features and downplaying less attractive aspects.
Since you may have a strong emotional attachment to your home, you may not fully appreciate hearing about a better way to show your offering, but try to recognize that the way you decorate to SELL may be quite different from the way you decorate to dwell. The appearance of a space often trumps its functionality when impressing buyers.
Your goal is to sell quickly at a fair price. A survey by a large national real estate brokerage showed that staged homes sell in half the time, and another survey of REALTORS® showed that a $500 “staging” investment recouped 343% of that cost. So be prepared to swallow a little pride, move some furniture, and field better offers on the road to your successful sale.
Stop looking at your home as your "home," and start visualizing it as the "product" it becomes when it enters the market. Both a real estate agent and a professional home stager can help to market your product successfully by highlighting positive features and downplaying less attractive aspects.
Since you may have a strong emotional attachment to your home, you may not fully appreciate hearing about a better way to show your offering, but try to recognize that the way you decorate to SELL may be quite different from the way you decorate to dwell. The appearance of a space often trumps its functionality when impressing buyers.
Your goal is to sell quickly at a fair price. A survey by a large national real estate brokerage showed that staged homes sell in half the time, and another survey of REALTORS® showed that a $500 “staging” investment recouped 343% of that cost. So be prepared to swallow a little pride, move some furniture, and field better offers on the road to your successful sale.
6/12/09
A Portfolio of Commodities
Have you ever thought of a home as a commodity? A commodity can be defined as a raw material or product that can be bought and sold. A home is not a raw material, but it is certainly built out of many, like a box full of wood, steel, cement, glass and copper.
Over the long term, home prices usually rise along with the cost of the commodities it takes for construction. While high inventories of housing may be keeping prices lower right now, the cost of the raw materials that are intrinsically tied to a home's value are rising, and rapidly.
With increasingly higher construction costs on the horizon, buying now is an ideal investment, and a hedge against the rising cost of commodities. Every home is a store of value for all the materials, the land and the labor involved in its construction. So the long-term value of a home is tightly connected to the cost of its production, making it a very different type of investment from stocks or bonds.
Investing in commodities has always been a great way to make lemonade from the economy's lemons. And what better way to buy into the commodities market than by purchasing a home? Sooner or later, home prices will be pushed higher by the rising cost of raw materials, so make your move now!
Over the long term, home prices usually rise along with the cost of the commodities it takes for construction. While high inventories of housing may be keeping prices lower right now, the cost of the raw materials that are intrinsically tied to a home's value are rising, and rapidly.
With increasingly higher construction costs on the horizon, buying now is an ideal investment, and a hedge against the rising cost of commodities. Every home is a store of value for all the materials, the land and the labor involved in its construction. So the long-term value of a home is tightly connected to the cost of its production, making it a very different type of investment from stocks or bonds.
Investing in commodities has always been a great way to make lemonade from the economy's lemons. And what better way to buy into the commodities market than by purchasing a home? Sooner or later, home prices will be pushed higher by the rising cost of raw materials, so make your move now!
5/22/09
Turn Those Red Flags Green
When selling a home, two situations may occur which are red flag indicators of a lengthy sale time. Each requires the property owners' attention in cooperation with their sales agent, and involves either the price or condition of the home.
The first involves a home that has been on the market for 60-90 days, but has been shown only once or twice. More buyers are beginning to enter today's real estate market, and homes for sale should be attracting a number of prospects.
When buyers choose not to tour a home, the reason is often the price. Homes that are attractive, but not being shown, are often priced “above” the market. The key to increased showings, then, is to learn the market price of the home, then reset the price.
The second “red flag” occurs when a home is being shown often, but neither sells nor attracts offers. The home's condition is often the culprit in this situation. Buyers learn the price, then drive by, making a judgment that it is an attractive home. Once they see the home, however, their interest evaporates.
The solution can be a critical “walk-through” by the sellers' agent to identify needed repairs and cosmetic improvements. Until corrected, traffic is likely to remain high, while the chances of selling remain low. Remove these red flags and prepare for a sale!
The first involves a home that has been on the market for 60-90 days, but has been shown only once or twice. More buyers are beginning to enter today's real estate market, and homes for sale should be attracting a number of prospects.
When buyers choose not to tour a home, the reason is often the price. Homes that are attractive, but not being shown, are often priced “above” the market. The key to increased showings, then, is to learn the market price of the home, then reset the price.
The second “red flag” occurs when a home is being shown often, but neither sells nor attracts offers. The home's condition is often the culprit in this situation. Buyers learn the price, then drive by, making a judgment that it is an attractive home. Once they see the home, however, their interest evaporates.
The solution can be a critical “walk-through” by the sellers' agent to identify needed repairs and cosmetic improvements. Until corrected, traffic is likely to remain high, while the chances of selling remain low. Remove these red flags and prepare for a sale!
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