REAL
ESTATE - GETTING YOUR HOUSE READY FOR THE MOST PROFITABLE SALE
Getting
Ready to Sell? By Stephanie Warren – Ewing & Assoc. Sotheby’s
Int’l Realty
If you are considering selling your home in 2007, you may
be wondering what steps to take and how to budget so your
home stands out from the competition to attract more eager
buyers and to maximize the ultimate selling price.
With homes in California representing such a major portion
of a family’s net worth, properly marketing this most
valuable possession is quickly becoming a new industry. A
number of companies offer “Staging” of either
occupied or empty homes, clearing out and rearranging the
existing furniture to make it show better or bringing in rental
furniture and accessories to warm up an empty house.
Many homeowners have been inspired by “Designed to Sell”
on HGTV (filmed locally around LA). With the help of a professional
design team, sellers put in $2000 and a lot of hard work to
update and clean out their homes before putting them on the
market. At the end of each episode they show the amazing transformation,
get buyers’ feedback at the Open House and report the
resulting sale, which is usually above the asking price.
If you aren’t selected for the show and can’t
afford to hire a designer, you can still use the same principles
to prepare your home to sell. If you do it right, your home
will appeal to as many different buyers as possible. Rooms
that are extremely personalized often make buyers feel they
are intruding and want to leave. The goal is for them to feel
welcome and to make them want to stay. Buyers need to be able
to see your home’s best features immediately, to imagine
their furniture fitting and their family living there. They
also need to clearly see the purpose for every room and to
get the feeling of light and spaciousness, even if your home
is small. If your fireplace or bay window is blocked by a
big screen TV, if your dining room is a makeshift office,
if your guestroom has become a dumping ground for all the
things that don’t go anywhere else, it’s time
to look at your home from a different perspective.
Pretend you’re a prospective buyer and start at the
curb. Is the sidewalk or porch an obstacle course of toys,
tools, and broken or empty pots? Is the front door easily
seen? How old is your welcome mat? Trimming overgrown bushes,
cleaning gutters, planting colorful annuals are inexpensive
ways to create a good first impression. Painting the front
door and trim and changing the hardware, mailbox and house
numbers give even older homes a fresh look.
How do the windows on the front of your house look from the
outside? Any broken shutters or crooked blinds should be fixed.
Are the sidewalk and porch in good repair? You certainly don’t
want anyone to trip and fall on your property and broken sidewalks
and loose porch stones indicate poor maintenance. It can make
buyers wonder what else you’ve neglected that’s
not so easily seen.
Once inside the front door, what do you see? Are you met by
a bulging closet with items spilling out onto the floor or
a table piled high with mail, newspapers, keys or school bags?
How is the lighting? Does your eye travel easily from room
to room or does each room have a different color/wallpaper
or floor covering chopping it up? While you may have enjoyed
personalizing every room with your distinctive style while
you live there, if you hope to sell it for top dollar, designers
will tell you painting adjoining rooms with one neutral color
and installing consistent flooring will make your home seem
larger and to have a “good flow.”
How is the light? Are your window treatments dated,
overdone or blocking out the light? One of the quick fixes
on “Designed to Sell” is updating window treatments
with more current and neutral casual curtains or blinds. Another
low cost update they often perform is changing the light fixtures.
How old are yours? Do they look it?
As you go from room to room, is the furniture arranged to
focus attention on the fireplace, entertainment center or
to encourage conversation? Many people have too much furniture
awkwardly arranged which impedes traffic and makes the rooms
appear cramped. The family room has often evolved into a repository
of toys and baby items so it’s hardly recognizable.
Children’s rooms may look like a “toy bomb”
exploded. Are your kitchen counters “missing in action”
with too many appliances, canisters and clutter? You seldom
hear a buyer asking for a smaller kitchen or less counter
space.
The same goes for closets. You can be certain that buyers
will open them to check their size. If your closets aren’t
large, install closet systems or at least double rods to maximize
the hanging space. Pack out of season clothing and leave only
what you and your family will currently wear, then neatly
hang the remaining items on identical hangers going the same
direction. Even a small closet will feel more spacious when
it’s organized. You may also find things you forgot
you had in the process!
For very little money you can de-clutter, pre-pack and store
personal items, have a garage sale, donate to charity and
rent a dumpster or a pod. If you’ve been in your current
home for a number of years, you’ve probably accumulated
a lot of “stuff” that you don’t need, can’t
use or forgot you have. Before you put that FOR SALE sign
in your yard is the time to pack away shelves of trophies,
family photos, snow globe collections, anything that gathers
dust and personalizes your home too much. The more you pack
before you sell, the easier your move will be after it’s
sold.
If you can’t afford major repairs, make sure your home
is absolutely clean, windows gleaming, floors and bathrooms
shining, carpets and kitchen spotless and possibly a fresh
coat of paint. Keep furnishings and accessories to a minimum,
accent each room’s best features, let in the light and
clean all junk and trash from your yard or storage areas.
Check the view from every window. Be aware of any odors like
cat boxes or stale cigar smoke and buy scented candles or
plug-in air fresheners.
If you plan to spend money to make money, updating flooring
and paint colors, simple window treatments, scraping acoustic
ceilings and removing wallpaper more than double your return.
Updating or remodeling the kitchen and baths or adding a bathroom
are also a good investment. But, before you begin any costly
projects, visit Open Houses in your area and consult your
Realtor to find out what current buyers are requesting. If
you have any questions about getting your home ready to sell,
call me, or one of the other Realtor members of the Calabasas
Chamber, for a free consultation.
