Step 1: Reason for Selling

It is often more emotional to sell a home than to buy a home, and the reason for selling your home may be a determining factor in the urgency of the sale. The urgency may also have an effect on the price of the property.

It is important to take the following factors that can influence the sale of your home into consideration:

  • Reason for selling
  • Price
  • Location
  • Condition of property
  • Size
  • Design / style
  • Accessibility

Step 2: The Cost of Selling

It is very important to first calculate the expenses that may be incurred while selling your home. This knowledge is absolutely necessary because it helps you to determine a good price for the house, as well as the potential profit that you can realize.

The cost of selling your home may include things like commission to be paid to the agent, taxes, advertising costs or specific reports, such as a property inspection.

Step 3: Price

The most important factor when putting your home on the market to sell is setting the right price. The price at which your property is marketed can make or break the deal.

Over-pricing of the property may result in:

  • A smaller buyers’ pool
  • A prolonged stay on the market that will result in lower offers being submitted

Under-pricing of the property may result in:

  • You losing money on your investment
  • A buyer offering an even lower amount due to a negative perception of the property or area

Step 4: Location

Although you cannot do anything about the location of your property, it plays a very important part in the marketability of your home. So, it is important to take the following into consideration:

  • Is your property priced in relation to other offers in your area?
  • What type of neighborhood is your property located in – well-established, up-and-coming, transitional?
  • Is your property located in an urban or rural area?

Step 5: Condition of Your Property

The condition of your property is always a factor in how quickly your home sells. It’s a fact: acquiring the highest market value and elevating your home above the others in the same price range often comes down to first impressions. Here are some inexpensive ways to maximize your home’s curb appeal:

  • Keep the grass cut and yard clutter to a minimum.
  • Apply fresh paint to any wooden fences and your front door.
  • Clean windows inside and out.
  • Wash or paint your home’s exterior.
  • Ensure gutters and other exterior fashions are firmly attached.

Step 6: Staging

Did you know well-placed furniture can open up rooms and make them seem larger than they are? Or, that opening drapes and blinds and turning on lights make a room seem bright and cheery? It’s true, which is why staging your home to look its absolute best is an important factor in the selling process.

Here are some inexpensive ways to highlight your home’s best features:

  • Clean or paint walls and ceilings.
  • Clean all flooring and fixtures – lights, fans.
  • Repair all plumbing leaks.
  • Remove excessive wall hangings, furniture and extra personal goods.
  • Turn on all lights and open the drapes during the daytime.
  • Play quiet background music and infuse your home with a comforting scent.
  • Vacate the property when and if it’s being show to prospective buyers.

Step 7: Accessibility

Accessibility is a major issue in many parts of the world. Again you cannot do anything about your home’s accessibility to specific things, but it does play a role in the price of your property. Your agent will work with you to highlight the places of interest that are most accessible to your home.

Here are a few important areas to think about:

  • Public transportation
  • Main roads
  • Shopping centers
  • Schools and other educational institutions
  • Outdoor areas – public pools, parks, playgrounds
  • Entertainment

Why Home Staging Sells

Real estate agents and sellers know how important it is to show a home that is presented in its finest form. Statistics show that staged homes sell faster and for more money. Interestingly, it is estimated that only 10 percent of prospective buyers can visualize a home looking any different than the way it looks when they walk in the door. They need help and you can help them!

Staged homes give the perception that a home is well-maintained and stylish. Working with the flow of a home, eliminating personal effects and clutter, and arranging furniture can make all the difference a home needs be best presented.

The Two Types of Staging

Occupied Home

In an occupied home, furniture can rearranged to showcase each room’s functionality and flow. Removing an abundance of personal effects allows the buyer to envision themselves in the home, rather than feel like an outside guest visiting. If the budget permits, upgrading floors, replacing countertops and adding a fresh coat of paint go a long way to spruce up a home.

Vacant Home

As is often the case with a vacant home, the buyer is focused on the things that need fixing, the cracks in the walls, the worn carpets, the dated countertops, etc. Buyers can also have difficulty envisioning what to do with the space. Staging offers suggestions they can build on.

Here Are a Few Pro Staging Tips to Help Your Sellers

1. Scent
Candles, freshly baked cookies or room fragrances may seem to evoke pleasant associations, however, they can also bring about negative associations. While one person may love the smell of a particular scent, another may hate it.

Over masking with scent is also a red flags for buyers that there is an odor issue in the home. If there is an odor issue in a home, it is best to address the cause, rather than mask it.

2. Accents
Area rugs, pillows, bedding and lighting are a great ways to introduce color and newness to rooms. A family of color throughout the home weaves warmth and cohesiveness together. Well-lit rooms evoke space and openness.

3. Declutter and Depersonalize
The first thing a stager will likely do is remove many of your personal effects and decorations – do not take it personally. It is important to take a step back and realize that buyers want to envision your home, as their own. Creating a neutral environment will help buyers connect with a house and see themselves living in it.

4. Show Off Your Storage
Remove excess furniture, clothes and items in storage areas of the home such as closets. Buyers want to see the size of closets and storage area.

5. Don’t Forget the Outside!
Curb appeal is your homes first impression. Spruce up its curb appeal by:
Mowing the lawn and trimming any necessary trees/shrubs
Power washing your driveway, deck, walkway and any other outside area
Add a fresh potted plant and a new doormat to welcome buyers to your home.

The benefits of a well-staged home are plentiful. A staged home suggests that the home has been well maintained and may even shift attention away from imperfections and otherwise negative selling points.

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