Oct 13, 2020 | Real Estate 101
Placing your home on the market requires objectivity and potentially significant preparation.
Your chosen real estate professional should guide you through the preparation process to help you:
✔ Appreciate the impression your home will make on potential buyers.
✔ Define improvements that you can undertake to sell your home faster and at the best possible price.
✔ Outline suggested interior and exterior preparations for cleaning, repair and organization.
✔ De-clutter and depersonalize your space to achieve the broadest appeal.
✔ Arrange furniture to make rooms appear as spacious as possible.
✔ Connect with professionals to help prepare your home for sale, such as painters, cleaners, contractors, carpenters, repair people, home stagers, and more.
✔ Create a mood ideal for showcasing your home. Choosing appropriate background music, adding plants, maximizing lighting, can all help potential buyers feel more comfortable in your home.
Need help?
I can help you see your home through the objective eyes of a prospective buyer and suggest preparations to make the right impression. Put my expertise to work for you and learn more about these steps in your home sale:
Feb 28, 2020 | Real Estate 101
Imagine you’re looking for a new home. You have a list of all the features you want, just like you would have a grocery shopping list. However, when you explore the homes currently on the market, none meets all your criteria.
What do you do? You have a few good options…
First, you can take a second look at your list. Does your new home need every single feature on it? Are there one or two features you can do without? For example, can you settle for a smaller kitchen assuming the property has everything else you want?
Often, buying a home that’s close to perfect is perfect enough.
Second, consider what features you might be able to add to a home later, by way of a renovation or other improvement. If a property doesn’t have a finished basement, for example, you might be able to get that done down the road. Indeed, there are probably many features you can add later to an otherwise desirable property.
Finally, consider the current level of activity in the local real estate market. Is it likely that a lot of new homes will be coming on the market soon? If so, your perfect home may come up on the market within the next few weeks.
In that situation, make sure you arrange to get immediate alerts for newly listed homes that meet your criteria. You’ll want to jump on each new opportunity before other buyers learn of the listing.
I can help you do that with my Private Client Services program, where you can receive email updates whenever new homes come on the market that fit your criteria.
The good news is, in most cases you should be able to find and buy a great home, with most – if not all – of the features you want.
To sign up for my completely FREE private client services, click below!
Sign up for automatic email updates for new listings!
Nov 28, 2019 | Real Estate 101
Ideally when you sell your home, you want to process to go smoothly and relatively stress-free. While things may happen that are outside your control, there is a lot you can do to ensure that the selling experience is a good one.
Consider these four steps to reduce worry and stress when listing your home:
Step 1
Learn the selling process. find out what to expect when the FOR SALE sign goes up. How will viewings be scheduled? Will an Open House be needed? What happens when there is an offer? The more you know, less mysterious – and, therefore, less stressful – the experience will be.
Step 2
Schedule wisely. Use a calendar to block out times for viewings and other selling-related activities. Be sure to schedule plenty of time to clean and de-clutter your home before a viewing or Open House. Try not to have a tight schedule during the sales period.
Step 3
Anticipate issues. The more problems you can foresee, the better you’ll be prepared to deal with them as they arise. For example, if you know you’re going to have a busy week at work, start making plans now to deal with viewings and related matters during those days.
Step 4
Make decisions. Things can move quickly in the real estate market. There might be times when there are no enquiries at all, and then suddenly two offers might come in.
Be prepared to make some quick decisions. Fortunately, with sounds advice from me as your real estate agent, making those decisions will be a lot easier.
So, follow these simple steps. They’ll help make your sale less worrisome, and even enjoyable! And as always, feel free to contact me if you have any questions!
Oct 15, 2019 | Real Estate 101
You’ve heard of the term “curb appeal”. It refers to the initial impression buyers get when they first see your property from the street. If the impression is a good one, it sets the right tone for the rest of the home viewing.
How do you boost curb appeal? here are some proven ideas that you can get done in an hour or so:
- Wash both the inside of outside of the front windows. You’ll be amazed at the difference that can make.
- Sweep the walkway leading up to the front entrance. Add a new welcome mat. Also, wash down the front door.
- If possible, remove cars from the driveway. Let buyers imagine their own cars parked there!
- Mow the lawn. Lightly trim the hedges. Weed flower beds.
- Remove anything from inside window sills that may look unsightly from the outside. Try putting a couple of flowering plants there instead.
- Place any trash bins out-of-sight. For example, put them in the garage or neatly at the side of the house.
- If the entrance door hardware is old and worn, change it. New hardware can make a bigger difference than you might think.
- Make sure the outdoor lights are working, especially if you’re showing your home in the evening.
- Add some flowering plants to flower beds, or buy a couple of portable potted plants and place them strategically.
- If your have a power washer, give the walkway and driveway a quick blast. Just be sure it will be dry before the buyers arrive.
These one-hour improvements may seem minor, but anything that helps buyers form a more positive first impression of your home is worth the effort.
Sep 25, 2019 | Real Estate 101
Have you ever considered selling your home and moving out-of-town? One concern that might be holding you back is the uncertainty involved of finding a home in an unfamiliar place. What are the best neighbourhoods? What are homes selling for in that area? What is it like to live there?
There are many ways to find out.
- If possible, spend a day in the area. Walk some of the neighbourhoods. Visit schools and parks. Check out the local shopping and other amenities.
- Talk to someone who lives there. This will give you firsthand insights into the area. You can facilitate this through a Facebook post where you ask to chat with a local resident.
- View current listings in the area online. Most listings include helpful data on safety, demographics and other information.
- Get a handle on home prices by finding out what a home like yours is currently selling for in that area. That will give you a baseline to determine what you can expect to pay.
What’s the bottom line? There’s no need to let uncertainty about finding a home in a different town or city hold you back.
When to know about buying in Oliver? Give me shout, I’d love to help you out!
Jul 15, 2019 | Real Estate 101
If you haven’t sold a home before, the process can seem complex and even intimidating. It really isn’t. In fact, the steps to selling your property – quickly and for the best price – are straightforward, although not necessarily easy.
Here’s a bird’s-eye view of the steps to expect:
- Determine what your property will likely sell for on today’s market. This is referred to as the Current Market Value.
- Decide on a list price. Doing this properly is crucial. If you set the price too high, you’ll discourage buyers from seeing your home. On the other hand, if the price is too low, you may be leaving thousands of dollars on the table.
- Prepare your home for sale. This involves cleaning, de-cluttering, fixing and staging so that your property wows potential buyers.
- Market and promote the property to the marketplace. This needs to be done effectively to maximize the number of qualified buyers who find out about and become interested in your listing.
- Show your property to buyers interested in seeing it.
- Negotiate offers effectively so that you sell your property for the best price and conditions.
- Make a deal and begin the transaction paperwork!
Of course, you don’t have to do it all alone! As your real estate sales associate, I will do most of the heavy-lifting for you. I’ll be by your side throughout the process, helping ensure your home sale is trouble-free and successful.
Email Beth for more information
