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Tips on
Selling your Home
Preparing
Interior of Home
Now
is the time to set your emotions aside and try to see your
home as any potential buyer would view it. It may be hard to
remove and store family pictures and portraits. Leaving
these and other personal items lying around make it hard for
a prospective buyer to visualize the home as theirs. So one
of the hardest things you will have to do in preparing your
home for sale is to box and store all items that you may
cherish, but only look like clutter to the prospect. If
your nor willing to take these steps you may inadvertently
create a situation that will take longer to sell your home.
Clutter collects on shelves, drawers, closets, garage,
basements and counter tops. Let one of your friends help
you with pointing out those items that may represent items
that need to be cleared away.
The kitchen will be the easiest place to start. Remove
everything from the counter tops, even the toaster. Store
it in a cabinet. Clear the drawers, cabinets and pantry of
everything you do not use. The prospective buyer will open
cabinets and drawers. Clean storage areas give the felling
of ample space while crowded closets and drawers take away
that feeling. Use up foodstuffs especially canned goods
that take up space; you will not want to pay to have it
moved to your new house anyway. The space under the sink is
important to, make sure it is clean and that there are no
sign of water leaks.
Remove extra items from closets, especially items that
clutter floor like too many shoes. Try to create space.
Many items of furniture that are not needed crowd rooms and
make them appear small. Look around and store items that
are not needed. Look at model homes to see how they display
their rooms.
The clutter that fills garages, laundry rooms and storage
areas need to be condensed or removed. Open space in these
areas let your prospect visualize how they can use these
areas.
Don’t do any remodeling, but take care of repairs and
painting…Taking on debt to remodel or update your old home
could affect you credit or funds needed to purchase a new
property.
When looking at a house prospective buyers like to turn on
light switches, open faucets and flush toilets. A few
dollars spent on these repairs will pay off.
If
plumbing fixtures or any thing in the house has difficult
stains such as carpets you may want to enlist a
professional who has all the tricks of stain removal.
Check the walls and ceilings for water stains and if caused
by leaky plumbing or a faulty roof make the repairs
necessary. Nothing turns a buyer off faster than the fear
of bad plumbing or a roof that leaks.
It
may be wise to repaint if there are discolored or soiled
spots on the walls. Changing some dark and outdated colors
to soft neutral colors will be the best investment you can
make in preparing your home for the market.
Carpets should only be changed if they are really worn or
soiled. Have a professional clean the carpets and if
replacement is needed buy inexpensive carpet in a neutral
color
Check all of your doors and windows to make sure they open
easy. Doors that squeak and windows that are hard to open
need to be sprayed with a silicon spray on the window tracks
and the door hinges... Be sure door knobs turn easy and
appear clean and polished. Any windows that are broken
should be replaced.
Many people are sensitive to the odors of smoke and pets.
Try to minimize these smells with an ozone spray that does
not mask over the odors. It may be a good idea to smoke
outdoors once you have removed the smell.
For those with cats clean the litter box daily. Try to
keep dogs outside as much as possible, even if they are
small and loveable. The periodic use of a carpet freshener
will also help.
The Exterior of the House
Preparing the exterior of your home is most important. The
prospective buyers first impression is known as curb appeal.
And first impressions will determine the mind set of a
prospect. You might walk across the street and compare your
home to other houses on the block. Make you’re landscaping
is on par for the neighborhood. The purchase of a few small
bushes and planting colorful flowers in the right placed
will work wonders. Your grass should be evenly cut and any
brown areas replanted.
To
paint or not to paint? Probably the biggest question you
will have to ask yourself and the most expensive too.
Compare your house with the others on the block and see if
you house paint appears old or depleted. Painting your
house can increase an offer to buy by thousands of dollars.
Be sure the house color and trim are neutral and blend in
with the neighborhood.
The backyard should be tidy and any debris from pets should
be picked up. Large swing sets and a playhouse may make a
yard look small so you might want to remove them.
The Selling Process
There is a saying that one who tries to represent themselves
without a lawyer is a fool; the same may be said for one who
tries to market their own home without a Realtor. Unless
you know of someone who really wants to buy your home
enlisting the services of a professional Broker will save
you time any money. Realtors know that the home that is
advertised is seldom the one purchased by the prospective
buyer. The Realtor’s advantage is they advertise many homes
and have a backlog of potential buyers that may be looking
for your home.
Your Broker will also qualify the potential lookers and show
your home to only buyers that have the cash or approved
credit line with a lending institution. The Realtor for
sale sign will have a phone no that will be answered by a
professional during business hours .let should also have a
website where the potential prospect can get a photo tour of
your home without bothering you for an appointment.
In
trying to establish a selling price for your home, you are
probably the one who knows best what your house should sell
for. Your Realtor can give you some guidelines and give you
an example of how similar properties have sold. Beware of
the agent who says your property will sell for a much higher
price than other Realtors have given. This individual is
trying to buy a listing. If you should price the property
too high the network of Realtors that preview your home will
discount it and will not waste their time showing an
overpriced property. And they will guide their clients
someplace else.
How to List Exclusive or
Open Listed
Open Listings
Open listings are used by individuals who are trying to sell
their home themselves but will pay a real estate agent a
commission if he sells the property. An open listing gives
the seller the option of listing with as many agents as
possible.
Most of the time the agent will not even bother to put the
listing on a website and only shows the property if it meets
the criteria of one of their clients, they may be willing to
show it to their prospect. In most all cases this is as far
as it goes.
Exclusive Right to Sell
This type of listing gives the real estate agent the
exclusive right to sell your home but does not mean that
other Realtors will not be involved. Quite the opposite
your agent will be active in promoting your property to
other agents because if anyone sells the property including
yourself he will share in the commission.
If
you want full service from a Broker this is probably the
only type of listing they will accept. Full service means
your Broker will place your property on the internet, place
newspaper and magazine advertisements and will promote the
listing to all other reputable real estate companies in the
area. This means they are going to make a substantial
investment in marketing your property. Only with the
exclusive right to sell does the real estate agency have any
realistic expectation earning anything on the sale of your
property.
Details included in a listing agreement
Location
Selling Price
What personal property (that which is not attached to the
property a considered real estate) or not included.
Commission how much and how it is to be paid.
Length of agreement
Signatures
Good Luck in selling your Home The Tico Realty.com team is
always ready to give free inspections and advice on selling
your property.
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