PREPARATION FOR SALE

Every seller wants their home to appeal to all prospective home buyers and to maximize the selling price. However, the home owner, having decorated to their specific desires and become accustomed to the surroundings, may not easily recognize what needs to be done to prepare the home to appeal to most buyers driving by, showings by agents, and open house days. Preparing a home for sale is not an easy job but can be very profitable work. HomeBuyerConsultants.Com Inc. provides the following tips to consider to prepare your home for sale:

Get Independent Suggestions

Ask for non-biased inputs from Real Estate Professionals, friends, etc. as to what they believe will make the home more appealing to the general public. Pay attention to the feedback you receive from your Realtor about the comments buyers who visited your home have made.

Make a Good First Impression

There is a very important term used in real estate called 'Curb Appeal'. The National Association of Realtors  statistics indicate that 40% to 50% of all home sales are determined at the curb. Many sales are lost because the buyer drives by and never looks inside the home. Much curb appeal improvement can be done relatively inexpensively, such as, some painting, lawn care, minor landscaping, trimming back shrubbery, flowers, pressure cleaning or coating the driveway, cleaning out gutters, removing all yard clutter, etc. A few major items, if bad, are important to fix, such as, roofing, bad siding, bad or broken windows, and bad external doors. Paint or replace the front door and polish or replace the door knobs/lockset/knocker. Repair or remove broken blinds or shades.

Once they come inside, their first impressions are still important. Be sure all light bulbs work and turn most of them on to light up any darkened areas. Everything, such as, doors, faucets, windows, drawers, blinds, light switches, furnace, air conditioner, etc. should work as expected. The interior should be in good condition, clean, and neat. Remove items that indicate that pets have the run of the house. If the kitchen or bathrooms are seriously out of date, some minor remodeling will significantly help the home sell faster. Major remodeling may make the home more appealing to buyers  but seldom returns the initial cost.

Neutralize

If you need to paint or replace carpet, make it a neutral warm color - white, off whites, or beiges. If the choice is paint or wall paper, paint. Painting rooms is an inexpensive way to quickly brighten and make the home's interior more appealing. If the wall paper is worn or excessively colorful, replace or paint. Wall paper is a very personal choice and quickly discourages buyers if they don't like it.

Unclutter

Clutter makes the inside of a home appears much smaller than it is. Remove knickknacks, small appliances, personal effects, make kitchen shelves more open, clear off tables & counter tops, have only a few items hanging in closets, and have closet shelves empty. You want prospective buyers to picture the home as their future home not yours. Remove family photos from the walls, mantle, dressers, refrigerator, etc. Store away personal items, such as, books, trophies, collectables, souvenirs, etc. Do not have too much furniture in a room. Remove ash trays and pet supplies. Put all valuables away. You will be moving out of the home anyway, so start packing into boxes and store them in the garage. Organize and arrange the items not removed to give the home a good uncluttered, open feeling. Put out your best towels, linens, bedspreads, etc. Visit a few open model homes in new developments to see how it is done.

Clean, Clean, Clean

Its hard work, inexpensive, but very important. Make everything spotless from top to bottom. If you have a basement, be sure it is also clean and neat. Clean all appliances in the kitchen. Make everything neat like bathroom towels, magazines, table settings, etc. Make sure all linens, towels, bedspreads, etc. are not worn, stained, or dirty. Clean windows and leave shades open. Clean carpeting and polish hardwood floors. Remove unnecessary throw rugs. If the home is clean and neat, the buyer assumes the entire property has always been well taken care off.

Make It Smell Good

There is nothing like a good aroma when you walk in the door to give a homey feeling. Bake some cookies or boil some apple cider and cinnamon prior to home showings. Vanilla candles or potpourri are very effective. Never allow a musty, moldy, pet, or a smoker smell to exist.

Make It Feel Like Home

If you have a fireplace and it is cool outside, have a warm cozy fire going. Let the light in - open blinds and turn all lights on. Set the thermostat to 75 degrees, a pleasant comfort zone for most people. Create a peaceful, serene environment with soft music and turn the TV off.  Some fresh flowers and mature plants are helpful. If the home is being shown by a Real Estate agent, leave before they arrive and take the family and pets with you. If you are showing your home, have someone take care of the kids and pets during the showing.

Make the Selling Price Competitive

This may be the most important tip of all. Have your property appraised or get several Comparative Market Analysis (CMA) from Realtors. Know the current market value of your property and set your selling price accordingly. As can be expected, many owners have a biased opinion of the value of their property. No matter how wonderful a home is, it will not sell if it is not properly priced for the neighborhood. Pricing too high is a waste of your time, of your Realtor's, and worse yet, that of prospective buyers. You just might miss your one and only buyer by the time you lower the price.

Buyer Possession

Plan your selling and move schedule such that you can advertise that the buyer can take possession at closing and move in immediately. Typically, buyers are anxious to move into their new home and have serious concerns about others occupying the home after they become the owners. Being prepared for this will eliminate a very sticky point in the purchase negotiations.

Incentives

You can make your home more appealing to buyers by offering incentives that make choosing your home by a buyer more likely than choosing other homes on the market. The incentives that will be most effective may depend on the current market conditions, so consult with your real estate agent. NOTE - an incentive must be well advertised to be effective. Some incentives to consider are:

1. Home Warranty Plan - There are several one year warranty plans available that cover appliances, furnace, air conditioner, roof, etc. These plans cover the seller up to closing and the buyer after closing. This relieves the buyer's fears of something serious going wrong at a time they may not have funds available just after closing. The cost of these warranties is typically $300 to $400.

2. Professional Appraisal - Have the home appraised by a licensed professional appraiser, have the appraiser furnish full documentation, and provide a copy of the appraisal to prospective buyers. This will assure buyers that they know the actual value and that the home is properly priced. The cost is typically $100 to $200.

3. Home Inspection - Have the home inspected, correct the major items, have the inspector furnish full documentation, and provide a copy to prospective buyers. This will assure buyers (as well as the seller) that they will not have major negotiation problems after the purchase agreement. Often the buyer will not even have an inspection done. The cost is typically $200 to $300.

4. Closing Costs - Offer to pay buyer's closing costs. This appeals to all buyers but is particularly appealing to first time buyers who may be having problems with the up front cash needed to purchase a home. The cost is typically about 1% to 1.5% of the selling price.

5. Mortgage Points - Offer to pay one or two points to reduce the mortgage interest rate below any they could get on any other home on the market. A point costs 1% of the mortgage amount.

6. Second Mortgage - Offer a second mortgage for the difference of their down payment and 20% down so that the buyer does not have to finance as much and avoids the private mortgage insurance (PMI) charges. This will reduce the cash you receive at closing but does provide you regular income and interest on your money while it is being repaid to you.

7. Decorating Allowance - Offer a one or two thousand dollar allowance at closing for the buyer to spend to replace worn-out/out-dated items or redecorate items in the home that may not appeal to them.

8. Agent Bonus - Provide an incentive of one or two thousand dollars on the multiple listing to the real estate agent that provides the buyer of the home. This will put your home higher in their priority to show the home to prospective buyers.

Try these tips, you will be glad you did!

Selling Price

The most common reason that a home is not selling is that it is overpriced. Buyers visit many homes for sale before making a decision and they quickly become very knowledgeable about the relative value of homes on the market. If you haven't followed the tip above to have your property appraised or get several Comparative Market Analysis (CMA) from Realtors, do it now. Know the current market value of your property and set your selling price accordingly. If there are other homes for sale in your area, your selling price must be competitive with the selling prices of those homes. Pricing is critical and can used to correct other problems keeping your home from selling.

Condition of Home

Most buyers, unless they are specifically looking for fixer-upper homes, want to purchase a home that is ready to move into with minor work or expense involved. If you haven't tried to make the home appealing to most buyers, you may have to fix up the home or offer funds for the buyer to fix it up. Review the preparation tips above to remedy some problems that may be keeping your home from selling.

Incurable Problems

Sometimes there are problems that the seller has lived with and become accustom to but the buyers recognize that if they purchase the home, they cannot fix the problem. Some of these are obsolescent style/floor plan; noise from highways, airports, trains, factories; declining or crime prone neighborhood; high traffic area; etc. The only way to solve these problems is to make the selling price low enough that buyers are willing to overlook the problem.

Marketing

Knowledge that your home is for sale must reach a broad spectrum of buyers. If you are selling the home yourself, good marketing is hard to do. The best and broadest marketing is accomplished by the home being listed in the local MLS (Multiple Listing Service). This puts your home in front of thousands of real estate agents who currently have or may have buyers looking for a property that matches yours. In addition, the home appears on the Listing Service's  website and on the national realtor.com website. Your real estate agent can also put your home on their website/other websites, send out mailings, advertise in papers that reach prospective buyers, contact relocation companies, hold private tours, have open houses, etc. If you have an agent, assure that the agent is doing a good marketing job and spending time to locate buyers for your home.

If you objectively look at the possible problems above and take corrective action, your home should sell!!!