| Doing the LITTLE Things Are Often Worth More! |
When You Sell Your Home, It's the Little Things That Count From the publishers of Moneysworth Magazine... (a great resource for financial fitness) You'll never recoup the value of a swimming pool, finished basement, or most other major improvements when you sell your house. In fact, such additions can decrease its value. Instead concentrate on two rooms that CAN help sell a house: ...The kitchen and bathroom. Even cheaper: 1. Paint the front entrance and put a couple of pots of geraniums by the door. 2. If rooms are even the slightest bit cluttered, remove some of the furniture. 3. No matter what you have in your closets, take at least half of it out. Remove at least half of what you have on your kitchen counter. 4. Clean the house thoroughly and keep the windows clean. Hire a cleaning service if you must. 5. Tighten any loose knobs or faucets. 6. Make sure the porch light and bell are working. 1. Close the garage door. 2. Park the kids and the pets with a neighbor. 3. Put away the kids' toys. 4. Turn on all the lights, and open all the curtains. Exception: Leave the curtains drawn if the window looks out on a wall with graffiti proclaiming, "Crips Rule." 5. If there's a smoker in the house, remove ashtrays and other evidence of tobacco. 6. Use an air freshner if the house doesn't already smell fresh. But don't bother if there's a nice cooking aroma from the kitchen. 7. Turn off appliances. It's good, however, to have very soft music playing in the background. "Adding to Moneysworth's great suggestions, here are some tactics that you and I can employ as a team when I am your listing agent,:" 1. Set up a bread machine and bake a loaf. That aroma, as you know, is magical. Or break open a bag of fresh-ground coffee. 2. Have some light beverages and light snacks on hand for visitors. There's nothing more warming than hot coffee in the winter or a near-frozen iced tea in the summer for people or agents driving around and shopping for homes. 3. As best you can, keep vehicles from parking directly in front of the house. 4. Make sure the sidewalk, gutter and driveway are tidy and well cleaned for visitors. 5. Have a GIANT, thick doormat by the front door if it's messy weather outside. 6. Be sure each visitor takes home a flyer (with a good photo on it) telling all about the house --the flyer should include BOTH "sizzle" and factual specifications.. 7. Whenever possible, leave the front door ajar and a note there saying, "Welcome --Walk Right In." Why make the visitors uncertain? 8. Study the home the same day a week earlier. If neighborhood noise abounds, see if the neighbors will cooperate by keeping it down for a few hours during the open house. 9. When I put up "open house" signs, I don't leave anything to chance. It's far better to take the time to put an extra direction sign on a corner than hope that people driving around will "figure it out." 10. You might specially-invite your neighbors to the open house. Their word-of-mouth to friends and relatives often leads to a quicker sale. "This is my plan to sell your home" Objectives: 1. To sell your home in the least amount of time with the least amount of inconvenience to you. 2. To get as many qualified buyers as possible into your home until it is sold. 3. To communicate the results of my activities weekly to you. 4. To constantly look for the best possible methods of exposing your property to the potential buyers in the market. Shoot a minimum of 12 Digital Photos Inside & Outside of Your Home (the best 6 photos to be displayed on my internet sites: My Realtor.com site, Prudential Success Realtor.com site, The Prudential Success Realty Office Web Site and This Web Site). 1. Submit your home to the Multiple Listing Service (MLS) and to Realtor.com, the Internet Homes Site getting over 2,000,000 hits per month. By having your home listed on the Internet's number one "homes" database, I greatly increase your ability to find a buyer much sooner. 2. Submit copies of your listing to our company sales staff for their waiting buyers. 3. Bring our company sales staff along for a special tour of your home. 4. Promote your home at the Real Estate Board meetings for maximum exposure to the other agents. Oddly, the majority of agents fail to take advantage of this wonderful opportunity. 5. Develop a flyer with a photo, features and benefits of your home, for the cooperating agents to show to their potential buyers. 6. Advise you on changes you might want to make in your property to make it even more marketable at the price you seek. 7. Constantly update you as to any changes you might want to make regarding your property. 8. Add additional exposure through a professional yard sign and door key lock box thus ensuring easy access by hundreds of buyer's agents. 9. Hold open houses when practicable. But that's not all...I also... 1. Advertise in newspapers, flyers and link at least two of my Internet web sites to the huge Homeseekers data base of homes for sale. 2. Pre-qualify prospective buyers when possible to preclude wasting time. 3. Make you completely aware of all the various methods of financing that your buyer may want to use. Besides being a licensed Real Estate broker, I am also a partner in a mortgage company. And this gives me up-to-the-minute awareness of current and upcoming changes in the loan market. 4. Inviting cooperating brokers in your area to tour your home on special Real Estate "Preview" days, thereby creating for you an ad hoc "sales force" that works daily on your behalf. 5. Provide on a monthly basis for the cooperating brokers a list of features and benefits of your home. 6. Follow-up on all salespeople who have shown your home and gain their feedback. Then, inform you of any strategic or physical changes needed. 7. Assist you in arranging interim financing, if necessary. 8. Gain your approval immediately after the initial listing or any subsequent modifications of your multiple listing data. 9. Represent you, in-person, upon the presentation of all contracts by the cooperating brokers and to help in negotiating the best possible price and terms for you. 10. Diligently handle all follow-ups and keep you informed of progress, on mortgage, title, and other closing procedures after a sales contract has been accepted. 11. Promptly deliver your check at the escrow's close. , |