In order to sell your home for the highest possible price in the shortest time period the property’s best side must be high- lighted, both inside and out. Prospective buyers will quickly respond in a positive way to the extra care taken to showcase your home. The effort will be especially apparent in the comparison with other homes and today’s marketing, which relies strongly on the use of digital photos and virtual tours. Often internet previews are the first step taken in house shopping. A well-decorated and thoroughly prepared home will not only attract a viewing appointment but “grab” the prospective buyer as they enter the foyer. A listing that shows well – sells well…….and it is that first and lasting impression
that makes a difference to the purchase decision and price. If your budget is limited, a larger portion of it should be devoted to the curb appeal, entrance foyer and the main floor. Once that first positive impression has been made it is much more difficult to dislodge if the 2nd floor is “tired”.
A fresh coat of paint has a high dollar return.
The biggest mistake sellers make is in assuming that because they love their home that the buyer will feel the same way. In addition, we as the fulltime occupants are comfortable with our surroundings, especially if they have been extensively decorated to our tastes. A frequent example that arises is paint colours. (a fresh coat of paint has one of the highest returns per dollars spent) Sellers that are resistant to freshening up room(s) may not appreciate the difference between something innocuous that can be “lived with” verses a colour choice that only one person likes.
Give yourself adequate time to prepare your home.
The second biggest mistake that sellers make is leaving inadequate time to prepare their home for sale. Often they start the new home search first – find their dream home and must begin marketing their existing property quickly. Beginning the selling process unprepared can hurt the sale price and add the inconvenience of working around the showings with the changes needed. To create as close to a seamless plan possible start 6-12 months prior to your expected moving date. If your home has been recently or is regularly updated, you may be able to move on much sooner.
If the job seems daunting or you don’t know where to begin consult some experts to help you --- a combination of a real estate agent & decorator will help immensely. And use trades people for the impending or large jobs --- which may lead to trips to the home building centres for the do it yourself projects you can handle yourself. After your consultations, make a list of everything you wish to address. When allocating the time frames for completion of these items keep in mind the “exploding task syndrome”, some jobs turn into 5 or 10 before you get past the initial step.
After you have a complete list and I mean everything divide it into 3 groups:
Must do
Should do
Would be nice
The amount of time available to you, will determine how far you get into these lists.
Separate those jobs out where you need professional trades people from those you can do yourself – decide which will require outside tradespeople’s help & how many quotes you need; delegate those non-trade tasks that are too time consuming for you. Take the remaining list and prioritise it. Your goal is complete all three lists – the best returns come from #3.
We do an initial consultation, which is a verbal overview of everything that can be done to improve the look and ultimately the selling price of the home – takes 1 ½ to 3 hours depending on the size of the house.
Return with a written report and recommendations.
Provide assistance with furniture placement & accessorizing.
Colour selection and co-ordination of fabrics, wall & floor coverings.
Recommend or facilitate tradespeople for repairs and renovations.
Hands on assistance with de-cluttering.
My wife, Jo is very well organized and has an excellent eye for detail and design. Jo has prepared 2 of our own homes for sale, which resulted in getting our price.
Ran her own business – Visual Impact doing professional makeovers and has a degree in design and courses in business.
Jo is my assistant.
I have been in real estate for 15 years, 9 of which were in new home construction and much of our time in the early years were spent doing new home selections.
This is part of our marketing services package to give your home the edge.