Tetraphobia – fear of the number 4 – is alive and well and searching for a home near you. The number 4 is associated with death in China, Japan and Korea. As with 13 in Western society, 4 is often omitted from floors, addresses and telephone numbers in these countries. Even in North America, this fear has led to some hasty rearrangements of some telephone policies to accommodate the avoidance of 4.
The last thing that your prospective buyers want is to have to wade through a thicket of adjectives and adverbs to get to the information that they are looking for in your listing. You may think that the more descriptive terms, the more enthusiastic someone will be about the listing, but that is not so. People don’t want to be told at every turn what to think about a feature.
There are many factors in determining if you should sell now, or wait. Obviously, home values have declined since 2005/6. Condos and townhomes have especially been hit hard. So be prepared, if you are going to sell now, or soon- you would be selling for less than you bought it for.
Don't guess: Assuming you know how much your home is worth, because Joe Bloe down the road got a specific amount for his house, is not a smart way to proceed. At the very least, speak to a realtor before you list your property to engage his or her expertise in your local market.
There is a story about a Brother Andre of Montreal, who wanted to purchase property on Mount Royal for a chapel, but could not get the landowners to sell until he started planting St. Joseph medals on the land. However, none of these stories have any documentable origins.
If you are painting your home with an eye to selling it, you will want to keep to simple themes that you can use to show your rooms to advantage. Color has a powerful effect on our consciousness. The right colors can make a room seem restful and soothing or warm and vibrant. Here are some good tips for color in rooms:
With all the talk about staging homes for sale and making sure it has 'curb appeal', it struck me how much you could do just in the front porch and walkway area to make a prospective buyer feel welcomed. I've driven by many a house with a sale sign in the yard that has a lovely front side with a well groomed yard, but the porches are often empty.
As someone who's moved numerous times both with and without children, I've come to appreciate a somewhat minimalist lifestyle when it comes time to move. However, that minimalist style can also be extremely useful when you're looking to sell your home and can even make living in your house more comfortable in the meantime.
A haunted house stigma may be proven to affect a buyer through people refusing to visit them in their home or workers refusing to do work on the property. It may seem trivial to someone with no faith in ghosts, goblins and the like, but it is very important to some people that their home be free of all suspicion of a haunting. Thus, while disclosure may make it hard to sell your home, it may also affect whether the buyers decide to sue you for not telling them about something very important to them.
In these days of adult-onset allergies and fragrance sensitivities, spraying a room with the latest commercial air spray may be a turn-off for buyers. However, there are a number of natural ways to freshen, or at least deodorize, the air in your home with products readily available at your local grocery store.
Just like you would do for a house tour, it's nice to set up that extra bit of staging for an open house; make sure the house is warm, have some hot coffee or juice and some fresh baking available for prospective buyers to have while they look around the house. Not only do refreshments help buyers feel at home, it makes the home smell welcoming as well.
Value: Generally a home suspected of being haunted is priced according to fair market value, and then adjusted depending on buyer interest. Such was the case with a Nottinghamshire property purchased in 2007. The family thought they had found their dream home when they bought Clifton Hall, a 52-room country estate dating back to the days of William the Conqueror.
It may pain you, but remove personalized things from the immediate viewing area. The refrigerator should be clear of pictures, the walls clear of family photos. This helps a buyer to better imagine your house as 'theirs'. Tell yourself and your family that the new home can be personalized to your heart's content, but for now, a more neutral setting is needed to produce the effect you want.
Wallpaper is one of the worst offenders of bad decorating left for potential buyers. Not only is it almost guaranteed to not work with their style and furnishing, but it's also a pain in the proverbial butt to remove or paint over. Buyers are factoring in things like how much extra work they'd have to do if they bought your house and wallpaper is almost always something they're going to want gone when they move in.
Everyone knows that it takes a little sprucing up to make your house sale ready. The most recent evidence of this is the surge in staging companies, and courses for consumers on how to do staging themselves. But can you do it yourself without a lot of cash outlay? Absolutely!
“Charming cottage-like home with gorgeous views of the nearby majestic mountains. Three beautiful bedrooms, one of which is a palatial master suite with its own private bathroom and spacious walk-in closet! Capacious living room, with crystalline detailing! Cozy kitchen with the very latest in appliances. Stunning huge fenced yard carpeted with emerald-green grass and featuring two imposing maple trees. Close to all amenities! Motivated seller is eager to sell this hidden gem to the discriminating buyer!”
Be prepared for the answer 'no'. Not all short sale requests are granted. You may have enough equity in the home that a very small profit may be realized, or the loss would not be unmanageable if you sold your home through regular channels.
Anytime you're looking to sell a home or condo, it's always important to organize your belongings and furniture to best show off your home's assets. This is doubly important when you're looking to sell a condo, loft, or tiny home that doesn't have a lot of extra space in it.
Every time the holidays roll around, the age-old question arises in the minds of people considering putting their home on the market. Should I sell now or wait until after all the rush is over? Selling your home during the holidays can be a good time for several reasons, and another way for you to showcase its best features to buyers.
Another relatively inexpensive item that you might want to install in your bathroom is a heated towel bar for warming your towels; they can be freestanding or wall mounted and adds a really nice luxury touch to your bathroom. Towel warmers can also help keep your bathroom a little warmer which can help with moisture problems.
For most real estate agents, especially in the current times, staging a home for good photographs is a foregone conclusion. However, there are those among us who obviously don't want to sell the home at all. Whether on the MLS or Craigslist, home sellers and representatives are still posting awful property photos. Perhaps an enumeration of the more traumatic, how-could-you-think-that-was-appropriate photos is in order!
The more hair you collect with your brush, the less will be floating around the home. Consider a professional groomer's assistance to get your pooch squeaky clean. Keeping the dog clean means that there will be much less chance of doggy odor in the house.
Your collection of 10 point bucks or record-setting salmon may make for exciting dinner-time conversation between you and your friends, but to some buyers they are a collection of murdered Bambis. Take them down and pack them carefully so that they can shine with glory in your next home and not give a prospective buyer the willies.
The more extreme method of flea extermination is using a professional. You can hire an exterminator to use a flea fogger in your house but that is a lot of chemical residue to leave in your living space. It is recommended that foggers only be used in extreme cases for that reason.
I cannot stress the importance of that first impression when selling a house. It sets the tone for the entire walk through. If a customer approaches the front door, walking past clutter or worn steps, those negative impressions stick with them. They will continue the tour looking for flaws. On the other end of the spectrum, when initially impressed by an attractive front lawn or walkway, that positive attitude will pervade.
Your furnace has worked hard all winter, inspect the filter and clean or replace if necessary. This simple fix is as valuable as changing the oil in your car and can prevent expensive repairs down the road.
Even a quick clean up of dried blossoms can make your garden look healthier. If there are weeds in your flower beds, take the time to pick them out. A layer of bark mulch can also help your beds look cleaner and help them retain moisture during hot, dry summer months. Take the time to give your back and side yards the same treatment as well.
A short sale depends on if you get behind in your payments due to 'legitimate hardship' – you lost your job, for instance, or you had to pay medical bills for the illness of a loved one. (Unfortunately, a once-in-a-lifetime vacation to Aruba doesn’t make the grade.)
For water-view homes that have an outdoor relaxation area, whether it is a deck or an area in the backyard, consider staging those areas as well. Set up an outdoor living room on your sundeck or in your back yard. Stage these outdoor areas so that potential buyers feel invited to sit and enjoy them. If they feel comfortable enough to relax and enjoy the view, they might be more inclined to buy the home.
Stage your home with an eye towards making the furnishings in your home inviting and useful to buyers; remove extra bits of furniture that aren't serving a useful purpose, bookshelves-and their contents-are usually prime targets for this.
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