Getting Your Home or Condo Ready to Sell
Now that the demand for Tampa Bay homes and condos has picked up at the same time that inventory is down and prices are increasing, more sellers are looking at putting their property up for sale in the next year.
Getting the best price for your home or condo will depend on several factors but one of the important ones is its ‘curb appeal’ and the overall impression it makes on buyers.
If you’re going to be preparing your house or condo to get listed, what things do you need to focus on? There is a differing opinion between sellers and Realtors® and this article covers this nicely.
Home Sellers and Realtors: Where They Agree and Don’t About Marketing a Property
By 24/7 Wall St.| Posted Jul 11th 2012 5:00PM on realestate.aol.com
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Once again, most Realtors — about 66 percent — say another common mistake among sellers is not making the right home improvements. Yet the renovations they recommend and the ones sellers are doing are generally the same. The top three areas that house sellers focus the most of their time and budget on are the kitchen, bathrooms and the exterior of the home. These are same three areas of the house that Realtors recommend improving.
Once again, most Realtors — about 66 percent — say another common mistake among sellers is not making the right home improvements. Yet the renovations they recommend and the ones sellers are doing are generally the same. The top three areas that house sellers focus the most of their time and budget on are the kitchen, bathrooms and the exterior of the home. These are same three areas of the house that Realtors recommend improving.
When it comes to low-cost projects, the top three areas agents recommend are decluttering, painting and landscaping projects that cost less than $500. “Keep it clean and organized. Paint it. One-hundred dollars of paint can add thousands to your net,” emphasizes Roxy Van Bockel, a Realtor with Century 21 in Kona, Hawaii. “Think of it as makeup for your house.” READ THE FULL ARTICLE
After working with hundreds of buyers I can tell you that unless a buyer is an investor looking for a cheap investment or is just someone looking for a place they can fix up or upgrade themselves, most buyers will choose the ones that show the best.
This doesn’t mean a buyer will choose a house or condo that is 50% more than a comparable one that sold recently because it has more expensive upgrades, but it does mean that when choosing between 2 houses or condos the buyer will pick the one that is clean, shows well, and doesn’t appear to need as much work – even if the nicer one is a little smaller or a little higher in price.
The article describes the best low-cost improvements to make when getting a home ready for listing (some but not all of these also apply to getting a condo ready for sale):
There are some small low-cost projects that Realtors recommend doing that sellers are not prioritizing. About 72 percent of Realtors recommend steam cleaning the carpet, but only about 30 percent of soon-to-be sellers have it in the works. Same goes for a professional house clean — only about 20 percent of sellers plan to have this done despite more than half (53 percent) of Realtors recommending it.
Finally, agents and sellers differ on whether the front yard or backyard is more important to spruce up. Far more Realtors recommend spending time on the front yard compared to the back (64 percent to 31 percent). However, more sellers are focusing on the backyard compared to the front (33 percent to 28 percent).
“Buyers get a good feeling within the first 30 seconds, that means from the curb,” says Ron Bentley, principal broker for HOMEnet Real Estate in Salt Lake City. “Front yard is critical.” READ THE FULL ARTICLE
If you’re thinking of listing your home or condo in the near future it would be smart to get a Realtor to look it over from the standpoint of what buyers will notice that might make a sale more difficult. It can often be less than $1000 in work that makes the difference between your property selling quickly or languishing on the market for a long time.