Okotoks, AB

You've listed your house, you're anxious to sell, you've painted and cleaned and staged the home. The pictures look amazing, the home is inviting, the buyer walks through the door and thinks "Well it looks clean but is it?"

What are the telltale signs that the clean is only on the surface. Here are 5 things that must be cleaned and kept clean while your house is on the market.

1. Under the sink. Nope, I'm not kidding. And if the cleaning supplies are all sorted, well that's another good sign.

2. The fridge. Yep, buyers open the fridge since it's probably part of the deal and they want to know how big it is inside. Stinky odors linger long after the door is closed.

3. The oven. If the oven is clean the owner is either really good at cleaning or eats out a lot.

4. The furnace filter. If this is dirty, pretty good chance the furnace hasn't been cleaned and maintained either.

5. The bathroom vent. Takes a pretty meticulous person to think to look up and clean these.

There are a many more but as a buyers agent, when the above are clean, I know I won't find dust bunnies under the bed! And if you are selling, ask your REALTOR for the name of a cleaner that will come in and get your home ready.

I love taking photos and I have always enjoyed taking them with a "real" camera. My first real camera was a Canon AE-1 and I used it for probably 15 years before purchasing a Canon G2. I currently have a Canon Rebel and I love it. However, I will not be taking photos of your home when I put it on the market.

My job is to find the best ways to present your home for online viewing. The first step is staging. Yes just like the TV shows, I bring in someone to "decorate your home for selling". It will be uncomfortable, you will find it intrusive but the end result is amazing. Then I bring in a professional photographer who not only has the fancy camera but all the fancy lenses! He will take up to 100 photos then I filter them down to the best 20. These photos (which also included panoramic pictures) are all part of the virtual tour. They will then magically turn into a YouTube video.

Pretty impressive eh? And all I did was make a couple of phone calls.

Wondering what's been happening in the Okotoks homes market over the last year? Click Here and you will find the most accurate up to date sales information for single family homes in Okotoks for 2011. Prices have been more or less flat and total listings are currently at an annual low.

When you click through, you will see average price, median price and number of listings. Clicking on any given month will give you the addresses and prices of listings that have sold in that month.

If you're looking for condo or acreage numbers, please contact me!

The new site has been launched and is live. This is a site dedicated to all things awesome about Okotoks, Alberta. I invite you to scroll through the lists and send me suggestions of lists you'd like me to create.

Part of the fun of this site is to capture those crazy pictures that reflect the personality of Okotoks. And we all know that means the people and their crazy adventures.

Be sure to check it out. OkotoksIsAwesome.com