Ready, set, sell! -Preparing your home for the market

In order to sell your home in the shortest amount of time for the highest profit, you have to prepare your home to appeal to the largest section of the public. That sounds like common sense but some sellers just don't get it. Especially in this market, where you need to stand out from the crowd to sell, and sell fast, preparing your home is essential!

Smart sellers know that buyers need a little help envisioning themselves living in the home, and they work hard to show the home in it's best light. If they don't outshine the competition, the house could sit months without showings and possibly be rejected by the market. The price of the home and the condition must match and staging helps you make it so.

'Beauty is in the eye of the beholder' rings true when it comes to selling a home that has all the improvments the seller's once made to the property, and rightly so. After all, they've spent lots of time and money into making it their dream home with all of their favorite stuff. But the moment the home goes on the market, the seller's personal tastes go out the window. They must clean it up, fix it up and start packing. It needs to show like a new model home. It's time to prepare the home for the buyers eyes and appeal to the largest segment of possible buyers.

A fellow Active-Rain agent out of Summerville, SC, Michele Reneau, wrote "(A) house has to be immaculate...to really compete, you have to have some nice upgrades or features they can't get anywhere else. The biggest competitor is new construction. If your home doesn't look like a model, guess which house the buyer will choose" (http://activerain.com/blogs/mreneau).

There are 3 things that affect how homes are effectively sold; the location, condition & amenities, and marketing. You can't do anything about location, and it is your agents job to represent and market your property to the best of their ability, but it is YOUR responsibility to prepare your home for sale. The amenities and condition can and should be changed anytime a serious seller wants to sell. By making the necessary cost-effective improvements to your home, one of two things happens: 1.) the house becomes more valuable than the other comparables, and 2.) the house gets moved into a higher price range category where it becomes the lowest priced.

Straight out of the new KW book, Shift, comes an invaluable formula for preparing your home for sale in this market. They call it 'The 3P-2F Formula'.

3P's

1. Plantings

2. Paint

3, Pictures

2F's

1. Fixtures

2. Furnishings

Staging a house with this formula in mind follows timeless wisdom. First and foremost is to make it inviting. If items in the home don't add charm to the home then they need to be removed and stored for the seller's next home.

I get a weekly e-newsletter from FrontDoor.com that just put out an article that highlights some things that can be done to add value to your home from just $100 up to $5000. It doesn't have to cost you an arm and a leg- it just needs to get the job done of selling your house.

http://www.frontdoor.com/news/article/1233?nl=FD_v041_4

The truth that any seller must know is that in the end, pricing get you in the game- staging gets you the offer.

Give the Egerer & Weidauer Team and call and we can discuss the many ways we can help you effectively stage your home to get your home sold for top dollar!

Jeremy 360.990.4083 www.jeremyandnicolesellhomes.com Nicole 206.661.7256