Danielle Cooley

1. De-Clutter. How is a buyer expected to focus on all the things that are great about your house when they are either A. tripping over your furniture or B. distracted by by all your family photos. If you have a lot of furniture, put some of it in storage. Taking heavy pieces out will not only help your home show better, but make your home feel more open and spacious, which generates more sales dollars.

2. Fresh Paint. Dollar for dollar, their is no better way to freshen up your house for market. There are a few different benefits to fresh paint. One, painting neutral colors makes your home more marketable to prospective buyers, as well as makes it feel updated and fresh. If your home is painted in loud or gender specific colors, or there is peeling/chipping paint, the buyer will either mentally make a huge discount in their head as an excuse to lower the price or get a paint allowance, or just not put in an offer at all.

3. Clean. I cannot stress the importance enough. When the house isn't clean for a showing, the buyer will not only be turned off, but they will also seriously question if the homeowner has maintained the home and will be much less likely to consider purchasing it.

Contact me today for a free list of more specific staging or cleaning tips to prepare your home for sale.

With interest rates hovering in the 4's*, buying power has never been better. If a buyer locks in a rate for 4.5% today on a sales price of $200,000 and putting 5% down, their principal and interest payment would be approximately $962.70 (not including taxes and insurance).

If interest rates go up even just 1%, to finance the same amount, the montly payment would jump to $1,078.80.

Now lets say, at 5.5%, that you wanted to keep the principal and interest payment at around $962.70. The sales price of the house you could buy would now be $178,500. WOW. That's the difference in sales price of over $20,000.

Now let's say that prices go down over the next few years, as much as 3 percent. Let's say you bought that house for $200,000, and got the interest rate at 4.5%. That would put the value at $192,000.

If you were to wait until the house dropped in price to $192,000, and the interest rates had risen to 5.5%, that would put your note at $1035.65. So even if your house were to drop in value by 3 percent, your note is still less than if you waited to purchase and rates went up by one percent.

The leverage buyers have now with interest rates is pretty powerful. Interest rates won't be this low forever, which is why buyers should act now to take advantage.

*this is not a rate quote by a lender, please consult a mortgage lender for any rate quotes. subject to credit scores and rates subject to change at any time.

When buying your first home, or any home, the process can be a little overwhelming. Even knowing where to start can be a little confusing.

A buyers consultation is a great way to begin the exciting journey, and let me explain why. During the meeting, topics ranging from financing to inspections to closing and everything in between are explained. The buyer has the opportunity to ask questions, and the realtor is also able to ask questions that will help them get a much deeper understanding of what the buyer's wants and needs are.

With the increasing amount of information available online, buyers are becoming much more savvy, and in the same token that information can all be very overwhelming and sometimes misleading. The buyers consultation helps address the important topics and clear up any confusion that may be caused from internet search overload.

Buyer's consultations not only benefit the buyer from the educational standpoint, they also save a lot of time in the long run. By getting a deeper understanding from the very first meeting, the realtor is able to eliminate a lot of homes that they see do not truly meet the buyers needs, saving the buyer time.

By seeking first to understand, everyone achieves more. It's part of our motto at Keller Williams and such a cornerstone to building relationships with buyers.