A common complaint among home sellers is that photos that are taken to market their home look less than stellar. I know how to take a good photo, but my brother knows how to take a GREAT photo. I know my limitations, and I leave the photo taking up to him.
I saw a wonderfully terrible photo in a listing recently, and it reminded me of just how many factors come into play when photographing real estate. They say a picture is worth a thousand words, and this one says more than that. It's a perfect example of things to AVOID when marketing a home!
~Jonathan Benya- Realtor
Century 21 New Millennium
9405-A Chesapeake St
La Plata, MD 20646
301-609-9000 - office
301-653-8116 - cell
Charles County Real Estate Blog
SOMD Home Search
Southern Maryland Custom Homes & Land
Upgrade Your Lighting to Sell Your Home
When you're putting your house on the market, there's obviously a lot that needs to be done in preparation, such as rearranging, cleaning, and landscaping in order to maximize your house's interior and curb appeal. But in today's market, perhaps touching up the paint and making the minor repairs isn't quite enough to make your house stand out.
This is why sometimes it might be best to upgrade when you're putting your house on the market, especially when it comes to home lighting.
This might seem counter intuitive at first; why buy additional lighting that you won't be using and that might be removed or altered by the eventual buyers? Certainly both points are valid, but a few changes can drastically help improve the appearance of your house and might in the process enable you and your Realtor to sell it at the asking price.
How to Get the best "Bang for your Buck"
When upgrading your lighting in this manner, it is worth noting that you want your upgrades to be based on functionality, not style. After all, you don't want to purchase lighting based on what looks good to you but rather what you think would work for any future occupants.
Above all it is important to find lighting that will illuminate areas that previously didn't have much light cover, as you don't want to turn on your lights when showing your house only to have some unappealing dim spots. A few simple and inexpensive ways of rectifying this would be upgrading your vanity lights for your bathroom or purchasing kitchen island pendants and under-cabinet lighting for your kitchen.
You also need to consider the exterior of your house as well. Flood lights do an excellent job of accentuating the front of you house at nighttime, while path lighting can help highlight your landscaping while also providing safe and easy access to the house.
Both of these types of lighting will also make your house easier to find for the prospective buyers and will help its curb appeal as well.
Don't forget about Sunlight!
Lastly, it is important not to overlook natural light, as this can be important during daytime visits. In this case, the littlest things, such as cleaning your windows and keeping all curtains and shades drawn up, can make a huge difference. Sunlight is always more appealing than artificial lighting, so it is important to utilize it whenever possible.
It goes without saying that the better you present your house, the better the chances of being able to sell it the asking price. Maximizing both artificial and natural lighting goes a long way in creating the right look and atmosphere for potential buyers.
~Jonathan Benya- Realtor
Century 21 New Millennium
9405-A Chesapeake St
La Plata, MD 20646
301-609-9000 - office
301-653-8116 - cell
Charles County Real Estate Blog
SOMD Home Search
Southern Maryland Custom Homes & Land
For years now, the old art-deco movie house has stood as a testament to a bygone era. Aside from the occasional movie premiere, filling the 900+ seat theater has been a challenge. Competition from your big 24 screen multiplexes is more efficient, and the Senator Theater in Baltimore, MD has had trouble paying it's bills recently.
1st Mariner Bank of Baltimore is now planning on Foreclosing on the historic theater at 10am on April 20th, 2009. This is not the first time the Senator has faced financial difficulties, and as of March 16th, the theater has stopped showing movies until a resolution can be made.
In the meantime, the theater's management are desperately angling to save the theater. Please donate to The Senator Community Trust, which is working to raise money to bring the loan current and eventually purchase The Senator. The Senator is a cultural and historical landmark for Maryland, and it needs to be preserved!
~Jonathan Benya- Realtor
Century 21 New Millennium
9405-A Chesapeake St
La Plata, MD 20646
301-609-9000 - office
301-653-8116 - cell
Charles County Real Estate Blog
SOMD Home Search
Southern Maryland Custom Homes & Land
For years now, there has been a proposal to create a bypass road for Route 301. The bypass would create an alternative way to get through Waldorf, MD without having to actually suffer through the long traffic lights and delays that local commuters know all too well.
A proposal like this will provide a huge relief for the arduous morning commute, but there is a lot of concern for the potential environmental impact it will have. Hopefully this long term plan will benefit the residents of Waldorf and Charles County by reducing travel times to and from DC!
~Jonathan Benya- Realtor
Century 21 New Millennium
9405-A Chesapeake St
La Plata, MD 20646
301-609-9000 - office
301-653-8116 - cell
Charles County Real Estate Blog
SOMD Home Search
Southern Maryland Custom Homes & Land
Unfortunately, sometimes things just don't go according to plan. Bad apples exist everywhere, especially in the real estate market. You do your best to avoid them, but the problem with bad apples is that they may look great on the outside, and there's no way to know about that worm waiting for you to bite!
I have a client who recently purchased a foreclosure as an investment. The deal itself was straightforward. He was paying cash, could close immediately, and wasn't asking for closing help.
The bank was insistent that we use their particular title company. It's not uncommon to see that, banks often like to work with one company over and over because the processors are familiar with each other, and (in theory) it should help move the transaction along quickly.
The problem was that the title company was one of those bad apples. They forgot to show up for settlement, and in order to get the closing done we ended up hiring a notary to sign all of the paperwork and have it hand delivered to their office, which was 70 miles away.
We were fortunate to have a notary that was able to get the settlement paperwork notarized in the absence of a title officer. We were more fortunate that they were able to deliver the paperwork to the title company that day!
The biggest lesson for us was that we will never in a million years do business with that company if we can avoid it! The title company that dropped the ball does a LOT of business, and I had never heard a complaint about them before, so we didn't realize how disorganized they really are. The important thing about discovering a bad apple is knowing better than to continue eating once you find half a worm!
~Jonathan Benya- Realtor
Century 21 New Millennium
9405-A Chesapeake St
La Plata, MD 20646
301-609-9000 - office
301-653-8116 - cell
Charles County Real Estate Blog
SOMD Home Search
Southern Maryland Custom Homes & Land
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I work as part of Team Benya At Century 21 New Millennium in Southern Maryland. We make it our primary goal to work hard and provide the most honest information available in today's changing market.
ActiveRain Corp. is not responsible for the accuracy of the site's content (which is written by members of the ActiveRain Real Estate Network) and does not endorse the views of the real estate agents, mortgage brokers, and others listed here.
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