Lorrie Semler, Addison Real Estate Specialist

Calling All Green Thumbs in Addison! Addison Arbor Foundation

Dallas County Master Gardener, Marian Buchanan, will be the guest speaker at the Addison Arbor Foundation's Quarterly Education Event on Saturday, September 12, 2009 from 9:00 am - 11:00 am. The topic is Organic Herb Gardening in the Fall.

This is a free event, but space is limited, so call to reserve a seat: 972-490-8517.

The venue for this event is the Addison Athletic Club, located at 3900 Beltway Drive, Addison TX 75001.

The Addison Arbor Foundation's mission is to provide and coordinate technical and educational resources Addison residents and businesses for the purpose of establishing and maintaining healthy, sustainable urban forests. The goal is to increase the number of trees in Addison by planting50 trees each year for the next 20 years along streets and in designated parks.

For more information on the Addison Arbor Foundation, visit their website.

So, come out to hear Marian Buchanan speak. Don't put away your trowel! Eat fresh all winter. Fall is the best time to plant many herbs!

About to Sell in Addison or Farmers Branch? Preparations Prior to Listing

When you are about to sell in Addison, or Farmers Branch, or anywhere in the United States, there are preparations prior to listing that both the homeowner and the real estate agent should complete.

In Part 1, I gave you some background about this property about to be offered for sale and some of the initial steps that were taken, up to and including my first visit to the house. In Part 2, we took a look at some of the exterior maintenance and enhancements that the sellers completed to improve curb appeal. Part 3 dealt with the interior improvements.

While the sellers put the finishing touches on the exterior and exterior of the home, I've been preparing for the day (and days after) the house will appear in the Multiple Listing Service (MLS).

• I gave the sellers pamphlets from several Residential Service (home warranty) companies and suggested that they choose one offering seller coverage.
• A "coming soon" sign is in the front yard to generate buyer interest.
• Just Listed postcards are prepared and will be mailed to the neighbors when the house is in MLS.
• Color flyers have been prepared with details about the house and photographs.
• Connections have been made with other agents who have listings in the neighborhood with plans for a multiple open-house weekend.
• I suggested a pre-listing inspection so there will be no surprises about the condition of the house.
• At the weekly office meeting, I announced this "hip pocket" listing to the agents in my office to get them thinking about which of their buyers might be interested in this property.
• The domain name for the microsite (website) for this address has been acquired and is ready to go live with information and virtual tour once the property is listed.

Once the property has been added to MLS, other marketing efforts kick in, such as:

• distributing the listing information to multiple websites
• adding the open house information to DFWOpenHouse.com
• delivering color flyers to other real estate offices
• running a Reverse Prospecting search in MLS and contacting agents who have client searches set up meeting the criteria of this house
• blogging about the house
• posting on craigslist

So, if you are About to Sell in Addison or Farmers Branch, you now have a better idea as to the behind-the-scenes Preparations Prior to Listing. To customize a plan specific to your house, please give me a call. I list and sell all over the Dallas Metroplex, including Addison, Carrollton, Farmers Branch, Plano, Coppell, Flower Mound and North Dallas.

Lorrie Semler, e-PRO, GRI, SRES
Addison Resident/Addison Specialist
Keller Williams - Dallas North
972-416-3417
www.LorrieSemler.com

About to Sell in Addison or Farmers Branch? Preparations Prior to Listing

When you are about to sell in Addison, or Farmers Branch, or anywhere in the United States, there are preparations prior to listing that both the homeowner and the real estate agent should complete.

In Part 1, I gave you some background about this property about to be offered for sale and some of the initial steps that were taken, up to and including my first visit to the house. In Part 2, we took a look at some of the exterior maintenance and enhancements that the sellers completed to improve curb appeal.

Now it's time to move inside. Let's see what Deena has been up to. The bathrooms had already undergone major improvements over the past few years, and the kitchen appliances had been replaced, so cosmetic improvements to the rest of the house were in order.

On the recommendation of Karen Otto of Home Star Staging (the sellers had Karen in for a consultation), the sliding glass doors between the den and the sun room were removed. A handyman framed in the sides, and the floor was filled in then covered by the new carpeting. What a difference the carpeting makes throughout the house!

New blinds were hung in the freshly washed windows. New light fixtures were installed. The paint is being touched up, and the baseboards painted. The garage got a make-over, with sheetrock, taping and bedding, paint, replaced garage door panels and a good cleaning.

Most sellers don't go to this extreme, but I actually caught Deena cleaning the switch plate covers with a toothbrush!

Because the sellers have friends who design the displays in Neiman Marcus, they opted to stage the home with a little help from these friends.

So, the outside of the home is all spiffed up, the inside activity is moving along nicely.

Coming next in the series About to Sell in Addison or Farmers Branch? Preparations Prior to Listing: The agent's final preparations before listing.

About to Sell in Addison or Farmers Branch? Preparations Prior to Listing

When you are about to sell in Addison, or Farmers Branch, or anywhere in the United States, there are preparations prior to listing that both the homeowner and the real estate agent should complete.

In Part 1, I gave you some background about this property about to be offered for sale and some of the initial steps that were taken, up to and including my first visit to the house.

Since curb appeal is so important, Deena, the executrix of the estate and her husband set out to spruce up the exterior appearance.

• The torn screen is being replaced.
• The dirty siding is in the process of being power-washed.
• The old window AC unit, no longer needed because of the new central HVAC vent into the sunroom, is going, going, gone to make both the exterior and the interior look better. Removal of the window unit will also increase energy efficiency.
• The worn indoor/ourdoor carpeting on the front porch was removed.
• The gutter guards poking up from the gutters will be replaced.
• Old garden hoses have been trashed.
• Flaking paint on the trim will be scraped and repainted.
• The tree has already been trimmed.
• The chain link fence in the back yard will have the extraneous attachments removed.
• The peeling plastic film has been scraped off the windows and the windows are washed.
• And the decomposing trailer parked in the back will disappear.

If you're about to sell in Addison or Farmers Branch, look at the exterior of your home with a critical eye. What preparations prior to listing does your house need? Don't give prospective buyers a reason to keep driving past instead of stopping to see the inside. It doesn't matter how great the inside is if buyers won't stop and get out of the car at the curb.

Once you've created your list of repairs and improvements, ask a neighbor or friend to give their suggestions. Your Realtor® will also provide an expert opinion. Don't over-improve for the neighborhood. You want your house to blend in, not stick out.

A fresh coat of paint on the front door and some seasonal color in the form of a few plants at the entrance will create a warm welcome.

Coming next in the series About to Sell in Addison or Farmers Branch? Preparations Prior to Listing: The interior space.

About to Sell in Addison or Farmers Branch? Preparations Prior to Listing

In this, and the next series of posts, let's explore what it takes to get a house ready to go on the market. The house on the right is, as they say in Texas, "fixin' to" be to listed in the local Multiple Listing Service. But, it's not quite ready yet.

Your situation may differ, but the underlying principles and steps are, as they say in New Jersey, "gonna" be the same.

If you are about to sell in Addison, or Farmers Branch, or anywhere in the United States for that matter, you should begin preparations prior to listing the house. Both the homeowner and the real estate agent have things to do prior to listing.

This house, located in Farmers Branch, a northern suburb of Dallas, just south and west of Addison, is an estate property. The executrix, let's call her Deena (because that's her name!), contacted me about listing and marketing her father's home. Deena warned me that the house has been unoccupied for 4 years and that the inside is untidy.

Prior to doing a drive-by, I pulled information about the house from the appraisal district website and I ran a market analysis on the subdivision in which the house is located. Because there had not been much activity in the subdivision over the past 6 months, I also did a market analysis of all of south Farmers Branch, using small ranges of dates for Year Built, for Total Square Feet, and for Number of Bedrooms.

Armed with the information from my analyses, I drove past the house and snapped a few photos. I also took photos of the school 2 blocks away and the park at the end of the street. Then I scouted out the comparable homes for sale that turned up on the market analysis. I attempted to schedule Preview Showings of 9 of the most similar homes, but was able to see only 7.

Next it was time to customize my listing presentation for this property. With this completed, I met with Deena to see the inside of the house and to review the presentation with her. She wasn't kidding about the "untidy" inside. In addition to the remnants of the estate sale being left where they were, all the carpeting had been pulled up, and the place needed a thorough cleaning. As we walked through the house, I suggested improvements that would help sell the property faster and I made recommendations on who Deena could call. On the list: Karen Otto of Home Star Staging; a few home inspectors for a pre-listing inspection; some handymen for the odd jobs; the cleanout people I use after estate sales; my favorite carpet and flooring guy, Joe Kboudi of All American Flooring; and some appraisers to measure the size of the house to include a sun room that was going to get a vent to share the central HVAC.

Coming next in the series About to Sell in Addison or Farmers Branch? Preparations Prior to Listing: Sprucing up the Exterior.