Meg Bradley

In my last article I discussed the importance of price when it comes to selling your home. So now that you know and understand the importance of setting a competitive price let me ask you this question. When folks walk into your home will they like it better than all the other ones in the same price range?

Remember, the competition out there is fierce. There are more homes for sale than there are buyers. Here are some tips to help you get it sold!

Remove emotions: You may love your home but your goal is to sell and move so try to detach and be objective in this process. Keep your mind focused on the end goal and look to the future. You will love your next home even more. Be prepared to change some of your décor and start packing away your loved pieces. Homes need to be neutralized and buyer distractions should be minimized. You want to make sure the buyer can imagine their own belongings in the home.

Staging: In today's market staging your home is a critical piece to the marketing plan that will get your home sold. In order to ensure your home is viewed and offers are brought take a critical walk through of your home with your Realtor®. Start on the outside. After all, the first thing a buyer notices about your home is the front yard. I've had buyers refuse to even go inside a home because they didn't like what they saw when we first pulled up in the car.

While I'm walking through your property I will take photos. I bring these back to my office and load them up on my PC so I can evaluate them as a buyer would see them on the internet. I will then return with a "to do" list for my sellers. If I think it is necessary I will also provide a consultation with an Accredited Staging Professional (ASP). This is one of two staging designations that the National Association of Realtors® recognizes. These folks have been trained to stage your home to get it sold. A qualified experienced stager can make a world of difference. You would be amazed at the ideas they will provide.

Almost every day it seems that someone asks me for my opinion about the market and whether they should sell their home right now.

First let me say that although we keep hearing stories about how bad the market is most of those reports are based on national statistics. Our local statistics, although not as good as they used to be, are still relatively stronger than the rest of the country. With that said, we do need to be a bit more diligent and aggressive in our approach to selling our homes. Pricing is probably the single most important factor when it comes to selling your home. You could be in the best location and have the home in the best condition but if you don't price it right, you won't sell it. Conversely, if it's in a bad location and in bad condition, pricing is crucial as well.

So, how do you find the right price? The first step as your Realtor®, is to provide you with a report called a CMA or Comparable Market Analysis. Normally you would analyze the previous six months but I recommend paying close attention to the most recent couple of months of homes that have sold AND the ones that are still on the market (these are your competition). The CMA will explain things like what price the homes started at, how many days they remained on the market, average price/Sq. Ft., and the final sold price. The software used to create the CMA will generate a price range for you to use as a guide when pricing your home. Here is where it can get tricky. It is natural to want to lean towards the highest price in the range but that is not necessarily what will sell your home. Setting the price too high in the beginning can be a costly mistake as you watch your home sit on the market and you keep paying the costly mortgage payments that don't even lower your principal balance while other homes are being sold. If you've had your home on the market and it hasn't sold, it may be time to get an updated CMA and reposition it for the best opportunity now. Don't let yourself fall into the category of what I term as "seller denial" where you are convinced that if you wait long enough an offer will come at the price you're hoping for. Take a close look at the facts that the CMA gives you including the number of homes currently on the market that are comparable to yours and how many sold last month. If there are 40 for sale and only 2 sold then you will have to take action to be one of the next 2 that will sell next month. How are you going to do that?.... stay tuned to my next blog when I talk more about price, condition and preparing your home for sale.

Every weekend, 1 out of every 17 students in Rock Hill Schools goes home and does not receive adequate nutrituion until they return to school on the following Monday. Nearly 400 students attend our elementary schools.

HOW YOU CAN HELP

Donate Food

(non-perishable, individually packaged food)

Breakfast Bars - Crackers - Fruit Snacks - Handi Snacks - Protein Bars - Pop Tarts - Pudding Cups - Raisins - Sugar-Free Cereal - Real Fruit Juice Boxes/Pouches/Plastic Bottles

Donate Money

$12 will feed 1 child on weekends for 1 month. Send tax-free donations to: Rock Hill School District Foundation, P.O. Box 12286, Rock Hill, SC 29731.

Credit Card Payments will be accepted at the administrative office of Rock Hill Schools at 660 N. Anderson Rd.

Where To Send

Any school office between 8:00 - 3:00

Allen Tate Realty, 1602 Ebenezer Rd

R.H. Flexible Learning Center, 1234 Flint St. Ext., Adult Ed Entrance

The Herald, 132 W. Main Street

Family Trust FCU (all branches)

State Farm Insurance at Manchester Village

I've been living and working in York County for 11 years now. One thing I've noticed is that there are not a lot of folks who are native to the area. Many, like myself, have come from another part of the country. I moved here from Connecticut but I grew up in New Jersey. I have helped a lot of families relocate to this are from elsewhere. So where are you from? So, how do you like it here?

One of the neat thing about Rock Hill is that we have many parks to choose from. Did you know that the city maintains 29 parks within city limits? But there are several outside city limits too.

River Park has educational nature trails winding along the Catawba River. Nearly two miles of trails, including handicapped accessible trils, wander through the park and along the scenic river.

Huckle Grove is an historic tree park located in downtown Rock Hill. It offers visitor's a look into our past. It includes a walking trail, benches and plenty of perennials & annuals.

Glencairn Garden is a lovely botanical garden with fountains, bridges, grassy areas, tress, flowers, and walking paths. The peak bloom period runs from the last week of March to the middle of April.

Ebenezer Park is just one of them. Located on 26 acres right on Lake Wylie, you can swim, boat, fish and camp out. There are three public boat ramps, five picnic shelters with electrical outlets and grills as well as several open-air picnic tables with grills.

Cherry Park is probably the most well known park in the city. It is an award winning 68-acre recreational facility designed for family, group and individual use by citizens of all ages.

If you have a favorite story to tell about your experience in one of our parks, please feel free to leave your comments.