Nancy Maurer -- Home Stager -- Serving No. NJ

As a home seller contemplates what seems to be the endless array of details involved in making their home market-ready, it can be overwhelming and intimidating. To ease the stress involved in the home selling process, homeowners should take the following two steps before doing anything else.

#1: Contact a Realtor

Find a Realtor who is experienced and tech savvy. It is important that you identify a Realtor who understands the importance of taking excellent photographs of both the exterior and interior of your home, to be posted on the Internet. Today, over 90% of buyers start their search for a new home on the Internet. It is imperative that your photos reflect a home that is inviting and impeccably maintained.

#2: Contact a Professional Home Stager

Before the photos are taken, invite a professional Home Stager to come into your home to provide advice on how to effectively present your home to prospective buyers. Home Stagers are trained to see a home “through a buyer’s eyes”. A Stager will make recommendations that, starting at your mailbox, will address a range of issues including curb appeal, exterior and interior paint colors, furniture placement, traffic flow in the various rooms of the house, and kitchen and bathroom presentation, among many others.

As a Home Stager in northern New Jersey, Whitehall Interiors & Home Staging frequently consults with homeowners as they embark on making their homes market-ready. The primary goal we have for our clients is to create a home that has broad appeal, which will appeal to a diverse group of prospective buyers.

There’s a lot of competition in today’s market, and we strive to make our clients’ listings stand out from the rest. Take a look at a variety of our residential transformations!

Whether you're planning to sell soon, or you plan on staying in your current home for the time being, the following home improvements outlined below deliver the best return on your investment (ROI).

Today, I received the following excerpt from Loren Keim's book, "Life Lessons...from the back seat of my car", which I really enjoyed. Hope you do too!!!

Funny Real Estate Story - Fear of Dolls

(Excerpt from Loren Keim's Book - "Life Lessons... from the back seat of my car")

Out of the thousands of clients I've assisted in selling a home over the years, I've only twice been asked by home owners not to show their home to people of some protected class or minority. In both cases, I carefully explained that we cannot exclude anyone from viewing, offering on, or purchasing their home because it would be discriminatory. Besides being illegal, it's wrong, and I won't do it.

Oddly enough, in both cases, the very first interested clients were people from that particular protected class group that the owners wanted to avoid. Sometimes life simply seems to work that way.

I've had several home owners ask me to refuse to show their rental properties to women with children, because they believe children will damage the property. Again, it is absolutely against the rules to discriminate and we don't practice discrimination in any form. Strangely enough, every time someone makes a request like that, the first people through the door always seem to have an inordinately high number of children.

Some of my client's requests make me recall Bill Cosby once saying "God has a sense of humor." This sense of humor rears its head in the most interesting circumstances in life. For example, a client named Ted once presented me with a unique request. He was looking to purchase a twin home in Whitehall or Catasauqua and requested that I prescreen any homes he and his wife viewed because he wanted to be absolutely certain that any houses he looked at did not have ceramic or porcelain dolls.

I had heard some strange requests in the past, but I had to ask, "Ceramic dolls? I don't understand."

"Everyone has some fear in life. Some people fear falling. Some people fear enclosed spaces and avoid elevators. Do you have any fears?" Ted asked me.

"Strong women." I replied.

"Excuse me?"

"Just kidding." I said. "I'm not a big fan of heights and I actively avoid roller coasters; especially the ones that go upside down."

"My wife has a fear, a very significant fear, of ceramic dolls. She knows that she's being unreasonable, of course, but she has recurrent nightmares about their coming to life. That's her fear and I'm respectful of it."

"Well, I guess that makes sense," I said. "After all, some people are afraid of clowns."

"All I'm asking is that you make sure that you preview any houses we're interested in seeing to make sure there's no ceramic or porcelain dolls there."

Of course, I said, "No problem, that won't be an issue." I tried to tell myself that I'd heard more unusual requests although, just at the moment, I couldn't think of any.

On the day that I was supposed to take Ted and his wife to view properties, I had planned to preview the houses in the morning, and then take Ted and his wife out in the evening to see the homes. Unfortunately, I was tied up, arguing with attorneys and other brokers over a pending transaction. The late afternoon was marked by heavy downpours and so I didn't make it to preview the homes.

To avoid being caught in a bad situation, I called each of the listing agents, and asked if they had noticed any ceramic dolls around the house. I was able to reach each agent that had an occupied property, but unfortunately, was unable to connect with the listing agent for the final property. Because that property, according to my notes, was vacant, I had no qualms about showing it.

That evening, we looked at the first three homes without incident, and they all showed fairly well. By the time we pulled up to the last listing, it was late in the evening and rapidly getting dark. Fumbling with the lockbox, I finally extracted the key and opened the front door.

Peering in, I discovered that it was far darker in the house than on the porch. Unfortunately, since the light switch was not right inside the front door, as it is in most homes, I had to cross the room, searching for it, Ted and his wife close behind me.

When we arrived at the far right hand wall, I clicked on the light switch, and to my surprise and horror, discovered that three of the four walls were lined with shelves and shelves of ceramic dolls. One of our agents, Joe Bartera, often says "You can't make this stuff up." Unfortunately, reality truly is stranger than fiction, and our story isn't quite over.

Against the far wall, presumably between the dining room and the kitchen, there was a large ceramic doll that was almost life size, perhaps four and a half to five feet tall, which, when I took a step back, incredulous at the sight, proceeded to topple forward, sending the wife screaming out the front door, never, sadly to return.

Life Lessons... from the back seat of my car. Now available through Amazon!

A collection of more than seventy stories and essays by real estate broker and author Loren Keim, including funny, sad, off-the-wall, wacky, bizarre, touching and inspirational stories from Keim's unique experiences in the field of real estate as well as his insights into human nature, relationships, economics, society and politics.

"For good or bad, I've had the opportunity - or the misfortune - of quite often being in the right or wrong place at the right or wrong time," says Keim, who, for more than two decades has represented business people, politicians, actors, rock stars, celebrities, and everyday people in the purchase and sale of property. This collection of those incredible experiences is certain to entertain, inspire, amaze and amuse you.

Best selling author and realtor Loren Keim has appeared before national audiences, on television, on radio and been quoted and referenced in the Donald Trump business series.

When selling a home, a sure-fire way to increase buyer interest, as well as guaranteeing return on investment, is to make improvements to outdated bathrooms. Buyers will view a home more favorably if the bathrooms have up-to-date sinks, toilets, vanities, tile, and light fixtures. And the good news is that it doesn't have to cost a fortune to achieve substantial improvements as well as a great look for this very important room.

The photo below on the left shows a powder room in a 20-year-old home that had been on the market for close to one year. Most buyers would look at this room and imagine all of the work they would have to do to bring the bathroom into the 21st century. This alone may be enough to make a buyer want to move on to the next house!

Northern New Jersey's Whitehall Interiors & Home Staging recommended that the vanity, sink and fixtures be replaced, we removed the wall paper, painted the room, replaced the towel bars, the light fixture, mirror, toilet and floor tile. The cost to the seller was under $2,500. Best of all, the home sold in one month, above the asking price!

Our company approached the very important master bathroom of the same home pictured below somewhat differently. We recommended to the sellers that we replace the sinks, faucets, vanity top (it was a tile top originally) and light fixture above the mirror. The vanity itself was in good condition so we reconstituted the wood and replaced the hardware. Silestone was installed on the vanity top, giving it a rich look. The walls were painted and the room was completely rejuvenated. The cost for these improvements came in under $2,000.

As you contemplate selling your home, look at your outdated bathrooms with a critical eye and consider making at least some of the improvements described here. Better yet, call in a professional home stager who can advise you how to best update this very important room in your home.

When preparing a home for sale don't make the common mistake of focusing strictly on the interior of your home. After all, the exterior of the home is the basis on which buyers form their critical first impression. To make the most effective presentation possible, you will want to insure that the house itself, the yard, driveway and walkways are pristine and inviting. It's important that you do a thorough, unbiased analysis of the condition of the front, sides and back of your home.

How would buyers react when their Realtor drives them up to the home on the left? Chances are they will be so focused on the overgrowth dominating the facade of the home that they won't see much else. In addition, they will be left with the uneasy feeling that the interior is equally as uncared for as the exterior. This is most definitely NOT the way you want a showing to begin!

Now, look at the photo on the right. After the overgrowth was eliminated and some planting was done, the home conveys to buyers the impression of a neat, manicured and well-cared-for residence. Buyers will enter this home with a positive mind set, which is exactly how you want a showing to begin.

CURB APPEAL CHECK LIST

1. Clean up clutter! Remove lawn ornaments, throw out broken patio furniture, store kids' toys, straighten up wood piles and clear away all items/debris from the home's foundation.

2. Repair cracked and/or crumbling driveways and walkways.

3. Power wash the facade of the house as well as all walkways.

4. If needed, paint the house or at least the trim.

5. Prune, weed and add mulch to all garden areas.

6. Add flowers along walkways and in various garden areas.

7. Place urns or clay pots with flowers at the garage, on the front porch and patio/deck.

8. Replace mailbox, house numbers, front door hardware if they are rusty, pitted or worn.

9. Paint the front door to add a fresh, crisp look to the entryway.

10. Replace torn screens and repair broken windows.

Follow this check list and you can be assured that your home will draw buyers in!