Sassy Skelton

Just watching the news can give home sellers the impression that we are in a down real estate market. Ask most home sellers and realtors about current market conditions and you will be more likely to get the idea that it's a buyers market and a tough time to sell a home. Those assessments can be true as a general sentiment, but the reality is that homes are selling in Colorado market and there are specific things you can do to improve your time on market and sales price results.

An article on CNN titled "Homebuyers turn the screws on desperate sellers", cites a growing trend that buyers expect ‘move-in' ready homes and will negotiate to get it. Buyers have come to demand fresh paint, new carpet, updated interiors, new appliances and a host of other incentives to purchase a home. These demands typically come at the expense of a reduced sales price to cover the expense, or cash out of the seller's pocket.

As a seller, by not pre-empting seller's demands by preparing your home before putting it on the market you risk not getting your desired sales price. When negotiating, potential buyers can often grossly over-estimate the costs for desired improvements. By taking care of the major items buyers are looking for PRIOR to selling your home, you can have greater control over the costs of improvements and thus maximize your profits from the sale by getting your desired price.

By making the majority of the expected home improvements, you will be more likely to get your asking price and sell faster than your unimproved competition. Making an additional small investment by having your home staged by a professional home stager can put the ‘icing on the cake' to get your home sold FASTER and for the MOST money!

If you are selling your home in the Colorado Springs, STAGED RIGHT professional home staging can provide you with an edge over the competition. Start with a home staging consultation. For a small fee, an experienced home stager will visit your home and provide you with a detailed written report assessing the buyer-appeal of your home from the front yard to the back. Our home consultation report will include not only our plans for professionally staging your home, but also an itemized listing of recommended improvements to consider before listing your home.

STAGED RIGHT can also provide referrals and price estimates if desired for getting the selected improvements done as quickly and economically as possible. As an additional service, STAGED RIGHT can coordinate having the desired work done, which is especially helpful for out of town investors or sellers who have already moved and have a vacant property to sell.

Copyright © 2008 By Staged Right Professional Home Staging. All Rights Reserved.

This weekend is the annual balloon festival here in Colorado Springs. Centrally located in Memorial Park, the balloon festival has been enjoying perfect weather this year. Around 100 balloons from across the USA and with some international participation.

The festival features live music and balloon launches/races throughout the day followed by a balloon 'glow' at night where the balloons are inflated, teathered and fire-up the flames on cue from the local DJ/EmmCee.

Today is the final day but still plenty of live music and family fun! The event is free, as is parking, but traffic into/out of the park can be busy, especially if you stay until an event completes.

Funny thing about this time of year when it happens to be an election year. First I start noticing news 'stories' about the tough times local government is having because the current tax revenues are falling short of what is needed to meet the 'planned' budget for the rest of the fiscal year. Typically there are 2-3 scare stories about the reduction in police or fire services unless the govt can cut funds from other places. These are usually followed up with more 'news' about the inability to fix roads or deliver 'other' government services like buses (buses are HIGHLY subsidized here in Colorado Springs).

Last night, now that we tax-payers have been properly scared by the 'news', I saw this on my local FOX news. Surprise, surprise, county and city sales tax revenues are down this year. Governments solution...lets not reduce spending, lets raise taxes HIGHER!!!

Thinking about that for a moment. Gas has gotten really expensive, so have groceries and things people need to survive. Hence, luxury spending is down. So, lets raise the sales tax 1% so that the tax rate in Colorado Springs will be 8.4% (high even by New York standards), and a staggering 9.8% in Manitou Springs.

That is $1 for every $10 spent.

If the voters are foolish enough to vote for this tax increase in November, it will impact everything from tourism to people considering relocating to the county. 8-10% in Sales Tax is extreme especially when levied on top of the already seen 2-4% increase in the cost of things in general.

It will be on the shoulders of the other anti-tax lobby groups to advertise and educate the voting public. One might think its an issue that wouldn't stand a chance, but the number of times that Colorado voters have allowed tax increases or allowed the government to keep TABOR refunds for repeated 'road improvements' -- for the amount of revenue collected in Colorado we should have streets of gold.

Hand it to the government though. People seem to respond to the threat of crap roads, so let's say a tax will go for road improvements but tuck it into the 'general' fund.

Voters in El Paso County need to get educated. The city of Colorado Springs now nearly extends all the way to Falcon due to the Banning Lewis Annex. The city tries to run subsidized bus service from Falcon to Manitou, yet won't charge those who actually ride the bus a fare high-enough to make it self-sustaining.

Raising the sales tax 1% this year will only lead to the governments spending more money on wasteful things (and probably giving themselves 3% pay raises next year.

Vote NO on new taxes!