Better Homes and Gardens Real Estate Life

Category: Home Selling

  • How to Refresh Your Home for a Quick Sell

    Are you planning to sell your home but unsure what repairs or updates to make before you list? While it’s wise to tend to fixes and upgrades prior to putting your home on the market, you need to think carefully about what to makeover if you want to attract buyers and get the most money from your sale.

    Experts agree that checking comparative properties and considering your return on investment is an excellent initial step in deciding how to refresh your home for a quick sell. Since every home seller has different circumstances, we’ve compiled a list of general guidelines to help you figure out what you might want to renovate.

    Here are some of the fastest and most affordable ways to update your home for a quick sell in the new year.

    Freshen Up Paint

    Real estate agents frequently advise clients to paint their homes before they sell. Scratches, scuffs, chips, and peeling areas accumulate over the years, and while the homeowner may not notice them, buyers typically do. Additionally, many homes’ paint colors are faded, outdated, and unattractive to modern buyers. You don’t have to have a huge renovation budget to invest in a new coat of interior or exterior paint. If money is tight, find a good and affordable one-coat paint and then choose a neutral color to create a blank canvas for buyers. Freshly painted properties often sell quicker and command top dollar.

    Declutter

    Cluttered homes tend to look disorganized and unkept, and they can prevent a buyer from seeing a property’s full potential. Decluttering, therefore, is one of the most effective refreshes you can make before you sell and it’s one of the cheapest. To declutter your home and turn it into a space that buyers can envision as their own, go from room to room, eliminating anything unnecessary. Store, give, or throw away knickknacks, furniture, and other personal belongings that you don’t use or that don’t add to the picture you want to paint for a future buyer. Think about model homes you’ve been in or staged rooms you’ve seen in magazines. This is the image you need to present to buyers if you want to sell your home fast. Don’t forget to declutter drawers, cupboards, and closets and organize what’s left.

    Maximize Curb Appeal

    Maximize your home’s curb appeal if you want to sell quickly. You can get a realistic look at how your property’s exterior appears to potential buyers by walking the route leading from the street to your front door. Stand from a distance and inspect your house numbers, mailbox, garage door, gutters, walkway or entry steps, porch or deck, and front door. Pay close attention to landscaping, exterior lighting, railings, and fixtures like door knobs and doorbells. Does anything need to be fixed or refreshed? How can you make your home stand out from the crowd, either in cleanliness or design?

    Update Window Treatments

    New window treatments make a massive difference in how a home presents to potential buyers. Old, antiquated, and torn or broken blinds, curtains, and shades can make an otherwise acceptable property look outdated and even like a fixer-upper. For a small investment, you can update your window treatments to modern versions that help brighten a room and delight buyers. When choosing new window coverings, consider options that allow privacy while letting natural light in. Also, take note of the new smart designs with high-tech and hands-off controls for ease and efficiency.

    Remodel Your Kitchen

    Remodeling a kitchen returns 98.5% of a homeowner’s investment and promotes a quick sell. Even if you don’t want to or can’t do an extensive kitchen makeover, consider a minor refresh with a new backsplash, coat of cabinet paint, hardware set, major appliance, or statement light fixture. New kitchen tile can make the difference between a dated space and a modern room that’s ready for a new buyer.

    Focus on Fixtures

    Great lighting makes a massive impact and produces a ‘wow’ factor that can convince buyers your home is what they’re looking for. Today’s lighting trends include textured and subtle pendant lights, hidden lights, and mixed-metal fixtures. When refreshing the lighting in your home, remember to ensure all bulbs match. Additionally, for a fast sell, focus on refreshing door knobs, electrical outlets, cabinet hardware, and faucets. Replace any that are dented, scratched, not working, or past their prime in appearance in any way.

    Ready to start prepping your home for a quick sale this year? Let Better Homes & Gardens Real Estate® help.

  • Dealing with Clutter in a Sustainable Way Before an Open House

    When putting your house on the market for resale, it’s not enough to dust, vacuum, tidy, and run the mop over the floors. You’re going to need to do a thorough deep clean starting at the top and ending up in the basement and garage. You will also need to declutter your house, and you should begin that process a couple of weeks before the deep cleaning starts in earnest.

    The fast way to declutter is to just rent a dumpster. But it’s not environmentally friendly, and it’s a shame to let perfectly good stuff go to the dump when someone could use it. Here are some tips on how to approach house decluttering in a sustainable way.

    Start with E-waste

    Gather every electronic device, cord, monitor, television, tablet, printer, used printer cartridge and gaming console in the house, and test everything you’ve got. Make two piles of potential discards: the ones that still work can be donated to local thrift or charity shops or given away on freecycle sites. The broken devices will need to be disposed of in an environmentally friendly way. Your local library or city hall should be able to let you know where you can dispose of e-waste so it doesn’t clog landfills and leach toxic materials into the ground.

    Move on to Sporting Equipment

    Most communities have annual sporting goods trade-in events. If you have perfectly good skis, skates, and sleds you no longer use or that you’ve already replaced, now is the time to let the sentimental “keeps” go. That goes for camping equipment too. If you can’t find a sporting goods store that takes trade-ins, donate to a local boys and girls club or to a thrift store.

    Tackle Closets and Dressers

    There are lots of different ways to handle weeding out your wardrobe. Some advocate getting rid of any clothing you haven’t worn in the last year.  A better approach is to empty out the closet, put back the clothes you wear on a regular basis, and actually try on the clothes you haven’t worn in a while. Anything that doesn’t fit, doesn’t flatter, is in disrepair, or is so hideously dated, can be discarded. 

    If you’re planning to have a yard sale, once you’ve gathered all your clutter in one place, you could have a clothing rack as part of the sale. Just don’t expect to get much for old clothing; it’s rare for anything but coats to sell for more than $5 at a yard sale. It’s probably better to just donate to a thrift store or, depending on the items, to a charity that helps the unemployed trying to get back into the workforce by outfitting them with interview clothes.

    Focus on the Arts

    During one of your decluttering sessions, take a look at your entire collection of books, DVDs, CDs, and albums. A good rule of thumb with books is to only keep the ones you plan to reread (unless they’re reference books, of course) and the ones that will be hard to replace. Are you really likely to reread The Scarlet Letter? If not, get rid of it. It’s not likely to go out of print any time soon. And if it doesn’t, every library in the country has a copy of it.

    You can donate books to thrift stores, sell them to used bookstores, or, in some cases, donate them to your local library for resale. They’ll use the funds to buy more books and you’ll have space on your shelves again.

    Part of the decluttering process has to include re-evaluating your framed photos and artwork. Plan to pack away and store the more personal and edgy items while your home is on the market, and consider digitizing old family photos if you don’t already have albums organized. If someone else in your family has taken on the role of family historian, now might be the time to pass on the archival photos to someone who will actually do something with them rather than just leave them in a box that’s only looked at when you move.

    Tackle the Kitchen

    Clear off all your counters and the tabletop and start at the top cupboard. Take everything out and only replace the items that work or are in good condition. Now is the time to get rid of mugs with chips, toasters with burnt-out elements, pots without lids, and electric can openers you never use. This is also the time to stop being sentimental about things you’ve been given but have never liked. Someone else may consider them a treasure, but if they’ve been hidden away in your top cupboard for a decade, you don’t need them.

  • 5 Tips for Selling Your Home for Retirement

    Retirement in the 21st century resembles little of the bygone days. There was a time that charting the course for retirement typically involved moving to a community in a region conducive to an aging population. These communities that boomed in the past are now only one of many options. Seniors are more active and vibrant than ever before, and retirement is now the second chapter of life. Today’s seniors are influential, involved in the community and vital to society. Baby boomers (born 1946-1964) will be one of the largest demographic groups to enter their senior years in the next two decades. They are aptly described as the “silver tsunami” and will be a mighty force to be reckoned with. These boomers have shaped the world we know today and will continue to shape the future. No longer are their choices limited to moving in with family, care homes, or waiting for a spot at a nursing facility. These seniors maintain an active and healthy lifestyle and are taking charge of their lives.

     With the advanced technology of non-invasive monitoring systems, age-in-place design options, alternative living arrangements like collaborative living between seniors and college students, seniors can customize their lifestyle. No one plans on a sedentary lifestyle associated with aging. Watch for innovative and creative ideas to facilitate independent living with security and safety as a top priority. As seniors consider lifestyle options for their second phase of life, the sale of their home will be a key component to financing the fashion of new living spaces. The trends and features desired in a home by the younger generation are unlike any of the previous generations. What a “home” means is entirely different for a millennial as opposed to a baby boomer. Functionality, carbon footprint and energy conservation are at the top of a millennial’s list. So when marketing your home to sell, an old approach may not work. As waves of retirees move out of their homes, an influx of properties will hit the market. How will you gain the edge in this competitive market and have your house stand out?

    Below are 5 tips to market your home:

    1. Work with an accredited Senior Real Estate Specialist (SRES). SRES agents are familiar with the unique challenges of retirement planning. An experienced Senior Real Estate Specialist can advise and coordinate to avoid common pitfalls and assist with a strategy for the desired outcome.
    2. Market your home to the trends of today’s marketplace. As family size diminishes, large homes with numerous bedrooms will overwhelm new buyers. Traditional energy-gobbling homes will be relegated to the “no” list.  A good agent will provide creative ideas to market a large home for extended family living as an “alternative living arrangement” home, and energy conservation features will put your property at the top of the list.
    3. Consult your estate attorney and CPA, and work in conjunction with an SRES agent to best structure the sale or purchase of real estate. When the key people are collaborating, it makes for fewer surprises!
    4. Determine who will be involved in decision-making. Will decisions involve your adult children? Set realistic expectations and communicate with all those involved.
    5. If a will or trust has not been created, now is the time. Prior to putting your home up for sale, seek professional advice to avoid tax pitfalls, and take necessary actions. This way, your wishes and bequests will be honored. And remember that in the absence of a will or trust, matters may have to be handled by a third party. Want more great information like this? Visit the Tips for Buyers & Sellers channel on BHGRELife.

    Annie Kim has been a REALTOR®/Associate with Better Homes and Gardens Real Estate Advantage Realty on the island of Oahu since 2006. As a Senior Real Estate Specialist, she derives great satisfaction from guiding senior clients through this pivotal phase of life. Her commitment is to be there for their milestones. She is honored to have been voted First Place as “Hawaii’s Best” Real Estate Agent in 2017 by Honolulu Star-Advertiser readers. In the past 3 years, she has also been recognized as a top producing agent in the Better Homes and Gardens® Real Estate network nationwide.

  • Seven Reasons Getting Rid of Clutter Helps a House Sell Faster

    Whether you bought a starter home or what you hoped would be a forever home, circumstances change. One thing that doesn’t change though, is the inevitable expansion that occurs when you become a homeowner. As time goes on, you acquire tools that need to be used just once or twice a year, like step ladders and extension ladders, lawn mowers, edgers and leaf blowers. When it’s time to sell, you may find you’ve expanded just a bit too much. Getting rid of clutter is the first thing you need to do when you’re thinking of putting your home on the market, and sadly, unless you move frequently, there are very few people who don’t accumulate more than they should.

    Here are seven reasons you need to get rid of that clutter to ensure a quick home sale.

    Minimalistic spacious house interior with two floors
    Minimalistic spacious house interior with two floors

    1. It’s all about imagined lives

    Clutter makes it hard to think. You may not think of your collection of exotic masks from your foreign travels as clutter. But let’s face it, we don’t all like the same things, and if your home is bursting with small objects, buyers can’t imagine themselves in your space. You have to make room for them and their imagined lives in what might soon be their home rather than yours. Store the highly personal collections during the selling process so buyers can see the space as theirs, and they’ll be more likely to make an immediate offer.

    2. Help the potential buyer maintain focus

    Extra seating, family photos and bone china tea cup collections are all distractions. You don’t want potential buyers to become so intrigued (or puzzled) by the things you’ve collected—none of which they’ll be purchasing—that they don’t actually register the house itself. You want them to look at the space, appreciate its best features and become convinced of its potential for their family.

    Built in closet with warderobe in home interior
    Built in closet with warderobe in home interior

    3. Create the illusion of space to entice buyers

    By getting rid of extra seating, paring down the clothes in your closets and weeding out everything in the pantry that’s past its best-before date, you create the illusion of more space, which is always a good thing when trying to sell a home. After all, empty rooms always look bigger than rooms filled with furniture.

    Be strategic, though, and don’t leave yourself with nowhere to sit. Think of your home as wearing its Sunday best rather than sweats and a t-shirt, and if there’s a chair the cat’s clawed, the sun has faded or that needs cleaning or reupholstering, get it out of the house while potential buyers are viewing. There will be plenty of time to kick back and relax in that past-its-prime lounger when you’re moved into your new home.

    4. Well-staged homes photograph better

    While you might get a viewing from a drive-by or after an open house, most potential buyers these days are going to look at your house and its listing online. Good photos make all the difference here, but you’re not going to get them if you haven’t decluttered. Put the family photos away, get all the toys into the toy box, remove the gym equipment that’s migrated from the basement to other living areas and make your real estate agent’s job easier by presenting a home that shows to advantage in both photos and real life.

    white and steel kitchen interior

    5. Maximize kitchen counter space

    Yes, it’s a pain. But even though your family uses the toaster and blender every day, putting them away in cupboards before viewings provides a clean slate and makes potential home buyers think about all the meals they’re going to prepare in their new home.

    If your home’s being shown to first-time home buyers, chances are good they’re looking for more space, particularly an opportunity to expand from a galley kitchen to one that has room for a table and chairs. Help them believe they’re going to be transformed into hosts with the most when they buy your home by giving them the visual space they need.

    6. Don’t borrow trouble

    Cluttered homes make potential buyers uneasy. Viewing someone else’s occupied home is slightly uncomfortable for most people. Clutter is not only a distraction; it makes your home look uncared for. This can make potential buyers start to ask themselves, “if they haven’t taken care of their possessions, what other problems are brewing here?” You could lose an offer if this kind of nebulous doubt sets in.

    7. Let your home show itself

    Let’s face it—you’re selling your home, not the couch and coffee table. By getting rid of clutter and replacing it with neutral but stylish accessories, you lead the buyer’s eye to the features of your home that are its true selling points. That means you’re going to get a quicker sale and a higher price than if you make a potential buyer struggle to see your home’s merits.

  • Should I Fix or Sell? Seven Benefits of Selling a House As-Is

    When you’ve decided to move on — whether you’re upsizing or downsizing, accepting a fantastic job offer in another city, or fleeing to (or from) the suburbs — think long and hard about what you really need to do to get your house market-ready. You may be tempted to go into renovation mode, but you might be better off selling your house as-is.

    Anything that impacts the home’s operation needs to be fixed before you list, including a leaky roof, a broken furnace, plumbing and the electrical system. These are all things sellers are legally obliged to disclose. If not, a home inspector will identify them to a potential buyer, possibly leading to an offer being withdrawn.

    Here are some things to consider when selling your house.

    1. Renovation ROI may not be there

    Most home renovations don’t pay off instantly. Complete bathroom and kitchen renovations add the most value but also cause the most disruption and can be very expensive. If these rooms haven’t already been renovated, don’t start now. Focus on making sure the existing selling features of the home are in great shape.

     

     

    2. Living in a renovation zone is stressful

    If an owner is fortunate enough to own a larger home with multiple bathrooms and a spare room or two, renovating may not be quite as challenging as it is for those in smaller spaces. But unless personally doing all the work yourself (and sometimes even then), you’re at the mercy of your suppliers’ timelines. You have to live there while renovating even though you’re not going to be the one to benefit. Before you sink $20,000 into a last-minute kitchen transformation, consider just painting or replacing cupboard door fronts and adding new hardware.

  • 5 Etiquette Rules Every Seller Should Know

    The process of selling your home can be a tough one. You’ve spent a significant amount of time staging it and even scrubbed every room top to bottom. It’s in immaculate shape, but what may surprise you is that your behavior also plays a vital role in the way potential buyers feel. Here are the 5 etiquette rules every seller should know to ensure that her or his home is showcased in the best possible light.

    1. Le5 Etiquette Rules Every Seller Should Know - bhgrelife.comave your home during showings

    When there is a showing, it is important to leave your home and let your real estate agent do their job. Although you’re dying to see the reaction potential buyers have to your home, remaining there will make them feel uncomfortable. Removing yourself during a showing also allows the buyers to more easily visualize living there themselves, which is a huge selling point.

  • 8 Tips for Selling a Home with Kids

    Selling a home while there are kids still living in it can be one of the most daunting tasks you’ll ever have to endure as a parent (aside from potty training, of course). It’s a constant battle to keep your furniture and decor looking as they should in order to entice potential buyers. However, the good news is that it is certainly doable. With these 8 tips, selling a home with kids doesn’t have to be an overwhelming responsibility.

    8 Tips for Selling a Home with Kids - bhgrelife.com

    1. Give yourself plenty of time to clear the clutter

    Clutter is one thing that will instantly overshadow your home’s true appeal. Give yourself plenty of time to clear the clutter from every room. It may take several trips to Goodwill or to a storage unit, but clear out those hand-me-downs and forgotten toys early in the process so you can focus on other things while you sell.

    Once you have gathered all the extra items, and before you put them in storage or donate to Goodwill, take another look around. There will still be plenty of items that can be put away during the selling process; whether it’s bicycles, train tables, photos, or memorabilia, it’s time to store those away for your new house.

  • Top 5 Fixes to Sell Your Home

    No one wants to spend money on a home they aren’t going to be living in, so when it comes time to prep your house for the market, you may wonder what kind of fixes will bring the most value to your home without breaking the bank. Consider making these five fixes to help your property sell.

    Top 5 Fixes to Sell Your Home - bhgrelife.com1. Paint the walls

    A bucket of paint doesn’t have to break the bank, and can make a world of difference. Tone down any vibrant wall colors and spruce up the other walls with a fresh coat of neutral paint. Avoid any tones that are intense and dark to ensure that your home appeals to the widest range of people.

  • 5 Things to Look for During a Listing Presentation

    When it comes time to sell your home, it is crucial to find a real estate agent who you trust will get the job done effectively and efficiently. Take the time do your research, and narrow in on some real estate agents that truly appeal to you. The more agents you meet, the better informed you will be about the process of selling your home. Then you can schedule a listing presentation with those you’ve selected. A listing presentation is essentially an interview with the real estate agent so you can gain a better understanding of their personality, skillset, experience and industry knowledge. There are some key things to look for that can help you choose the best agent for your house and needs.

    5 Things to Look for During a Listing Presentation - bhgrelife.com1. Experience

    Experience is by far one of the most important things to look at during a listing presentation. However, that’s not to say that new real estate agents can’t do the job for you, and in this case, you want to consider their background within the industry, such as education and certifications. If you are meeting with an experienced real estate agent, review their records of sales to see if they are familiar and successful with the type of property you’re listing. You also want to see if they are familiar with your area, as this can be a huge selling factor.

  • Top 10 Staging Tips for Your Home

    The key to staging your home is to take a look at it from an outside perspective and view this as an investment: staging is a huge selling factor when it comes to putting your home on the market. It can greatly assist you in selling quickly and at your asking price. Although clearing out your memorabilia and personal touches can be a daunting task, it is incredibly important to prepare your house for selling. Your home needs to appeal to a broad range of people within the target market. So, once you’re ready, these tips will help you stage your home to perfection:

    Top 10 Staging Tips for Your Home - bhgrelife.com1. Enhance the Curb Appeal

    First impressions are everything, and it will take a split second for potential buyers to form an opinion of your home and to determine whether it is for them or not. Although your house may be stunning on the inside, with all the best features, if the exterior doesn’t reflect this, potential buyers may skip the opportunity to check out the interior. Enhance the curb appeal with some TLC. Power wash siding and walkways, keep windows clean, maintain the landscape and repaint where needed.