Times have definitely changed.  Long gone are the days when sticking a sign in the yard manifested a quick sale.  All you had to do was think about selling your home and a full price offer would slide in from under the front door.  Back then a staged home had a significant impact on the price the home sold for.  In fact, a staged home almost always assured a seller the top selling price recorded at the time, not to mention record speed.

Today a home seller in the market place is trying not to lose his shorts while waiting and waiting and waiting for someone, please anyone, to make an offer.  Month after month not even one showing.  With each passing day sellers ask themselves ‘will it ever sell’ or ‘do I lower my price’?  Why?  Sellers think that by lowering the price they just might get someone to walk through the front door.

It’s frustrating for everyone, even home buyers!!

When buyers walk through yet another front door they’re overwhelmed by all the homes they’ve been looking at.  They’re begging to see that one home that will blow them away.  After all, how many homes can they possible see when the sea of homes is enormous?  Plenty, that’s how many.  Confused, tired and memory overload are the usual signs of a home buyer today.  Just imagine how grateful you would be if you could finally end your search with a home that speaks to you in such a way there becomes no reason to keep looking.

If you want to have a ‘sold’ home in today’s market you need to put yourself in a buyer’s shoes.  Realize that doing everything, and I mean absolutely everything to sell your home, is a necessary requirement if you expect to get results.  They want the best.  After all it’s a buyers market and they should have it.  When your home sells you may just be a buyer too!  So here’s what their looking for…..PERFECTION!

That’s right all buyers want perfection these days and here’s how you give it to them……

Make sure your priced right.  Lowering the price on a unprepared home won’t get you a sale you’ll be happy with.  Having a well priced perfectly staged and maintained home will.

While selling your home it’s best to enjoy the holidays away from home especially if the holiday is religious in nature.  Why?  We don’t really know who’s going to purchase your home or their religious preference so keeping the decorations out of sight will help you appeal to everyone.  The best part about this tip is you can get away on a short vacation or enjoy your aunt Betty’s apple pie.

HomeGain Survey:  Home Staging Top Priority for Sellers

HomeGain recently conducted it’s third Nationwide home improvement and home staging Home Sale Maximizer survey to reveal the top 12 do-it-yourself (DIY) home improvements for people getting their home ready for sale.  Nearly 1,000 Realtors responded to the survey.

To read more just go to the link below.

http://tinyurl.com/yeaxzct

In today’s world of ‘free’ information it’s important for realtors to realize that sellers are watching, not their back, but them.  

I’m certainly not an advocate of hype and hysteria nor is my intention to promote it.  Rather, I think it’s important to help my realtor friends and colleagues with valuable information that can help them along their career path.

Everyone is looking online these days, sellers and buyers.

Sellers are more involved in the process of selling their home in today’s market so they naturally spend more time wondering why their house isn’t selling or just trying to stay on top of this important transaction.  They’re searching the Internet to compare their home verses the competition and while there, they’re also noticing how their home appears to a prospective buyer.  They want to know if their representation is getting the job done.  

For more information about this important survey and other questions asked sellers/buyers go to the 2008 Survey of California Home Sellers (released July 2008) link below.  I’m thinking it might be of great interest to my colleagues.

http://www.car.org/meetings/carmeetings/committee-materials-archive/oct2008committees/spf/2008_Home_Seller_Survey_FIN1.pdf