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.

When I entered this once empty elegant living room I found the fireplace and it’s amazing mantel very imposing.  What I mean is….as beautiful as the majestic fireplace was, it was overwhelming the space partly because of it’s size.  The best way to downplay a wonderful feature like this without losing it’s importance is to add a little drama.

From the foyer you can see the measurable size of the mantel

In a nearby tree I found the exact amount of drama I was looking for.  Why drama you ask?  By adding some worthy drama I downplayed the size of this magnificent fireplace but didn’t take away it’s relevance.  Now buyers can take in the windows, custom cabinets and molding, hardwoods and last but never least the chandelier too!

A little drama can sometimes go a long way

And now the ‘big picture’…….

The end result was a living room that displayed all of it's beauty!!!

Presto, a buyer can now love it all.

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

I want to ask you a question.  At first you may not like the question but it is an important one.  First let me say that there are two types of sellers, the first is someone who wants to sell their home and the other is someone who needs to sell their home.

The difference between wanting or needing to sell your home are miles and thousands of dollars and effort apart.  A person needing to sell their home will exert more effort toward the outcome then someone only wanting to.  Keep in mind if your someone who only wants to sell your home your competition may need to sell and guess who will ultimately secure the serious buyer who viewed both homes?

The question is, which one are you?  If you’re the seller who only wants to sell their home you’re probably not going to take seriously the advise this DVD (Book) offers however, if you’re the seller who needs to sell your home I suggest you get a note pad and pen out or your highlighter and let’s get started.

First selling your home is serious business.  The sale of real estate is a serious business and financial ‘transaction’ with very serious consequences.

Here is something for you to consider.  You once had to complete a financial balance sheet for your mortgage company or bank when you purchased your home.  There is something very interesting about your balance sheet.  Have you every noticed that your car, a depreciating asset is part of your balance sheet too.  Your home is an appreciating asset on the very same balance sheet.  What I find most interesting is people who are putting their car up for sale will spend 200 or sometimes 300 hundred dollars or more getting it shampooed, waxed, buffed, an engine cleaned, oiled, serviced and otherwise dolled up to prepare this depreciating asset for sale.  What is also apparent to me is so few people view their home the same way.  Often no investment is made getting it ready for market.  Whether you hire a staging company or you do it yourself with this DVD (Book) I suggest you take the same approach when selling your home as you do your car if you expect to sell it for top value.  Your net worth will thank you for it.

A sellers emotions are the number One Home Sale Killer

By now we’ve all heard that stress is the number one killer.  A sellers emotional attachment to their home is equally the number one reason the sale of the home is killed before the first showing.

I believe a possible reason people don’t view their homes as a product in need of merchandising or even the same way as a car for sale is a home has so much more emotional value attached to it.  After all, we have enjoyed many happy memories in our homes, raised our children, painted the dining room with our oldest daughter, and remember those back yard BBQ’s and Christmas’s with family and let’s not forget the day we brought the youngest of our children home from the hospital.  If you really consider what I’m saying you’ll understand that we have so many emotional experiences in our home that for some of us it’s difficult to separate ourselves from this amazing home.  This is why I want to help you understand from this day forward that a real estate transaction is a business transaction and now is the time to separate yourself for your home by taking your emotions out of the process.  If you don’t you will not have a successful outcome but if you do you will not only have a rewarding outcome, you’ll also get to enjoy it much sooner then you think.

Think about this for a moment.  If you bought and sold five homes in your lifetime (most Americans do) and you prepared each home before you went to market and received 25K more for each home, you would gross an additional 125K.  You’d net somewhere around 100K.  Not bad for just being a home owner uh? 

That brings me to a very important part of this dialog.  Staging does not cost you anything in the end.  Like it or not that’s the truth.  Personally I like it a lot.  There are numerous studies and survey’s featured in the DVD (Book) that indicate clearly the return on investment is for the most part yours for the taking provided you use common sense and did your homework when making the investment of staging your home for sale.  I can’t say the same for the automobile transaction as a blue book always determines it’s value and a homes value is determined by what a buyer is willing to pay it.  What a buyer pays for your home is determined by perceived value.  That’s the beauty of real estate. Hopefully now your convinced your making an effort worth it’s weight in gold.

Expect to spend at least 1 to 3 percent of your list price to totally prepare and stage your home for sale.  The surveys presented here indicate a return of investment of up to 340%.  Even if you had to borrow the investment isn’t it worth it?

Think of selling your home like applying for a job.

Usually if your resume looks good enough you’re brought in for your first interview to meet the boss. At this appointment you’re spiffied up in your professional best and your wearing your biggest smile. You’ll present yourself in the best possible light in hopes of getting that all-important follow-up interview. You do this because you are aware the competition may be tough. All the while you’ll go to as many interviews as necessary in order to get the job!

Get the picture?

A home buyer is the boss interviewing your home to see if they will buy it. The only way your home can meet the boss is to have great photos of your home just like a resume’s snap shot of your experience with all of your qualifications or in this case the homes best features on display for the buyer to take notice and only then will a preview of your home occur.

When buyers come back for a second look of your home this is the all important second interview and it is more serious then the first as the buyer has eliminated homes they do not desire and yours shouldn’t be one of them if you staged your home. The idea is to keep them coming back for more previews as they narrow down their selection leaving your home last but certainly not least in their search. It is at this point that you get the job of selling your home to the buyer who for very good reasons ultimately picked your home as the winner.

It’s as simple as that.

If you’ve had difficulty selling a home before, it’s important to look at your approach. Many people are quick to blame the home, the Realtor or the market for their lack of buyers when the real problem lies in their selling technique.

If you seriously intend to sell your home, then your approach will be one of the most important factors that go into whether or not you meet with success.

One of the most proven techniques in real estate today is home staging. We even see realty shows and home makeover shows that talk about the importance of “Home Staging” and making your home look better to potential buyers.

The problem is that most home sellers don’t fully understand the importance home staging or how it should be properly executed. Home staging is different from decorating. In fact, it’s more the opposite.

With home staging, you aim to neutralize the décor and remove the client’s identity in the home. This makes the home appeal to buyers of all tastes and preferences so you are not excluding any potential buyers.

For this to be successful, the seller has to detach from their house and let go of their emotions. They must see this home as a commodity or a business transaction. When you try to sell with your emotions, you will not be as successful, if you’re successful at all.

One of the most common reasons to have home selling downfalls is an over confidence in the property. Because the seller often has an emotional attachment to the home, they may see it in a different light than a potential buyer.

This is the number one reason it is essential to remove your emotions from the scenario and evaluate what needs to be staged to present a ‘product’ that any buyer will desire. Home staging needs to be done at the buyer’s point of view and not that of the seller’s.

Once you learn to do this, it will be the most important move you ever make towards selling your home. You will then offer yourself the best opportunity possible to reach your desired goal of your selling price and the time line in which you wish to sell your home.

Your approach to selling your home will have a huge impact on your results. Will you take an emotional or an objective approach?