Updates Staging and Photos
When you begin to think about selling your home, you also need to think about making strategic updates that are going to maximize your market value at a reasonable cost. It is time to put on your objective hat (or you can call me and have me come over to give you advice) and look at your home as a prospective buyer would. You are looking for obvious general maintenance items, the condition of paint and flooring, general cleanliness, and other things that might give a buyer pause.Depending on your work / family schedule and your free time, you may want to try to do as much of this updating as you feel comfortable, but some of it may have to be left to professionals. The goal is to do the absolute best job possible while staying within a reasonable budget. A good rule-of-thumb is to plan on spending from 1/2 to 1% of the target sales price of your home. This may seem like a large number, but when you realize that you stand a very, very good chance of recouping this money or better, both through the sales price of the home and the reduced time on the market, it becomes well worth the investment. We should certainly sit down and discuss these points so I can answer your questions and help you make decisions about what to update.
Keep these few golden rules in mind: modern kitchens and clean, bright bathrooms sell homes, fresh paint and carpeting sells homes, nice landscaping sells homes, good lighting sells homes. If you do nothing else but at least one of these updates, you will make a positive difference selling your home.
Try to plan on having these updates done before listing your home because we will want to immediately begin marketing once you are on the MLS system and we need to be completely ready for that very first showing!
Once you have decided to list your home and we have completed the necessary paperwork, I will recommend having your home professionally staged and photographed. These two simple, inexpensive steps are going to set your home apart in the market and increase your likelihood of a quick sale at a premium price.
Professional staging is different from updating because a person will come into your home and make minor (and sometimes major) changes to your use of space, color, knick-knacks, decorating, etc., that will go a long way towards improving your appeal to buyers. Unless you have professional, or extensive, decorating experience you just will not believe how much difference a professional stager can make in your home. It is a minimal expense that pays it's dividends directly into your pocket.
After having the home staged, it is time for professional photography. Again, the difference between a six megapixel camera and a ten megapixel camera is astounding. Plus, a professional photographer will know lighting, spacing, perspective, color balance, and a multitude of other factors that will make your home sparkle on the internet. Again, it is a very minimal expense and the results in buyer activity are well worth the cost.
I look forward to helping you with this exciting process selling your home! Together we can put together an incredible marketing package that will wow buyers and allow you to demand the maximum market price for your home. Please feel free to contact me with all of your questions and I will be more than glad to stop by to give you advice on how to best plan your updates to sell your home.