Staging Like an Expert

Selling your own home in a buyer’s market can be a cumbersome, confusing task indeed. However, with home prices plummeting, it’s almost impossible to think that you will take the real estate agent’s fee out of the profits – if there won’t be any. For even a $200,000 sale, that means a whopping $12,000 in realtor fees (with an average 6% commission)!

There are other ways to maximize that type of investment to sell your own home.

• First of all, get an appraisal! You need to know what your home is worth. This is what banks will base mortgages on. You need to have a realistic figure when it comes to pricing your home. You can’t use sentiment, and no one cares what you “have to” get from the sale. The buyers are going to get the same figure you have when you do the appraisal. It might not be what you expected, but it’s what the buyers and the banks must deal with. For instance, if you think your home is worth $300,000 and the appraisal comes in at $215,000 – you need to deal with that. No one is going to pay more than the appraisal.

• Make necessary visible repairs: cracks in the foundation, walls, roof. Fix anything that would prevent YOU from buying a house with the same problems. Remember: there are other homes on the market that don’t need repairs.

• Paint in neutral colors. You might love the red walls in the kitchen, but it could be a deal killer for someone who wants a total turnkey home.

• If your kitchen and baths are dated, there are cheap ways to at least spruce them up. Tear down old wallpaper. Buy new cabinet hardware. Replace sinks and faucets. Get a tile repair kit at your local hardware store. Find a neighborhood handyman who can do all this for a hundred dollars, and have it done right.

• If your rugs are ancient, tear them up and at least buy some cheap carpeting. There are plenty of deals out there where installation for an entire house is under $200. You don’t need carpeting guaranteed for 20 years. You need something clean and attractive on the floors to last through the new owner’s move in day.

• If you are selling your home while you are living there, people will take into consideration the entire visual effect when they walk in for the first time. If you furniture is worn out, dirty, or takes up too much room, put your things in storage and rent some nice furniture!

• Put away family photos, awards, diplomas, and anything of a personal nature. Buyers want to picture themselves living there, with their own possessions, and it’s pretty difficult when you have a life size painting of your wedding day hanging over the mantel.

• Have a real open house just like a real estate broker would. Put an ad in the paper, put balloons and signs on street corners, and put posters in a special stand on your front lawn. Have visitors sign a guest book and provide contact information and a section for comments. This is important! If most of your visitors say your house smells like a dog, you need to listen and do something about it!

• It is the seller’s job to be ready with blank contracts. You can buy standard versions at most office supply stores. It’s even better to spend a few hundred dollars to have a real estate attorney provide you with a contract that already has your information in it, and buyers can fill in their offers, etc. (You should always have a real estate attorney on your side in any home sale.) Have these on a table, perhaps next to the sign in book, or in the kitchen next to the coffee pot (which should be full, with paper cups and fixings next to it).

• Have refreshments! Appetizers, small sandwiches, even tiny pizza slices. Yes, people will come for the free food, but they may fall in love with the house at the same time they are falling in love with your grandmother’s Swedish meatballs!

• Light candles. Brand new candles. Put one in the kitchen that smells like cookies, and put one in each room as well. Try to keep to one scent such as vanilla or lilacs.

• Unclutter everything! Expose as much kitchen counter top as possible. Take down everything stored over the fridge. Put away the dish drainer. Same for bathrooms. Put away toothbrushes. No towels in sight aside from clean, pristine finger towels.

• Don’t forget the outside! The first thing buyers will see is your front yard or front door/entranceway if you live in a condo. Either way – a buyer needs to be seduced with your “curb appeal”. Anything like chipped house paint, rotting doorways, dead grass, dying plants, or dirty windows will just make some people turn around and leave without even coming inside. Remember: there are other houses that have been properly maintained. Invest in sod and some new plants if you need to.

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