by Jeff Pittman | Mar 20, 2017 | Sellers
Six Additions That Can Assist The Sale Of Your Home As today’s real estate market becomes more competitive, homeowners looking to sell their properties need to be more creative than ever to impress and close the sale. To make this happen, owners are adding numerous features to their homes in hopes of catching the attention of as many buyers as possible. With a few careful choices, you can make your home stand out in the best way possible. If you’re looking to sell your home and want to make sure your house is the most attractive one on the market, here are six additions that are guaranteed to clinch a home sale. HOME SECURITY SYSTEM Since purchasing a home is usually the biggest investment anyone will make, it’s important that it be protected as much as possible. Adding a state-of-the-art home security system can be crucial to convincing a buyer to sign on the dotted line. For added protection, make sure the system is one that can be tied into a person’s smartphone, enabling them to control locks, lighting, and surveillance no matter where they’re located. If you already have one installed, make sure you have proof. If you are wondering, “Where can I get an ADT lawn sign?” make sure you contact the company and get visible proof and signage up. HOME OFFICE With more and more people working from home, constructing a home office space can be an attractive option to many buyers. Everyone has a side hustle, and providing a space for it will score your home big brownie points in the eyes of potential buyers....
by Jeff Pittman | Aug 23, 2016 | Sellers
5 Ways To Light Up Your Kitchen With Leds When Selling Your Home When you put your house on the market, there are several factors to consider that might help bolster its attractiveness to potential buyers. Lighting is one of the key features of a space that many homeowners forget to pay special attention to. Not only can a dim or too-bright light distract potential buyers from the rest of your home, it can also cast unwanted shadows and create uninviting coloration throughout the space. One way to deter from this is by using LED lighting, especially in the kitchen. WHAT DOES LED MEAN? LEDs, or light-emitting diodes, are energy-saving light sources that offer tremendous design flexibility and have the ability to last for decades. From accent lighting to illuminating an entire room, its uses are nearly endless. The advancement of LED technology has given way to a drop in bulb prices and a massive range of styles and color temperatures available. While replacing traditional kitchen lighting with modern LEDs may feel like an expensive task, the benefits—less expensive electrical bills, superior light quality, a bulb life of multiple decades and overall sustainability—can be an attractive selling point for prospective buyers. Here are five ways to light up your kitchen with LEDs. 1. RECESSED LIGHTING Recessed ceiling lights are a popular primary lighting choice for kitchens. With many spaces using ten or more of these lights, converting to LED saves a substantial amount of energy consumption. Traditionally equipped with halogen or incandescent bulbs, most recessed fixtures can easily be converted with LED kits or retrofits. Does your space have...
by Jeff Pittman | May 31, 2016 | Sellers
Why Staging Helps Sell Your Home You’ve listed your home for sale, and you’re taking all the right steps to ensure you sell it quickly and for the price you want: You’ve chosen a trusted real estate agent, you’ve done your spring cleaning, and you’ve finally tackled that list of repairs in order to get your home ready for sale. But what about staging your home? Staging gets thrown around quite a bit but is it really necessary? Here’s the solid data that proves it is. These 3 facts are part of the reason why staging actually helps sell your home for more money. That’s what you want – right? INCREASE YOUR HOME’S VALUE BY AS MUCH AS 15% That’s right, according to the National Association of Realtors 2015 Profile of Home Staging, staging your home can increase the dollar value buyers are will to offer by 11-15%. Think about it—whether your property is best described as modest or opulent, this is a large amount of money you don’t want to leave on the table! To put the notion in better perspective, a recent staging investment at First Team, which cost $500, resulted in a $720,000 sale price for a home initially valued at $650,000. DETER LOW-BALL OFFERS When your home is staged, everything is in tip-top shape. Your home is looking its best – so you’re going to get the best offers. Almost 100% of real estate professionals—both buyers’ and sellers’ agents—agree that buyers are affected by home staging, whether they’re helped to visualize a home’s full potential or influenced to make a higher offer. CREATE AN EMOTIONAL...
by Jeff Pittman | Mar 17, 2016 | Sellers
5 Most Common Pricing Mistakes Sellers Make When Listing A Property In a favorable real estate market, it’s common for potential sellers to fall victim to the notion that they can do no wrong. In reality, nothing could be further from the truth! That’s why home pricing with local market knowledge is one of our New Rules of Real Estate. It’s that important for success. Avoid these classic mistakes to ensure you attain the highest possible value for your home, in the shortest amount of time. TAKING A ‘ZESTIMATE’ AS GOSPEL. Estimates from sites like Zillow are just that—estimates! To determine a logical listing price, it takes a trained professional. That’s because a trained professional takes into account things that a simple estimate database can’t like daily or weekly market conditions and intimate neighborhood knowledge. Finding an agent with focused experience in your community—and taking his or her research, experience and insight to heart—is the best way to go about things. OVERPRICING YOUR HOME RIGHT FROM THE START. Sure, it certainly seems logical to up the asking price of a property in anticipation of negotiations. The problem with this logic however is that it often backfires, and when it does, you’ll be forced to lower the price of your home, thus painting it in a needlessly unfavorable light. Overpricing can lead to your house sitting on the market untouched and is much more dangerous than underpricing. Likewise … PRICING FOR THE FUTURE. Home values in your neighborhood might well be on the rise, but you’d be wise to resist the urge to jack up the listing price because of...
by Jeff Pittman | Jan 13, 2016 | Sellers
The 5 Best Staging Tips Want to sell your home fast and for as much money as possible? Staging is the most powerful tool in your arsenal. Staging can highlight your home’s best features, downplay its weaknesses, and make your home as appealing as possible to buyers. Here are five staging secrets you probably haven’t heard of that you can use to impress every buyer who walks through your front door. FLOAT THE FURNITURE Most people tend to push couches and other furniture against the walls of a room, but this makes the room feel stuck and creates empty, unused space. Instead, float furniture away from the walls to make the room seem larger and more open by creating a room within a room. If you have no room to float furniture away from the walls, at least choose furniture with visible legs for more visible floor space. GO NATURAL Did you know the air quality in most homes is worse than outdoor air? Keep your home from feeling stuffy or stale by adding fresh floral arrangements and live plants. Not only will plants freshen the air, they will also make buyers feel welcome and comfortable in your home. SELL A LIFESTYLE Consider what buyers in your area are looking for and how your home may appeal to potential buyers to sell a lifestyle. If your home seems good for entertaining, stage your dining room for a dinner party. If your staging budget is tight, you can use a Sur la Table coupon to save on high quality decor and cookware, which will help set the stage for the...
by Jeff Pittman | Jan 6, 2016 | Sellers
7 DIY Tips When Staging Your Home When you put your house on the market, you want it to sell as soon as possible. That means that you need to put your best foot forward. If you do it right, it could be your staging that seals the deal on your home sale. 46% of buyers are more willing to walk through a home they viewed online if it’s staged according to the National Association of Realtors. You can have the best house in the city, but if it’s cluttered and uninviting, it’s going to be very difficult for interested buyers to look through the mess and see its potential. 1. TAKE A LOOK AT THE NEIGHBORHOOD. If a neighboring yard isn’t quite up to standards, making your home exterior look unkept, consider a diplomatic offer to help clean it up. You can’t force your neighbors to clear away brush and take care of the leaves just because you’re selling your home, but you can put in some time to help them straighten up their yard. 2. CHECK OUT YOUR OWN EXTERIOR. Curb appeal is one of the fastest ways to sell a home. Many buyers have already decided how they feel about the house before they even set foot inside. Power wash the driveway and take the time to wash the front of the house so that your house will put forth the best possible first impression. Make sure you’ve taken care of sweeping the porch and driveway, raking up leaves, and mowing the lawn. Add some colorful flowers in pots out front, add exterior lights, and consider a new...
