<p>Don’t forget curb appeal - you don’t want buyers to drive up and drive away without setting foot in your home.</p>
<p>Make certain your yard is welcoming. Go buy some annuals and plant in your beds. When they die - go buy some more. Get some large pots and plant annuals in those - put by your door, your entry, your walkway, inbetween garage doors - whatever works best. Or put up hanging plants. If you have a spot in the front you could even place a garden table and two cafe type chairs.</p>
<p>Make certain your back yard is spiffy, too. If you have a deck or patio - again planters with annuals or even ornamental grasses.</p>
<p>If you have bed with bark or gravel areas you might need to put in some fresh bark and add gravel.</p>
<p>Make sure your front porch is pressure-washed, freshly stained or painted. If your front door hardware/kickplates are somewhat old, spring a few bucks for a new set. Also, make sure the door looks nice and there are no creepy insects or spiders hanging on the lanterns by the entry! Those are the first things the buyers will see. Curb appeal is a very important issue, too. We once fell in love with a house that had an immaculate front yard with a beautiful planter in the middle of its circular driveway. Only after entering the house we saw that there were yellow and brownish stains on the plush white carpet (and a picture of a very cute puppy on the wall), the house had LP siding, the kitchen cabinets needed re-facing, etc. Even after discovering all of that, we were ready to make an offer, but saw another house and decided that we’d go for that other one.</p>
<p>Lots of good advice on here. A friend sold her house recently (on market 2 weeks). Last year it was on the market for over 6 months before she gave up and took it off.</p>
<p>The second time around she did the “staging” thing. She used a plug in potpourri (like a little crock pot) with cinnamon in it. She planted annuals, tore out overgrown shrubbery and replanted. She really cleaned out closets, cabinets and basement and put much in a storage unit. She gave a lot of attention to front porch–refinished front door, replaced hardware, pots of plants and touched up anything painted. Maybe it was just the right person at the right time or maybe all her work really paid off.</p>
<p>Our recent experience involved a long list supplied by our excellent realtor of changes to make. We did them all, some cost us more than a few dollars, but in the end, we did much better than we would have if the house was as is. This is in NJ. </p>
<p>Talk to your realtor. I would remove clutter, make sure everything is super clean. Recarpet or get a good service if carpets are not clean. Everyone wants a big clean place,and if it doesn’t seem big and clean, there is some other place. If major things are in poor condition like roof, walkways, driveways, think about doing some work. I know it is painful, but you might get a good contract, and then be very shocked at the renegotiation after inspection.</p>
<p>Not to be a dark cloud of gloom, but once we got a decent price, negotiated down after inspection, the appraisal was less than the contract. This is a new technique of lenders to ensure that they are not underwater. Our buyers were quite credit worthy, but the lower appraisal meant a lower loan amount, and a further negotiation downward.</p>
<p>One other thing, our lawyer told us that it was better to go with a 6 percent commission rather than 5 to stimulate the agents to show the house. I think it worked.</p>
<p>All in all I think our house went for 10-15% less than it would have in a better market, but ours was still a success story.</p>
<p>Speaking of smells, vanilla or a little bit of cinnamon are great as well as naturally-scented flowers in a nice vase (roses, peonies, etc.). Scented candles, Glade airfreshners and such can trigger headaches in scent-sensitive people and turn away some potential buyers.</p>
<p>Boiling a cinnamon stick on the stove works well. Another thing is that during a showing ALL of the lights should be on. Or so the realtor said the last time we sold a house.</p>
<p>We rented a storage space and filled it up to the brim. Off season clothes, sports equipment, extra furniture, excess art work, kids toys you name it. We also got the house painted. I’d go easy on the scent, I always wonder what people are hiding. But baking cookies is good if you’ve got time. Staging really does work from everything I’ve read. It’s hard when you’re living in the house - I had two elementary school age kids last time we moved and it meant tidying up after them constantly.</p>
<p>I agree about the beds - if you have bunk beds you might want to lose the top half if you can.</p>
<p>Don’t do it!! Stay where you are, if at all possible. (I’ve had a house for sale in a glutted market for almost a year–nice house, nice neighborhood–this house had three offers in half a day with no sign in the yard when we bought it 4 years ago). </p>
<p>I’ve done everything suggested–including refinishing floors and replacing all hardware and light fixtures. We have had only about 20 showings (with positive feedback) and only one very low contingent offer–and of course those buyers can’t sell THEIR house. This has led to our family being separated due to a job change for almost a year–then in an effort to avoid worse things (divorce? murder? ) we went ahead and bought another house–which may turn out to be a big financial mistake.</p>
<p>A friend has been trying to sell a condo in Atlanta for 18 mo. She is out of town and paying $$ to have it staged. No lookers. . .</p>
<p>My only suggestion is price it as low as you are willing to go–and think again.
Price it even lower. People are losing $$$$ in this market.</p>
<p>Friends tell me I won’t sell until I bury a statue of St. Joseph, but I think that is superstitious–and disrespectful of St. Joseph, too. (OK, we have prayed several novenas for the sale of this house, but those prayers haven’t been answered–unless the answer is “No.”) </p>
<p>BTW --our favorite smell is microwaved marshmallows–just don’t cook them too long.</p>
<p>I’m in Jersey too. Last month the house across the street from us, sold for the full listing price within two weeks of coming on market. Walking distance (1/2 mile) to the NYC train/bus station was very important to the buyers. If you live in a commuter town, this feature is key.</p>
<p>The owners were only there two years, but they ended up making a profit.</p>
<p>That Designed To Sell show on HGTV really does seem to know its stuff.One show last week stated that you have 10 seconds from the time the buyers are at the front door to make a lasting impression. They suggested standing at your front entrance and seeing what to change.Also, they suggested the beds in bedrooms should be as far away from the rooms entrance as possible,as buyers approach the bedrroms it gives the impression of more space.
It certainly sounds like the professional stager is worth the price.
I’m one of the people who would need a really large storage unit to pile stuff into.My garage is only 1 car and we’ve never parked a car in it,there’s just stuff in there.I suspect I’d have to show it could hold a car, not bre piled with belongings.
Good luck in this market. My Sis-in-law who has a nicely redone bungalow sized home at the Jersey Shore (canalside with boat dockage) just got an appraisal done.Agent hinted she should probably wait out the market if possible,even though her house is freshly redone there’s lots of unsold inventory and newly built unsold inventory.</p>
<p>I appreciate the honest, if sobering, answers.</p>
<p>We are moving out of state, so there isn’t an option of staying in the house.</p>
<p>Our plan is to rent it out if there are no acceptable offers. We are in a desirable town because of the good public school and an easy commute to NYC, so apparently it is not too hard to get tenants. Of course, if anyone has horror stories about being ‘accidental landlords’, please feel free to share those too!</p>
<p>After you get an offer (being optimistic here !!) I would put a contingency in the contract that requires that an appraisal (& home inspection) be completed within xxx days of closing of attorney review. This is so that you all know right away whether or not the appraisal is going to work out. It also stops any problems from buyers who have a mortgage committment but really are still shopping their loan and trying to switch lenders.</p>
<p>Right now underwriters are being very particular, and many applicants with good credit are still having difficulty. Requiring the appraisal to be done quickly hopefully will cause the whole mortgage situation to be resolved — for better or for worse — as quickly as possible. If you need to re-list because the contract falls thru it is better to have it happen sooner rather than later.</p>
<p>On making a house smell clean and fresh - I used Fabreze. A lot of times, I would get a call along the lines of “…can you be out of the house so I can show it in 20-30 minutes…”. I would quickly straighten rooms and spritz Fabreze in each as I went along and then be out in 10 minutes. Fabreze eliminated various odors around the house and really made the house smell clean. I think this really helped sell our house (along with good staging).</p>
<p>My parent’s condo sold within one week after the stagers took over, removed all their furniture, put in new appliances in the kitchen, recarpeted and repainted in very light neutrals. All that was inside the place was a few pieces of furniture that belonged to the stagers and some flowers. This was right at the point that the market was beginning its downturn in California way back in December 2005. My parents were lucky and got the full price.</p>
<p>Omigosh, I’m really sorry to contradict friendly advice but I find the smell of Fabreze to be nauseating. I’ve found that keeping the house spotless, opening windows, and baking are better options. I’d use an all-natural scent - maybe candles or one of those diffusers, instead. I think a lot of people don’t like chemical smells.</p>
<p>Another idea I thought of is to have an inspection done now. Your realtor can advertise that to prospects, and even if they still get their own (which they will), it’s attractive to know that a home has already been reviewed by a professional (with all issues that you are willing to address fixed). This will also reduce the stress of the inspection period. One thing that went wrong for me in this was that our inspector was laid back, but then the buyers inspector was very aggressive. So we still had some things to deal with. Still, I’d do it again. Even if you choose not to advertise your initial inspection, it’s nice to know and take care of must-fixes in advance.</p>
<p>I second spideygirl on Febreze! I’m not allergic to anything, but I just can’t stand the scent. I doubt too many people would find the smell of freshly-baked cookies or cinnamon nauseating :)</p>
<p>And yes, yes, yes on inspection! 500 bucks for inspection is nothing when it comes to selling a house!</p>
) we went ahead and bought another house–which may turn out to be a big financial mistake.</p>