Laguna Niguel Real Estate Blog

We've all heard the saying that first impressions are the most important and in many cases a first impression may be the only chance you'll get.The same thing applies when it comes time to sell your home. The buyer's first impression of your property can be vital to the success of selling your home, so it is important to make that first impression count.

Home staging is just a matter of decorating your house to sell. It involves picking up the clutter, doing some detailed cleaning (remember that prospective buyers love to open cabinets and closet doors!) and repairing where necessary as well as putting away the personal chochkes and photos and making small but significant changes through the choices and placement of furniture, lighting elements and accessories.

It's important to remember, just because you're ready to sell your house doesn't mean your house is ready to go on the market, but with a little elbow grease and work, home staging can help you sell your home for top dollar in record time. And with today's market, that's always a good thing!

You can find a couple of great posts on the importance of a home's first impression, one by Millie Legenhausen over at activerain and another here by Earth Available Realty.

Labels: home sales, home staging, how to

Posted by Cherri Fox at 4:39 PM | Permalink | Comments | links to this post

5 :: Read the local newspaper of the area where you want to live. Pay special attention to the business section, the real estate classified ads, and the special real estate section.

4 :: Get very clear on your actual price range. An automated price range calculator is not a good resource for this. Either talk to a lender, or when you do hire an agent, have the agent recommend one to you.

3 :: Drive the neighborhoods in your area of interest.

2 :: Begin your research online find an MLS Search website. Be aware if it is not immediately obvious who the agent or broker providing you the MLS Search, then it may be a company interested in selling your information to others.

1 :: Visit open houses and quiz the agents about the area, when they start to tell you the properties and areas that stick in your mind, you'll get a great idea of what is hot vs. what is not.

Labels: hire an agent, how to

Posted by Rory at 7:15 PM | Permalink | Comments | links to this post

It can be accepted as a general truth that the main thing that keeps a home from selling is price. While many Listing Clients consider a minimum bottom line price for their home a MUST, let's take a look at all of the things that can be changed to make that happen.

Assuming that you absolutely CAN'T Lower your price, Here's What you MUST DO:

1) Do what has worked all along: Hire an agent who will market your property with the most market saturation. Make sure that they are going to hit all of the print marketing necessary to penetrate deep into the market and dig out the buyers.

2) Target 80% of the Market: Make sure that your agent also gets good marketing penetration online. The agent doing this should have several websites, a blog, the agent must monitor their website traffic, and be somehow accountable to you with regard to how many buyers are finding your property online.

3) Sweeten the pot: Discuss a commission structure that will get buyers agents thinking about nothing EXCEPT selling your home. Adding an extra percentage to the buyer's agent commission will have them staying awake at night thinking how they can sell your home.

4) Consider staging: staging your home may be a viable expense for you if you just haven't had the offer quality that you need. This is something to consider if you are getting tons of showings, but NO OFFERS.

5) Find a name you can trust: If top dollar is your goal, it is best not to risk shopping around for a cafeteria plan of real estate services, you need a full service broker, and you need them NOW! If a full service broker already let you down, it's time to start shopping the agents on their individual merits, but choosing a business model in this case that doesn't offer full service, just won't work out.

Labels: home sales, how to, sell

Posted by Rory at 3:38 PM | Permalink | Comments | links to this post