staging

Less is More When Listing Your Home for Sale

August 9, 2016 by Judy Fernandez 3 Comments

How do you know what to do when you put your home on the market – it seems there is so much advice available out there, especially since the internet came along. We’ve talked about staging to smells to photos to curb appeal…and each of these items can have an impact on the sale of your home. Agent Judy Fernandez takes a look at the theory of less is more and how to apply it to the sale of your home. If you’re currently selling your home or ready to put your home on the market, think about how the buyer sees your home and apply some of this theory to your home so that you can get it sold fast and for top dollar.

I’m sure you’ve all heard the phrase “less is more.” Well, when it comes to listing your property and showing it, it’s not much different. Having less in your home that is for sale can actually put more in your pocket sooner.

Less Clutter

When showing homes, one of the most common characteristics buyers are looking for is space. “Does my furniture fit here and there?,” is constantly on their mind, especially if they have family heirlooms or cultural items they have acquired over the years. Having a decluttered home can help those prospective home buyers have an idea of how much space you truly have available. Too many boxes or excess furniture and toys can make a room seem much smaller than what it truly is. Make it a point to remove as many items as possible and leave only the essentials to show the functionality of the room.

Less Landscape

Yes, we all love trees and green landscapes, while we can get them in this Texas heat. Yet, you’d be amazed at how many home buyers are immediately drawn away from a property because they have overgrown trees, plants, and bushes out front. Having overgrown plants that cover the windows, get in the way of walking paths, and inhibit natural light from entering a home are real downers to some home buyers. Plus, they get to thinking of how much maintenance a yard will require or how expensive it will be to maintain it. Go for simple greenery that future homebuyers might enjoy without having to put in all the extra hours outdoors in the Texas heat.

Less Scrapes and Stains

While unexplainable streaks of paints and stains might be amazing on an abstract painting, they aren’t so much on the walls or carpets of a property that is for sale. Buyers looking for a new home are usually looking for a clean slate that they can move right into without having to do much additional work beforehand. They already have their hands full with packing up, moving, and unpacking, so the last thing they want to do is spend more time and energy cleaning off scuff marks from walls or washing carpets and having to wait for them to dry. Not only does it require more money, but it sets them back from moving into their dream home. Help them (and yourself) out by touching up the walls and washing or spot treating the carpet.

Overall having less items that potential buyers are drawn away by will give your more money in your pocket sooner. Save yourself the extra time your house can be on the market because of small items that are easy to take care of and help stage your home. Having a clean decluttered home is more relaxing to walk through and easier for a buyer to picture themselves in it.

image courtesy of marfis75

Why Can’t Buyers See Past the Furniture and Decor?

February 23, 2016 by khproperties Leave a Comment

You’ve heard it a million times – you need to stage your home in order to get it sold. You’ve done everything you could think of, but why can’t buyers see past the furniture and decor? Why are they so hung up on your family photos or whether your bedroom looks like it was taken from the pages of a magazine? Why are you rearranging furniture and packing items up for storage? It’s frustrating enough to put your home on the market and have strangers coming into your home, but to have them judging your personal style and taste? No one enjoys that. So what is it about buyers that makes them completely unable to see past the furniture and decor and hone in on the true object of their attention – the house they’re about to buy.

The whole psychology of buying a home can be quite fascinating to watch. As real estate agents, we see and hear a lot. From comments about the choice of paint colors to comments about your taste in furniture, we’ve heard it all. Even logical, rational people who you’d expect to be able to see past your wall of family photos will inevitably stop in front of them and take a look. Your couch is not to their liking, but what does it matter? They’re not buying the couch. It just doesn’t make sense that they can’t see past the furniture…or does it?

The trick to understanding the buyer mindset when you’re selling your home isn’t as hard as you might imagine it to be. Think back to all the memories you’ve created in your home. Think of all the milestones you’ve passed. Think of how much your home has been involved in your life. Buyers have those sorts of thoughts too, except they haven’t lived a day in the home yet. They have to rely on you to sell them that story. They want to know what your life was like when you lived in the house. They want to picture themselves living a new life in your home and the easiest way to do that is to look around and see what you have done. It may seem a little odd, but the buyers are looking to place themselves mentally in the home and the lifestyle that goes along with it and even though you and the buyer may be polar opposites, they have no other frame of reference to look to…just your stuff.

It’s easy to feel awkward about someone poking around your life in such a way, but it makes sense when you put yourself into that mindframe. So take a step back and look at your home through the eyes of a buyer – give them what they want and need and get that home sold. Yes, it is a place of great memories for you, but remember, you’ll be making new ones as soon as you get this home sold and move somewhere new.

image courtesy of denise carbonell

Don’t Let the Holidays Kill Your Sale

November 14, 2013 by khproperties Leave a Comment

The Holidays are upon us – are you selling your home?

It’s that time of year, the holidays have arrived. Already people have been reporting the sounds of the season in malls, grocery stores, and their offices. We’re still two weeks away from Thansgiving and already there is no escaping it. Is your home on the market? Will you be selling your home in the next few weeks? If your home will be on the market during the holidays, there are a few things you should consider.

While everyone deserves the right to celebrate the holidays in whatever fashion they choose, listing your home during this time of year can prove to be a bit more difficult. In addition to the natural slowdown in buyer behavior (they’re busy celebrating too), holiday decorating can be a contentious issue for sellers and buyers. Much like we encourage sellers to clean up and stage their home during normal times of the year, a little thoughtful preparation into your holiday decorating will go a long way. Here are a few tips.

Go easy on the decorations. – While everyone loves to decorate their home, the same ideas that apply during the rest of the year apply here. Over-decorating is distracting to buyers and doesn’t let them see the true beauty of your home. Without fail, the buyers will spend more time looking at your decorations and less time looking at the home itself.

Clark Griswold you aren’t. If lights and giant trees are your thing, don’t take advice from National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation and one of my heroes, Clark W. Griswold. The enormous light display looks cool at night, but never looks very good in the daytime when potential buyers will be looking at your house. And the over-sized tree? It just makes your living room look tiny.

Religion. This is always a sticky subject and while everyone has the right to display their religious beliefs through their holiday decorations, it may be off-putting to some potential buyers. While we don’t recommend you “hide” your beliefs, we do recommend moderation in your decorating – religious or otherwise.

The Sweet Smell of Christmas. If your home smells like elves have been up all night baking 3,000 different types of cookies, while Mrs. Claus whipped up some apple pies heavy with cinnamon, and your home was scented by a small pine forest; you probably overdid things. Once again, we’re talking moderation.

image courtesy of ScottieT812

The Three Keys to Selling Your Home

October 18, 2013 by khproperties Leave a Comment

Key Factors to Selling Your Home

Thinking of selling your home? There are three key factors to prep your home and get it ready to put on the market. The three factors are staging, cleanliness, and curb appeal. While each seems like a no-brainer, they can often be overlooked. While each one is important in its own right, the combination of all three can lead to great results. Prepare yourself and your home and you’ll find that selling your home doesn’t have to be a difficult process.

Staging Your Home

Everyone loves to view model homes because all of the key factors are taken care of in meticulous detail. You too can have that model home appearance if you take a little time prepping prior to selling your home. Staging your own home can sometimes seem a little difficult, especially when it contains items that have been collected over the years. Eliminating pieces of furniture, packing away family photos, painting rooms, or just simply placing items in different areas may seem simple to others, but as a seller these items have meaningful memories and are just too hard to store away. Since we have lived with these items in the same position or room, we as sellers may not know how to properly place them to appeal to a buyer. You may find it easier to hire a professional stager or designer to help with that difficult part. Staging can make rooms appear larger, as well as more inviting and allow the potential buyer to view the important features of the home – which is always the ultimate goal.

Cleanliness and Your Home

No one likes to hear that their home is dirty…and in reality, your home probably isn’t, but the perception of the buyer is what counts when you’re selling your home. Buyers love to walk into a sparkling clean home. A clean home eliminates distractions and allows the buyer to focus on the main features of your home. A few areas to focus on are soap scum in the tub and on shower doors, cleaning all of the windows (inside and out), wiping down doors and handle areas, changing A/C filters and cleaning the dust from the vents, and clean and clutter-free countertops. Each of these items are areas that are constantly brought to my attention when showing homes. The longer a buyer stays in the home looking around, the more drawers are opened, vents are checked, and the more time they will spend on details.

The Curb Appeal of Your Home

When the buyer and their agent pull up to the home, the very first thing a buyer notices is the yard, trees, and general look of the front of the home. On the way to the front door, they’ll walk down the sidewalk and notice flowerbeds and maybe comment on the porch or front door. This is known as curb appeal – the appearance of your home from the curb as the buyer pulls up and parks. When selling your home, this first impression can make or break a deal – you want the buyer to be in love with the home before they even step foot inside. A well maintained yard can be the most valuable tool for selling your home. Remove the overgrown plants, trim the bushes, plant some new flowers, clean out flowerbeds of dead leaves, keep the grass green and mowed, and raise the canopies on tress – each one of these items help accentuate the look of your home and put buyers at ease as they prepare to look at what could possibly be their next home. Keep the front of your home looking neat and clean and buyers will not walk in your home with a negative vibe, but rather be excited that you took the time to take care of the curb appeal of your home, so you probably kept the home in great shape too.

Keep it Clean and Neat When Selling Your Home

All three key factors boil down to one simple idea: keep it clean and neat. The better your home looks, the easier it will be to sell and you’ll be more likely to get more money from selling your home. Buyer’s perceptions will affect their offer, so the better you can make that first impression, the better your chances are of them having positive perceptions.

I work with many in the industry who offer services that can help you with getting everything just right before selling your home. If you are in need of any of the services mentioned above please feel free to call and get quotes from these companies.

JB Designs Home Staging
Jenny Bartholomew
(210) 313-2717

The Cleaning Lady
Tina Stone
(210) 535-7424

Yard Works
Chris Jones
(210) 639-6936

image courtesy of kevinspencer

Uncanny Home Staging Tips

March 8, 2012 by khproperties Leave a Comment

Staging – you’re heard the word a thousand times. You hear it on TV and you’ve certainly heard it from your real estate agent if you’ve sold a house in the past ten years. An entire industry has sprouted up around it and there are countless articles with tons of staging tips out there on the internet. There are a million ways to go when it comes to staging, but the basics are always the same – take away the distractions and let the buyers see themselves in your home. You’ve been told to stage your home in order to get it sold and you the basics, like decluttering and removing family photos, but if you’ve done all that and you’re thinking it’s still not enough, maybe it’s time to think outside the box for some new staging tips for getting your home set to sell.

Staging Tips That You Can Use

Remove furniture: Not all of it, but if you have a couch, loveseat, two chairs, and a whole entertainment center wall full of electronics, buyers may focus on all of the “stuff” and won’t feel the size of the room and how it works for them. You don’t want the room to be too empty, but as you start to pull pieces out, you’ll start to notice the space and not the stuff.

Rearrange: Let’s face it living and/or family rooms were designed to entertain, and for a large number of us, that means television. We’ve seen windows, fireplaces, and even kitchen pass-throughs covered up for the sake of arranging a room around the TV. But don’t forget that a buyer may not have your giant entertainment center, or they may actually enjoy sitting in a chair watching a fire in the fireplace. It may be a bit different than what you’re used to, but moving a few pieces around can accentuate your home’s features and could lead to a quicker sale. Just keep telling yourself that it’s only for a short while. Rearranging and removing furniture is probably one of the best staging tips you’ll ever take on – a little work, but it can have a huge impact.

Cover Up: Just can’t bring yourself to organize that stack of paperwork on your kitchen table? Put it in a drawer. Just stained your rug? Put a chair over it. Have a closet overflowing with treasures? Put them in boxes and consider moving those boxes to a shed or the garage. Out of sight is out of mind. And that trick works for buyers too. If they don’t see the mess, they can’t dwell on it.

Label: If you have a room that you use differently than intended – say you have a workout room in one of the bedrooms or you’ve converted a breakfast area to your work command center, label it. Let buyers know that each space has potential to fit their specific needs – they don’t need to be locked into your usage. We once listed a house that had a giant room attached to the master bedroom. It had it’s own private entry, but the only way to get to it from the house was through the master bedroom. This perplexed many buyers, so we made a list of all of the possibilities – nursery, dance studio, workout room, man cave, conference room, his and hers masters, etc. Some of the ideas may have been a little non-traditional, but it started to give buyers ideas and get their imaginations going. Feedback on showings improved dramatically and the home sold quickly thereafter.

Bring Life:We won’t go all Feng-Shui on you here, but it really is remarkable what a few plants can bring to a room. Even if they are fake plants, when they are present, there’s a new energy to the room. People start to notice the natural light from windows. They feel “homier” in the space. Add a bit of nature and you’ll see amazing effects.

Think Neutral: Let’s take a moment first to air our complaints about this one. Beige is boring. You’re an individual and you have great taste. You want to pay tribute to your alma matter in every way. It took nineteen long hours to hang all of that floral wallpaper. We get it. We’re not discrediting any of that. We love that you love who you are and where you came from. But this is not about you. The more you can appeal to a mass audience, the better off you will be when selling your home. It’s a numbers game. The odds of finding someone who is looking for a burnt orange bedroom are much smaller than the odds that you will find someone who either 1) likes beige, 2) is too uninspired to come up with their own ideas, or 3) sees beige as a challenge waiting to be overcome. Think about it.

Give, Don’t Just Take: Decluttering is an amazing thing (that’s why you hear it mentioned so often). But you may end up taking some charm when you take away some things. Maybe building a headboard (plywood plus fabric and batting plus a staplegun equals done) can actually make that never used guest bedroom feel less like a prison cell. Or putting up nice neutral curtains can actually highlight the windows. Less is more, but sometimes a little more is actually more too.

Cheat a Little: Stick cookies in the oven to bake (on low so they don’t burn), light candles, spray air fresheners, etc. Leave snacks or bottles of water for buyers. Or even offer roses or candies on the table alongside your home’s flyer or information sheet. The smells will make the buyer feel at home. And most will appreciate the nice gesture of a practical gift, even if they don’t take it (I mean, who hates having cookies available to them?). Good smells or memories in a home can actually have an impact on the buyer’s frame of mind. Good becomes a word they may start to associate with your house. And that’s the goal we’ve been chasing with all these staging tips, isn’t it?