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Tips for Home Sellers: Get the sales leverage you need by letting me put extensive energy into selling, marketing, and networking with others to find the perfect buyer(s) for your home. According to the Ontario Ministry of Finance, Ontario was “Hard Hit by the Global Recession”. The good news is there was “a resurgence in housing market activity” in 2010. Click here to review the Ontario 2010 Budget (insert) Ontario 2011 Budget for more info. and here to review The Canadian Real Estate Association Sales Statistics. Be sure to visit the Resources page for useful facts and information. Erika’s Home Staging Tips:
What is home staging? There are many low cost and no cost simple makeovers, renovations, and repairs that you can do yourself. Erika will guide you towards achieving your home staging goals. If you prefer to hire experts our home staging professionals will prepare your homes for sale at a minimal cost. The goal of home staging is to make the home have the most appeal to as many potential buyers as possible. To do so home stagers focus on creating a neutral environment, eliminating clutter, expanding space, and creating light. Bathroom: Repair dripping faucets, cracked tiles, and ensure there is fresh caulking around the bathtub and sink. Reduce clutter and create space. Remove personal items from counters, floors, and shelves. Put personal items, like blow dryers, curling irons, make up, shavers, toothbrushes, etcetera, out of sight. Ensure tile, walls, fixtures, and shower doors are clean. If your shower curtain is old, replace it, and only place new or nearly new unstained towels on towel bars. Don’t leave the rim of your tub covered with shampoo bottles and bath salts. Eliminate personal items that makes the buyer self conscious of invading some body else’s place. To get an offer you need individuals to image themselves at home in your home. Clean: Get a clean start on selling your home, while being considerate of the environment when cleaning. Environmentally Friendly Cleanser: A mixture of half and half vinegar and water in a refillable spray bottle. You can add half a cup of baking soda or borax for tougher stains. Windows: Use old newspapers with the water and vinegar mixture to clean glass to a streak free shine. Business Approach: Approach selling your home like a business, and put your personal tastes aside. Removing personal items and effects will help new home buyers visualize themselves at home in your home. To ensure the greatest return on your investment make selling your home a business process – don’t take it personal. Eliminate family photographs, clear countertops and furniture of personal makeup and hygiene products. Get a head start on moving and pack away any large collections of personal collectibles. Remember your marketing your home not your belongings. The more neutral your home décor is the easier it is for clients to visualize themselves at home in your home. Collections: Get a head start on moving and pack away any large collections of personal collectibles. You want to leave individuals with a lasting impression of your home not your massive collection of precious moment figurines, nascars, tea cups, pez dispensers, etcetera. Curb Appeal: At a glance, home buyers will often decide whether or not they want to go into your house or just drive on by. Clear the snow. Mow the lawn. Pull weeds. Rake up leaves. If you can’t do your own yard work – hire a landscape professional, it’s a small investment that will prevent potential home drivers from driving on by. Do It Yourself (DIY): DIY books and television series cover everything individuals need to know to perform to perform many home task themselves – the tools, easy step-by-step instructions to take, and expert advice. Dump: The best time to clear broken down furnishings and appliances is before your home showings and move. Consider a trip to the land fill site to remove household waste. Simcoe County Waste Management De-clutter: Purge closets, organize cupboards, De-Personalize: Get rid of posters, plaques - especially those with tacky or offensive statements, remove family photographs to help home owners visualize themselves at home in your home. Eliminate personal hygiene items (even put toothbrushes away). Clear your fridge door. Eliminate: This is your opportunity to eliminate furniture you no longer desire and create more space in your home. Either store it, sell it, or donate it. An easy way to make a room appear larger is to store large furnishings. Finishing Touches: Mend anything broken, eliminate stains in carpets, First Impressions: A polished, clean home gives the impression of a home that has been well maintained and preserved. Front
Entrance: First impressions last – make sure your
entrance is a welcoming focal point. Make sure your front entrance
is clean! Your front door is the first place individuals look. Wash
the front door, mailbox, storm door, porch railings, windows, screens,
and steps. Replace tarnished door numbers, mailboxes or entrance
lights.If after washing your front door it has become faded, or
the paint is chipped, lightly sand it and apply a fresh coat of
paint. Peeling porch paint should be sanded down and replaced. Old
railings should be re-secured if necessary, sanded and painted.
Eliminate clutter – move any recycle bins, and garbage cans
out of sight to the back of the home. Clear walkways and pathways.
Kitchen: A bright well lit spacious kitchen that is socially inviting helps sell a home. Clean floors, countertops, cupboard doors, and appliances. Remove small appliances from countertops, and store them away, during showings. Make sure your appliances are clean inside and out because potential buyers will surely take-a-peak if they’re included with purchase. Organize cupboards and shelves to create the appearance of having more space. Get rid of extra appliances, utensils, dishes, pots and pans, etcetera that you never use. If you can’t bear to part with the 500 piece Tupperware set your mother-in-law gave you that you never use - be sure to pack it up and store it. Moving Sale: Have the moving sale before the move! Before you sell is the perfect time to eliminate unwanted items, minimize your possessions and raise funds. Call it what you will - a spring cleaning sale, yard sale, junk sale, tag sale, or moving sale and advertise it through the local news paper or on the internet and I guarantee you individuals will flock to scourge through your unwanted items. It makes a lot more sense for you to have individuals pay you to cart of unwanted goods, than for you to pay packers and movers to move it to your next home. Kijiji is a great place to sell your personal property and advertise your moving sale. Paint: If you can’t touch up ugly marks on walls consider a fresh coat of neutral paint. Plants: A few fresh plants, a vase of fresh flowers on your dining table, or a simple rose in a bud vase ads warmth and appeal. Artificial dusty oversized plants are not only tacky, especially if their adorned with Christmas lights in July, but many realtors have had home tours interrupted by bouts of sneezing. Lighting: Light up your home – it brightens your prospects. Light fixtures are an inexpensive solution to update your home. Clean existing light fixtures, switch plates, and replace bulbs. Replace outdated tarnished fixtures or switch plates. Open blinds or pull back curtains, clean your windows and sills, and let the sun shine in. There’s nothing more inviting than the warmth of the sun filling a well staged home. When your home is being shown make sure the lights are all on and properly positioned to create the best impression. Landscaping: Mow the lawn. Trim overgrown bushes, hedges, and trees. Pull weeds. Odours: Eliminate pet, smoke, and any foul odours that will turn off prospective buyers as they step into your home. Open up your windows for at least ten minutes daily to freshen the air. Place open containers of baking soda around your home (out of site) to absorb fowl odours. A lot of people are allergic to home fresheners so consider boiling pure vanilla extract in pan of water. Health stores offer a variety of essential scented oils. Organize: Clean and organize closets, shelves, and cupboards so buyers who look into them and find them spacious and suitable to their needs. Outdoors: Create an inviting outdoor gathering space on your patio or deck. Repairs: There are many low cost and no cost simple makeovers, renovations, and repairs that you can do yourself. Simplify: Purge your home of belongings you do not use on a regular basis. Donate or sell personal belongings you are no longer using. Donate:
Sellers Resources:
Storage: If you have a large attic, or overhead storage in your garage – its acceptable to store things in it. Avoid cluttering the basement or garage with the furnishings and household items you moved. It will only serve to remind them that you just staged your house to create more space and defeat the purpose of creating the impression that your home is spacious. Update the Outdated: There are several ways to update the outdated without making a significant investment. You can update fixtures, hardware, and make repairs or cost effective upgrades utilizing goods at the reuse stores. Be sure to make your way to the clearance section of hardware stores for cost effective upgrades. Every store has a clearance section of exchanged products or discontinued products that are brand new and discounted. Visit Erika’s Reduce, Reuse & Recycle page for tips and solutions. Yard: Put children’s toys away, store yard tools, wind up hoses. Place trash cans out of view at the side or back. Make sure trash cans aren't overflowing and that garbage is taken out and disposed of regulary. |