Posts tagged Selling Tips

Stand Out at Your Open House

Jun21
2010 Leave a Comment Written by Alicia

open house

In the past, we’ve supplied you with articles on how to prosper at an open house. We provided you with safety tips in Have You Held an Open House?, offered you 12 Steps to Prepare for a Summer Open House, warned you with Preparing for Surprise Showings and told you how to Prepare for a Spring Open House.

Now, with the market fierce and buyers in control, sellers really need to find ways to stand out in the overly zealous crowd. Open houses are a great place to do just that. The first step is getting people to your open houses by advertising with Buy Owner. The second step is making people remember your open house after visiting numerous open houses in one day.

How do you make your open house stand out? Use seasonal attributes to your advantage. They get people in the mindset of now while they personalize the open house and give the buyers a reason to remember your house. This doesn’t mean you should set up a kiddy pool in the middle of your backyard while answering the door in your bathing suit. Here are some ideas for making your open house stand out:

  1. Instead of baking cookies or serving coffee, switch it up with some refreshing summery treats. Serve little cups of freshly squeezed juice using a juicer. Create a non-alcoholic punch over ice. Serve sample sizes of smoothies. The point isn’t to break the bank but to stand out to potential buyers.
  2. Wear bright colors. Nothing overboard, but just friendly, attractive clothing in bright floral or the color of the year, turquoise. This can lift people’s spirits, make you seem more approachable and make them more comfortable around you.
  3. Decorate in neutral colors that will appeal to everyone, but accessorize with bright, summer colors. Add some turquoise pillows to your couch or some pastel green dishware to your dining room table. Make the house exciting and fun to look at. Since most houses are decorated with neutral décor, this adds a punch to yours.
  4. Print out a list of local activities for people to partake in. Right now, create a list of summer activities, such as upcoming festivals, farmer’s markets, water parks, free movies in the park, summer camps and clubs, bike trails and more. When the season changes, change the list. Show potential buyers what they can do with their spare time.
  5. Outside, display colorful flowers near the front door and back door and in plain sight of the open house guests. Make sure your lawn is mowed and your bushes are trimmed. Make your landscaping look flawless and lush. If you really want to go all out, offer potential buyers a flower from a perennial garden, like a day lily. Every time they see the flower, they’ll remember your house.

These are just ideas to get your own creative juices flowing. Think of a way to stand out from the crowd and run with it. Don’t think of open houses as another chore for you to complete. Think of them as you and your house’s time to shine!

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How to Be Realistic about Price

Jun07
2010 Leave a Comment Written by Shanna

pricing realistically

As a home seller eager to make a profit on your sale, it can be easy to lose sight of an important truth: Your house is worth what a buyer is willing to pay.

Not what it sold for.

Not what you invested.

Not what you want a buyer to pay.

Your house is worth what a buyer is willing to pay.

So when you’re trying to price your home realistically, it’s helpful to think in terms of that fact, asking yourself what price a buyer would realistically be willing to pay for your home.

How can you best estimate what price that would be?

Ask yourself some questions:

  • What do other sellers of similar homes think buyers will pay?
  • What have other buyers paid for similar homes recently?
  • How will my home compare to the competition?
  • How fast are homes selling in my area?

These questions will help you gather valuable information that can lead to an estimated range for pricing your property. Ideally, you want to price just a little higher (around 2 to 5 %) than what you think a buyer will pay, in order to leave room for negotiation.

Of course it’s always tempting to price higher, in hopes that someone will come along who wants your place. But the only person who loses in that situation is you, while you wait longer on the market.

So price carefully, and you’ll price right.

Posted in Tips and Ideas - Tagged , , ,

How to Obtain Your Tax Credits

May31
2010 Leave a Comment Written by Alicia

tax credits

If you want to add an upgrade to your house in order to spark buyer interest, you might as well stick to upgrades that will earn you tax credits. Chances are you will not receive as much revenue as you hope on your home sale, so why not upgrade your house with something that you’ll benefit from rather than just lose more money from? Just because it’s a buyer’s market, it doesn’t mean you have to empty your pockets with no return.

There are so many tax credits available for home upgrades right now. To help you understand the process of earning a tax credit, here the answers to some of the questions that you might have about the process. We’ll use energy-efficient windows as our example:

What qualifies for a tax credits?

According to the American Recovery and Reinvestment Tax Act of 2009, homeowners can receive tax credits for upgrading their homes with heating and cooling equipment, insulation and other energy-saving appliances and equipment. One example in this category is energy-efficient windows.

How do I know what will earn me a tax credit?

The National Fenestration Rating Council sets a standard of what is considered energy efficient. As long as your upgrade fits the standard, you will earn the tax credit. You can visit NFRC.org for more information. A good rule of thumb is that if the windows include an Energy Star rating, they will most likely earn you a credit. When purchasing windows, research the product and ask the specialists whether they will meet the standard of the tax credit.

How much credit will I receive?

Homeowners can receive up to 30 percent of the product cost, resulting in a maximum of $1,500 in credit. The amount that you pay for your windows will depend on how many windows you have and what type of upgrade you go with. A basic vinyl unit could start at $175 per window, whereas more extensive and custom upgrades could result in prices over $800 per window. The type of upgrade you decide to go with is up to you.

Once you make the upgrade, save all the product information for when you fill out your next tax return form. This tax credit goes through December 31, 2010, so if you’re going to upgrade, do it this year!

Posted in Tips and Ideas - Tagged , ,

Promote Your Surroundings

May03
2010 Leave a Comment Written by Alicia

Spring is wrapping up and summer is quickly approaching, which most people would consider the busiest months of the year! The sun shines for longer hours, the children conclude their year of schoolwork, gardens and yard foliage burst back to life, festivals arise around every town, outdoor amusement parks and pools reopen and people just generally leave the comfort of their home more regularly!

As a home seller, all of these aspects of summer can help you sell if you know how to promote your surroundings.

When selling, you tend to think that it’s all about the house. Usually, it is. That’s why you should keep the inside clean and decluttered, keep the outside inviting and visually appealing, and keep everything updated and desirable. However, when the summer months are upon us, it’s also equally important to show your potential buyers why they not only want to buy your house, but why they want to buy your house and its location! How do you do that? Research!

Start researching your community’s calendar now, so that when the summer slew of potential homebuyers start flocking to your open houses and following up with your advertisements, you will have already acquired a whole list of reasons why they should want to move here! When making a list, start with reasons closest to your house, and then continue the list as you move further away. Then, decide what reasons your potential homebuyer would be interested in most. For example, if it is a family with young children, mention the neighborhood parks or local schools. If it’s a newlywed couple, mention the renowned cuisine or the waterfront boardwalk.

More examples to include on the list:

  • Neighborhood perks: friendly neighbors you’ve known forever, garbage and recycling services, included maintenance, local parks or bike paths, block parties, community amenities and services, local bus stops.
  • Community perks: favorite area restaurants, distance to convenience stores and malls, family-owned establishments, distance to expressways and other means of transportation, all area churches, schools with impressive ratings, parks and recreational activities, fitness centers, local volunteer groups, book clubs.
  • Specialty perks: most popular seasonal festivals, nearby tourist attractions, free events in parks or through local groups or schools, holiday decorations, gatherings or celebrations, local school programs, parades, bar crawls, charities.

Gain information from sites and bulletin boards in the area, such as those of the park district, schools, churches, local shops and meeting halls, but more importantly, sit down and think about what you’ve loved most about the area. Personal stories and emotions are worth more than a whole list of impersonal perks. Good luck!

Posted in Tips and Ideas - Tagged , , ,

Best ‘Selling Tips’ Collection

Apr26
2010 1 Comment Written by Alicia

Statistics show that for the past few years, home sales have increased in the month of April. It seems to be the turning point between winter and summer, when homebuyers finally decide that it is safe to move. It is the time between snowfalls and swimming, which is the perfect time to get a sale done with and still have an open schedule for summer events! With that said, you as a home seller need to be doing everything you can to spark buyer interest in your home. Now is your time to shine!

To help you out during this busy buying month, and to hopefully score you a sale, we have collected what we consider our most helpful Selling Tips blogs from our archives. Read up and get to work!

When preparing to sell:

Improve Selling Potential with Inexpensive Updates
Hosting an Auction
How to Sell Fast
Staying Positive In a Slow Market
Selling for the Season: Spring

When showing your house:

Preparing for Surprise Showings
8 Ways to Improve Curb Appeal
8 Tips for Accepting a Bid
Staging for Summer
Prepare for a Spring Open House

When stepping it up a notch:

5 New Ways to Change Your Game
Top 3 Selling Mistakes
Don’t Get Caught with Two Homes
25 Surefire (and Cheap!) Ways to Sell that House!
Top 10 Home-Marketing Tips

If you’re still not sure whether you want to use Buy Owner to help you sell, here are 31 reasons why you should.

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Boosting Buyer Interest in Spring

Apr05
2010 Leave a Comment Written by Alicia

green for spring

If your home has been on the market since the cold, inactive months of winter real estate, now is the time to step it up. Warm spring weather tends to reactive the real estate market and adds numerous new home sellers to the market, causing your home to fall to the bottom of the pile. Home buyers are also most active in the coming months, and they are interested in the new rather than the old. What can you do to reestablish interest in your home? Here are five starting tips:

  • Add a significant upgrade or minor upgrades to your home. A major upgrade could include adding an Energy Star refrigerator, repainting your entire exterior or interior, upgrading your countertops to granite or replacing old carpeting with hardwood flooring. Minor upgrades could include adding a new front door, repainting the deck or adding a keypad entry to the garage. Then, have your advertisement updated with these new improvements.
  • Redecorate. It’s the perfect way to spend your spare time while waiting for interested home buyers. That way, when you do host an open house or show the house to potential buyers, you can rave about the contemporary colors of paint you added. Or, you can remain silent and just allow the buyers to breathe in the scent of the spring flowers on the table.
  • Include an item with your home sale to perk more interest. While keeping the price the same, update your advertisements to say that you will leave your rider lawn mower, your chic chandelier, your designer curtains or your vintage rug. If you’re really desperate to sell, you could even offer the home fully furnished.
  • Keep the outside of your house looking immaculate. Try mowing your lawn diagonally for visual appeal and to make the yard appear larger. Trim the edges of the lawn along the driveway and walkway. Trim all the trees and bushes, rake the yard and pull weeds from the gardens. If the outside of the house looks appealing, potential home buyers will want to see the inside.

These tips will get you well on your way to gaining potential home buyer interest!

Posted in Tips and Ideas - Tagged , , ,

Add Dollars by Decorating

Apr02
2010 Leave a Comment Written by Shanna

Call it decorating, call it staging, the fact remains: the way you furnish and accessorize your home can dramatically affect its value in the minds of buyers.

It’s true. Beyond cleaning, organizing and repairing your residence, the way you decorate has the potential to turn an average home into an impressive showcase. Rooms will look larger, features will stand out and, when done right, buyers will be pulling out their pocketbooks.

So what can you do to make your home look more expensive?

OPTION 1: Hire a Stager. Professional stagers make it their business to know what decorating options will change the look of your home and which will give you the most bang for your buck.

OPTION 2: Stage It Yourself: You might not be a professional stager, but you might be able to do a little personal research and come up with the basic strategies that one would use. To help you get started, here are a few ideas:

  • Scale: A very large room should have larger furniture, which fits with the size of the space. Have an enormous wall in your two-story entryway? Don’t use two or three small prints to add color—use large paintings or tapestries or artwork that helps fill the space!
  • Lighting: The day of a showing, pull back the curtains and turn on the lamps in your (freshly cleaned, ideally) rooms. This will make everything look brighter, more inviting and better to buyers.
  • Personality: When you’re living in your home, of course you can put out family portraits, albums and knick-knacks. When you’re selling, however, you are trying to help buyers see themselves in your home, not help them see YOU in your home. Do everything you can to depersonalize.
  • for Inspiration: One of the best things you can do in terms of decorating ideas is look through magazines and books for inspiration! Find ideas you like and then implement them in your home.
Posted in Home Improvement, Tips and Ideas - Tagged , , ,

Improve Selling Potential With Inexpensive Updates

Feb15
2010 1 Comment Written by Carrie

You’ve decided to sell your home. But despite powerful marketing of photos and virtual tours and descriptions, you still haven’t sold. Why?

Perhaps it’s time to do a little updating…on the cheap! Here are five ways to improve your home’s selling potential without breaking the bank:

  • Fresh Interior Paint: Remember that time you decided to give the living room a new look just by simply moving the furniture, and you accidentally dinged the wall with that end table? You may have hidden the mark behind a couch or a chair, but a buyer is going to see that little mark as decreased value. Before you sell your home, make sure that all the walls are pristine. Wash them, spackle any ticks or holes and give them a fresh coat of neutral-colored paint.
  • New Flooring: Hardwood floors are HUGE these days. However, you don’t need to spend a fortune on Australian Cypress or Brazilian Cherry. You can get the look for less, and buyers may be in for a pleasant surprise when you reveal that your gorgeous wood floors are actually an inexpensive laminate! What could cost you between $5 and $15 per square foot for the real thing may run you as little as $1 per square foot for the look-alike. Imagine the savings!
  • Updated Light Fixtures: You’d be surprised what a little change in lighting can do for a room. For example, if there’s a hanging light in the living room or kitchen, replace it with a lighted ceiling fan. You will add a bit of energy efficiency and cut cooling costs, which is always a plus for a buyer. And if the family room boasts the same lamps you bought 10 or 20 years ago, it’s time to get some new ones. You can still take them with you to your new home, but modern, updated looks appeal to potential buyers.
  • Lawn Maintenance: First impressions count! Make a good first impression by maintaining your lawn. Unkempt bushes, tall grass, endless weeds and patches of dandelions will send a buyer running for the hills. Even if you’re selling in winter, if you don’t shovel the driveway/sidewalk, buyers have no reason to get out of their cars and walk into your home. Mow the lawn, trim the bushes, pick out the weeds and remove the snow. Show buyers you care and draw them into your home.
  • Availability: If you haven’t been around for your open house, make yourself readily available! No one knows your home like you do. Don’t let friends or neighbors conduct your showing. Let buyers know how much you have invested, monetarily and emotionally, into your property. Be there to give tours and answer questions. Also, be open to phone calls or emails. Selling your own home takes a little bit of effort on your part, so be available!
Posted in Tips and Ideas - Tagged , ,

Reason #21 to Sell with Buy Owner: Google Maps

Jan21
2010 Leave a Comment Written by Carrie

When you want to advertise the features of your property on the Buy Owner site, there is a lot of information to convey. You’ll want the ad to describe the ins and outs of the home, but you may also want to communicate the location.

That’s where Google Mapping comes into play!

Show potential buyers your home’s exact location, if you’d like. The custom Google Map can appear below your home’s description or in a tab on Elite ads, and it will show your home’s pinpoint on a map of the area.

Plus, here are just some of the other bits of information a potential buyer will see on your Google Map:

  • Highways
  • Parks
  • Public transportation stops
  • Schools (customizable)
  • Streets/intersections

A buyer may even choose which schools are shown on the map, or they can hide the schools altogether. 

Head over to BuyOwner.com to see this tool in action!

Posted in Tips and Ideas - Tagged , , , ,

Reason #19 to Sell with Buy Owner: Advertise Open House Dates

Jan19
2010 Leave a Comment Written by Carrie

With all the information already available on your Buy Owner page, why not add more?

In addition to your ad, your contact information, the photos, the Google Map and the school list, you can also include a list of Open House dates! Easily add the dates through your Sellers Page, and change them any time you want. They will be highlighted in a yellow box under your contact information.

When buyers search for properties on the Buy Owner website, they will fill out a little checklist of different features they’re looking for in a home: style, pool, garage, etc. They may also only want to look at properties that have scheduled open houses, which narrows down the search quite a bit. So, if you take advantage of advertising your open house on your Sellers Page, your home may appear in a specific search result for a very particular buyer!

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Founded in 1984, BuyOwner.com® is the leading provider of real estate marketing services. We pioneered the "For Sale by Owner" (FSBO) market, which today represents over 20 percent of all residential real estate transactions.

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