List Your Home for Sale

How Your Position Your Home’s Location Can Impact Your Home Sale

The age-old saying -- ”location, location, location” – still rings true today when buying or selling a home. If you have a less than desirable neighborhood or location – be sure you think about a strategy for how you can combat some of the biggest objectives to your area. If you feel your neighborhood is an attraction to your listing, be sure to highlight why you feel that way. Here are some ways to highlight your listing and area to “show” in the best light.

Community

Even if you aren’t in the most convenient neighborhood in town, remember to think about your immediate community as a selling point. Do you have a good relationship with your neighbors? Do you have any neighborhood events like garage sales or holiday parties? Describe the atmosphere of your neighborhood around the holidays. If you have a vibrant community, that is definitely something to mention in your listing when describing your location and also something you will want to mention to your realtor. They will be sure to mention it during home showings and make your prospective buyers interested to learn more.

Neighbors

If you have a good relationship with your neighbors, it might be good mentioning it to your realtor. It’s always comforting when you’re thinking about buying a home to get feedback that your neighbors are cordial and friendly.

Convenience

If you live in a big city or the suburbs of a big city – you might be getting prospective buyers who aren’t familiar with your neighborhood. Be sure to highlight the proximity of your house to: grocery stores, shopping, restaurants, interstates, public transportation, gyms and area attractions. It might be something that sets your home apart from others.

Neighborhood Features

If you don’t have a laundry list of exciting attractions outside your backdoor, think about the qualities of your neighborhood that you enjoy. Is the area quiet? Do you have a neighborhood watch, association, pool or clubhouse? Be sure to mention these features in your listing.

How to Take a Good Listing Photo

If you’re thinking about going the For Sale by Owner (FSBO) route or you’re trying to prep your home for professional pictures – either way, you’ll need a few photography tips in order to show your home in the best light (literally).

Here are some tips and tricks for ensuring your MLS listing catches some attention.

Hire or DIY

This is the first decision you need to make. Whether you’re FSBO or have a realtor – think about investing in having professional take pictures of your home. They will have a good eye for lighting, camera angles to make your home larger and also special lenses to enhance the look of rooms. If you enjoy photography and have a good camera – there’s no reason to shy away from the job, but just be sure to follow the below steps to ensure you’re thinking about everything before you begin.

De-clutter and De-personalize

This is something you’ll hear from a realtor when getting your home “show ready” – the less clutter and personal items, the better. Invest in totes or an actual storage service if you’re not ready to get rid of things.

Light

When you take pictures, make sure it’s during the brightest point of the day (in your home). Depending on where your windows are located and the position of your home – it could be in the morning or afternoon. Open all blinds and shades to let ample light in and notice how much more inviting your home will look in your pictures.

Set the Scene

Think about buying fresh flowers for your dining room table, side tables, bathrooms or guest room. Set your dining room table with a beautiful tablecloth and place settings. Buy potted flowers for your porch and back yard. Buy a cozy throw to add color to your couch or bedroom. Remember you can always re-use things like plants and flowers in multiple rooms to add a pop of color to your pictures. Get inspired by thumbing through recent Pottery Barn magazines to see how they’ve staged their rooms – even the smallest details can make a big difference.

Highlight Your Best Features

If you have a beautiful kitchen or large backyard – be sure to highlight these areas with multiple pictures. You can never have too many good pictures for prospective buyers to view. With these tips, you shouldn’t have any issues capturing some attractive pictures of your home.

Tips for Living in Your Home While it’s on the Market

Most of us will not have the luxury of moving out of our home, while it’s on the market. Even though, marketing your home can be very disruptive to your life – keeping these tips in mind will help you make the best of a difficult situation.

Organize and Disregard

Before you put your home on the market, you should start organizing for your move. Not only will you get a head start on move day, having an organized home will help keep your house in order for showings. Do some of the heavy lifting now and disregard things you don’t think you’ll be moving. Remember that people are going to try to envision what their lives will be like in your home, so the less clutter and personal items – the better.

Store

Think about renting a storage unit in order to clear out some of the clutter from your home. If you’re not ready to get rid of things, a storage unit could be a good compromise.

Have a Plan

Work with your real estate agent to create a plan for showings. Ask that they schedule them for during certain days/times, that way you are able to clean and prep your house for those specific time slots.

Buy Storage Tubs

After you organize your home, consider having a few empty storage tubs available in your garage or a closet that can be used to hide clutter or items at a moments notice. Even if you set aside certain showing times with your realtor, there will be one-off times when a buyer won’t be able to accommodate your request.

Clean

Know that during this time, you will need to clean your house more frequently than usual. If you don’t have time to do this, you might want to consider hiring a cleaner to help you every few weeks during busy times. The goal is to keep up with it, so you don’t have to do a deep clean before every showing. Be sure kitchens, living rooms and bathrooms are cleaned well – as those spaces are very scrutinized by buyers. And above all else, try to enjoy the adventure. Even though keeping your house “show ready” can be a difficult task – the prospect of moving onto your next adventure will make it all worthwhile.