JOE LOPEZ (online@rgj.com)
February 24, 2008
With so many amazing new homes on the market here in northern Nevada, many homeowners are looking to move up on the property ladder. By expending a bit of effort before it goes on the market, you can ensure that your home presents well, stands out from the crowd and doesn't turn off potential buyers so that you can sell quickly -- and at the best price.
Here are a few tips to improve the marketability of your current home:
Use a Realtor
A Realtor can help you in both the selling and buying processes by helping you determine a selling price for your current home and finding new homes that meet all of your needs. The Realtor will use professional tools and networks to market your home much more efficiently than you could do on your own. A Realtor also will provide you with current information about the marketplace, pricing and the condition of competing properties. A Realtor is an excellent source for community information such as utilities, zoning and schools.
Tone down personality
Your bookshelves may be filled with Pulitzer Prize winners and your collection of Americana figurines may reflect your personal interests, but to homebuyers, it looks busy and cluttered, and may distract them from truly seeing your home's unique architectural features and spacious rooms. Also consider whether family pictures help or hinder a sale. Future homeowners may not be able to look past your kids' smiling faces plastered all over the walls and see themselves building their own future in your home.
Since you hope to move soon anyway, go ahead and box them up and put them in storage.
While that red accent wall opposite the lime green fireplace perfectly ties in with your ultra-modern furniture, potential buyers at your open house may be turned off immediately and decide the entire house doesn't reflect their style. Consider painting walls a neutral color such as beige or taupe.
Don't burden buyer with repairs
If there are problem areas in your home, get them fixed before the showing. When prospective buyers tour the house and see leak stains on the ceiling or peeling paint, they also will see future work and assume that bigger maintenance and repair issues are lurking behind those small problems.
This particularly is true in kitchens and bathrooms, which often are the two rooms that make or break a sale. The expenses you incur on the front end sprucing up your home will be cheaper than the profits you could lose by having to lower the price to meet buyer demand.
For more helpful hints, contact the Builders Association of Northern Nevada at 329-4611 or online at www.thebuilders.com.
Maximize exposure
As I suggested earlier, use a professional Realtor. This really is the best way to get the most exposure for your home.
You also can take advantage of new technology to find different ways to market your house. Use Internet social networking sites such as Facebook or MySpace to create a Web link with a profile of your home. Include pictures and a description of your home's features. E-mail the link to your friends and ask them to forward it on to their network of contacts.
Joe Lopez is secretary for Builders Association of Northern Nevada.
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