Tips to sell your home!

Tips to sell your home!

Candles provide fresh smell, but some people dislike strong fragrances.  Never leave a candle burning when a home is empty, even if potential buyers are on the way.

Pet smells can turn off potential buyers.  We love our pets and they bring wonderful joy to our families, but when selling a home pay attention to any possible smell.



I was putting together some home selling tips for a potential client, and realized this information could be useful and interesting to many people.  These ideas have come from both reading and working in real estate, as well as from selling my own home.  My husband and I tend to have too much stuff, and every time we list our home our agent tells us to get rid of things.  I like that advice, because I actually enjoy purging my home of extra items.  I love the clean look of my home once I am done. When I get back from my trip to the local thrift store I and my house feel lighter.  It is a good thing.

When we have lived in a home for some time the appearance of the home can become invisible to us. We don't see the piles in the corners, or the stuffed closets.  We don't notice the smells.  When a home has pets it almost always has a bit of a smell, and there is no harder message to pass on to a homeowner than the message that we can smell the pet.  Buyers do not like pet smells.  Keep the home very clean and ready to show, put up air fresheners and keep the pet beds and litter boxes clean.

Here is the list I have prepared for my clients:

Tips for selling your home

List at a good price for the area

Empty home of extra stuff

Empty closets of ½ of the items and organize well

Light up home, open curtains, bright bulbs

No pet smells!  Ask a good friend if they can smell anything

Fresh paint and very clean home that shines

Kitchen and bath upgrades give most return on money

Curb appeal, clean bright front door

Plant flowers and clean up landscaping

No clutter in entryway

Buyers always look at ceiling make sure it is clean, painted, with no sign of leaks

Less is more, it is good to edit!

I have been reading a lot about house photography, and one post really interested me. The writer mentioned staging a room for a photo shoot, saying you don't need to add things to a room, but instead it is better to take things away. Less is more. Just like writing, editing is the key. With fewer objects in the picture, or words on the page, the real story comes out. Wonder if that is true in life as well. Of course I believe it is, simpler is better, and direct focus on the important is more fulfilling than just stuffing life with, well, stuff.

We live in our homes, and fairly quickly we begin to not see, not notice how the home looks.  We become so attached to the beautiful items we bought on that special vacation, or the family treasures passed down from grandma, that we don’t see how cluttered the shelves and walls can be.  My daughter collects dolls, and she is attached to each and every one.  She displays all her dolls on her dresser, and there are so many unblinking eyes staring at me when I enter the room I see nothing else.  I wish she would choose a few special dolls to display at a time.

 Editing is hard; writers become attached to every word they lovingly place on the page.  As a photographer, I have a special attachment to each photo I snap.  If I shared every photo on social media, no one would ever take the time to look.  It is hard to edit, hard to put away.  Perhaps it is the same with our homes, hard to edit and hard to put away.  Just remember the goal in real estate is to sell the house for what you want and as quickly as you wish. A little editing now can make the outcome better. 

I plan to put this idea into motion not only for my real estate photography, my nature photography, and also in my day-to-day life.  Less is more.  Clutter is clutter, whether in life, art or work.

How to stage your home to sell, by Shelley Hopkins

Images from Google images

As a Real Estate agent and a homeowner, I have had some interesting experiences previewing and showing homes.  A home is a reflection of those that live there.  The homes can reflect the lifestyle of busy families, or the enthusiasm of sports fans.  Some homes are so beautifully decorated I feel like I am in a photo shoot for a home magazine.  I always return to my house with redecorating plans.  Recently I enjoyed showing the home of an artist.  I loved his painting of a shark shooting through the water, bubbles flying away from the fish.  Twice I have been in homes that had paintings of nudes.  I was not offended, but I will say the memory of the home, the size of the kitchen or the color of the walls, faded in my mind.  This was especially true in the home where the owner stayed to talk with us, and I realized she was the model. 

            Owners should never stay during showings.  The potential buyer doesn’t relax, and really look at the home.  If the owner has to stay, he should go outside, or walk around the block.

            Staging is important.  I don’t believe perfection is necessary but there are several things to consider.  When a potential buyer enters a house for the first time, the buyer looks at the house with many thoughts in his mind.  “Will we be happy here?  Will all of our stuff fit?  Can we afford this?  Can we resale this home someday?” 

            At the same time they are forming first impressions based on all their senses.  How does it look – clean, cluttered, outdated?  How does the home smell?  What can they hear?  First impressions are important, and sometimes hard to overcome.

            When we pull into the driveway they buyer sees either overgrown bushes, weeds, and a dingy front door, or bright freshly planted flowers and a shiny door.  Once inside, if the curtains are closed and the lights off, the house feels dreary.  Sunlight streaming in from the windows makes a home feel cheerful and welcoming.  We all try to see past the decorations and furniture, but this is hard to do.  Cluttered homes full of knick-knacks and large furniture feel smaller.

Images from google images         

   Recently I showed a nice home.  The owners were gone.  They left a dog in the house, and a bone on the table with a note to give the bone to “Fido.”  I did, nervously, and Fido jumped on the couch to enjoy his treat and to keep an eye on us.  The TV was on, commercials sang to us as we looked around the house.  The client and I walked down the hall, and checked out the bedrooms.  As we returned towards the family room, I reached out to open a closet door.  Just then, a male voice boomed, “Don’t go in there!”  I jumped back and looked around fearfully.  No one was around.  Hurrying to leave we walked past the television.  The reality TV show Ghost Hunters was playing, the message to not go in there had not been for me.

            I would suggest not leaving the television on during showings.  It makes the house feel occupied.  Andy Griffith talking to me is OK, but Ghost Hunters yelling at me is not so nice.  It does make for a good story.  And the client didn’t buy that house.