home selling advice Archives | kikiinteriors.com

REAL ESTATE

Smart Ways To Sell Your Property Sooner

October 14, 2021

It’s important to sell your house fast because the longer it sits the less you will get back for it. Selling a home is not always easy, there are many different factors to take into consideration. But with this guide, you can find out how to sell your house fast and make sure that you are getting the most you can out of your investment. The best way to sell a home is through an investment or real estate agent.

They will market the property on their websites and in their neighborhood area. They will also be available to answer any questions potential buyers might have about the property that they might not want to ask you over email or phone. This ensures that they maximize their client’s profits and minimizes any potential risk of turning away a buyer from being too hesitant about those details.

The quick guide to 1031 exchange in Los Angeles allows you to defer the capital gains tax that would ordinarily be due upon the sale of property if you reinvest that same property within 180 days. However, here are a few smart ways to sell your property sooner.

Use Social Media To Promote Your Listing

Social media is the new way to advertise. There are more social media platforms than ever before, which makes it easier for people to find information about property listings. Facebook’s Marketplace which has become a popular way of buying and selling homes in recent years. On this platform, it’s possible to promote your listing with sponsored posts.

This means that you can pay Facebook to promote your property on their platform with ads that will appear on people’s newsfeeds. Social media is one of the most popular marketing channels for real estate agents. With its large customer base and continuous reach, it’s easy to see why many of them are embracing it.

Listings that are promoted on social media get more views, more likes, and more shares than listings that aren’t. Hence, there is a clear correlation between social media marketing and the success of an individual listing.

Get Professional Photos Taken Of Your Home

Homeowners want to make sure that prospective buyers will be able to see their home in the best possible light. The best way to do this is by hiring a professional photographer who can capture potential buyers’ attention with beautiful photos. Whether you’re looking to sell your home, renovate it, or just want a great place for your family to live, getting professional photos taken of it is a great idea.

Professional real estate photography services are beneficial for many reasons which includes making homes more appealing to prospective buyers and catching the attention of potential homeowners.

Invest In A Home Staging Consultation

Home staging is a process in which homeowners make their homes attractive to potential buyers. It involves the use of colors, furniture arrangement, and other features in order to make the property stand out during marketing. There are many reasons why people invest in a home staging consultation. Sometimes, homeowners just want to improve their home’s appearance and don’t plan on selling it any time soon.

But most of the time, they need help with preparing their home for sale so they can get more money when it comes time for them to sell their house or condo. Investing in some professional assistance can be a great idea if you’re planning on selling your property anytime soon. These professionals will know everything about what it takes to stage your property and they’ll help you avoid mistakes that might cost you thousands of dollars.

Create An Engaging Brochure

A brochure is a piece of paper or other flat material that can be folded and typically contains text and images. Brochures are designed to present information to the viewer, make a sale, promote an event, or as a flyer for something else. A brochure is like a short booklet that could also include images and graphics to show what life would be like living in the house you’re selling or renting.

A brochure will help sell houses fast if it includes pictures of the inside and outside of the house and has good descriptions of the features and amenities offered by the home.

Find The Right Real Estate Agent

Buying and selling a house is a complicated and stressful process. Whether you’re buying or selling the right real estate agent can make all the difference. The right real estate agent can either make or break your sale. When you choose wisely, you’ll have someone who understands what it takes to get your home on the market quickly and get it sold at the best price possible.

What kind of experience does this agent have? How long have they been in business? Do they specialize in your area? Do they have a proven track record for getting homes sold quickly at their asking price? Consider these factors when choosing an agent to represent you. When you are ready to sell your home, it is important to find the right agent.

One way to find the right agent is to ask for referrals from friends and family. Another way is to search online for reviews on agents in your area. You can also talk with people in your community who have already sold their homes.

Price It To Sell

An important question that often comes up when homeowners are listing their homes for sale is how much should I price my home for? The price of a house can have a dramatic effect on the number of potential buyers who are interested in it. If the price is too high, it might not be considered by many prospective buyers. If the price is too low, they might worry that there’s something wrong with the house or that the seller didn’t put a lot of work into maintaining or updating it.

Therefore, there is no universal answer to this question because the final decision depends on many factors such as location and size of property, type of home and what other similar homes in close proximity are currently selling for. In addition, what you want out of your sale will guide your decision

Clean, Declutter, And Depersonalize

The first step is to paint the walls in a neutral color or simply repaint them to make them fresh and new. You can also remove any unnecessary items from the walls. This process should be followed by decluttering and depersonalizing your home. Make sure that you only keep the essentials, such as furniture, appliances, and other home necessities.

In order to make your house more appealing to potential buyers, there are some other things you can do as well: Improve curb appeal with landscaping, clean up the property thoroughly, and make sure that there is nothing blocking views from windows or doors.

Sweeten The Deal

If you want to sell your home fast, you need to make some changes from the usual. The first way is by offering a housewarming gift for new homeowners. This will help them feel more comfortable in their new surroundings and make them feel grateful for the gift that they have been given.

You also need to make your home as appealing as possible by decluttering and cleaning up before showing it off to a potential buyer. Finally, if you are willing to do a little more work, consider having a housewarming party or dinner with your friends and family when they buy their new home.

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Home Staging Advice

March 29, 2017

“I’m in need of some Home Staging Advice. I know I need to stage my home but where do I start and what do I need to do?”

Home Staging Advice is my speciality! I love staging homes and I love helping sellers get their home ready for the resale market. It’s amazing to hear everyone’s Home Staging success stories!

When it comes to home staging every property has different needs but the basics that you need to address are the same. Your relationship with your real estate agent (if you are using one) is also really important. You want to make sure that your agent understands your competition in the market place and that your home is positioned in a competitive way.

My Home Staging Advice is to address theses 7 basics:

CLEAN AND DECLUTTER
MAINTAIN
REPAIR
DE-PERSONALIZE
NEUTRAL
UPDATE
STYLE

Start at the top of this list and work your way down.

Let’s start with Clean and Declutter –

Give the house a really good up and down thorough cleaning. This is a good start. A clean house feels amazing and everyone loves the feeling of a clean house. You can do this yourself or hire a professional. But this is a must! Go through all of your junk – old clothes, old boxes of random things, books and more….unload what you no longer need – this will lighten up the feeling in your space (and your mind, too – clutter is a source of stress), make moving easier and less expensive and the overall look of your home and storage spaces will improve (buyers are looking for storage so you don’t want the closets to be chaotic!)

Maintain

This is important because a maintained house is a house that has been cared for. When a house is cared for buyers sense that and they have some real peace of mind. So start with small things like leaky faucets, loose door knobs, burnt out light bulbs….Go through your house (or ask a close friend or a professional home stager) with a fine tooth comb and tackle those details!

Repair

So this falls under the same umbrella as ‘maintain’ but this is for larger issues like a broken appliance, a cracked floor tile, electrical outlets that don’t work. A home in disrepair tells buyers that this home is a mess and needs attention (and if there is an offer, it won’t be a good one). So be sure to take on those repairs before hitting the real estate market!

De-personalize

By removing your personal items, memorabilia and style from the house – this really allows buyers to ‘mentally move in’. You will be taking your personal items like family photos, religious pieces and collectables with you anyway…so think of this as a pre-pack. You don’t want buyers to feel like visitors during a private viewing or open house, you want them to feel at home.

Neutral

This is closely connected to De-personalizing the space. When we move into our home we get creative with colours, wall paper and other decorative elements but when it comes to home staging you really need to tone that all down and go neutral. Especially on the walls! Paint makes a huge impact on the look (and feel of a house) so a fresh paint job in a neutral tone is a great idea (and a good investment).

Update

Please don’t be thrown off by this….update doesn’t mean renovate. Small updates can make a whole home feel fresh and new again. How many updates and what you update- well that’s a conversation to have with your real estate agent. Remember what we said about being competitive? Your real estate agent can let you know what your competition is offering in the price point, so certain updates may or may not being worth it. Changing up light fixtures can make a huge difference in a home, new hardware in the kitchen and bathrooms, new carpet (or professionally cleaned carpet), stone counter tops….be sure to have a chat with your agent so you are competitive!

Style

This is a the pretty part and it makes a huge difference it how the house present in your photos. A house without any style or decoration just looks sad. You want your buyers to feel happy when they are walking in the property. So proper scale and positioning of furniture is important and then add a little something. For some of my favourite Home Staging props, Click here. But add some accent pillows to the sofa (new ones that you can use at your new place!), a few decor items on coffee tables and/ or fireplace mantle, art and fresh flowers and/ or bowl of fruit. And be sure to always make the bed. You don’t need all new furniture or decorative accents to make your home look it’s best, just follow our home staging advice.

Remember that home buying is an emotional experience so make buyers feel at home and at ease. Let them mentally move-in … Home Staging shows off the potential of the home and helps your property stand out from the rest. A staged home never sits for long!

Good luck,

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HOME STAGING, WE ANSWER WEDNESDAY

We Answer Wednesday – How to create curb appeal in the early spring

May 11, 2016

“My house is hitting the real estate market very soon. I know we have a great house on the inside but right now in this early spring weather, it’s not looking great. What can we do to increase our curb appeal when our gardens aren’t in bloom?”

You are so right!

Depending on where you live this time of year isn’t the prettiest. The good news is there are simple things that you can do to show off your great outdoor space. But your home is on the market now and you don’t want to wait until the gardens are in full bloom.

The gardens aren’t quite in bloom yet and the garden centers are gearing up for the season but in some areas it is still a bit early for planting. But the grass is green, so use what you have and make the best of it. So start with giving your yards (front and back) a good raking. There is always some dead leaves and branches on the ground – just getting those off the grass will give the exterior a clean look. Depending on your area you grass might be a bit on the long side. So give it a mow and you will notice how much neater everything looks.

Flowers are a great way to add a splash of colour but because you are selling you might not want to make a huge investment in flowers this spring season plus it is still a bit early for planting. A great alternative is planters at the front of the house and if you have a great deck space, some planters at the back are a nice touch too. So in these early spring days which flowers can handle this fresher weather? Potted Pansies are a great option – they are sturdy and colourful and if you take care of them, they will last all summer. A bit of height is a good idea when creating your planters – in the spring we love forsythia – the pop of yellow draws the eye in!

Remember these 3 words when creating a planter:

Spill, Fill and Thrill

– in other works, have some greenery or flowers that hang over the edge of the planter, have some plants and flowers that fill the majority of the pot (of medium height) and some height – the image below is a great example of a spring planter.

Create a welcoming vignette at the front door – this is the buyers first impression of the home so make it count! If you have a porch put out a bench with a pillow for a pop of colour. Try a wreath on the front door.

Just because it isn’t summer yet doesn’t mean you can’t set the scene for buyers. So pull out and dust off that patio furniture – maybe this is a bit early than usual but remember you are show casing your home for buyers so you want them to see how they would enjoy summer BBQs and get togethers outside. So place the furniture like you would if you were entertaining so have a dining area and a seating area. Roll out the BBQ and take off the cover. Now that the furniture is set up and clean, make it pretty with some outdoor pillows and maybe even an outdoor rug – it creates a welcoming scene for buyers.

Want to take it to the next level?

For the photos you can set the dining table or at the seating area, set up a tray with a pitcher – this will help make that emotional connection with the potential buyers who are looking online.

If you have a pool, make sure to have it open and running. A pool always looks better (and photographs better) when it is blue and beautiful!

If you have incredible gardens or a beautiful flowering tree look through your photos and see if you have some beautiful ‘full bloom’ summer photos to share with your agent – these would be great to show buyers as well.

Other curb appeal factors to look into:

– check all exterior lighting are the bulbs in working order ?
– brush away any cobwebs or other debris that may have collected over the winter
– check the mailbox, is it rusted or loosely affixed to the house?
– does your doorbell work?
– how is the paint on the front door?
– how is the roof?
– sweep the walkways, driveway, porch and decks

Buyers are looking to buy their new home not your old one – so take the time to set the scene and get it sold quickly!

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HOME STAGING

Do NOT Try This At home!! 8 Biggest Home Staging Mistakes

February 25, 2013

Take a look at these 8 home staging mistakes home owners make before putting their homes on the market.

A staged home spends less time on the market so take this advice and although some tips may seem expensive or time consuming, it won’t be too long and it will be worth your while.

8 Home staging mistakes (to avoid):

1 –Just because you love it does not mean that everyone else will too.

Ensure your property appeals to a broad market of buyers. In other words, keep it neutral, a bright colour reflects your personality and style which can be too much for buyers to get past.

This room looks great but the dark paint colour on the wall is a bit personalize and may turn off some buyers. If thiese walls were painted in a lighter and neutral tone the room would look bigger and brighter.

2 –Edit your storage places too.

Buyers will poke around, opening kitchen and bathroom cabinets and closets spaces too. Be sure to spend some time organizing those area too. A cramped spaces sends the message to buyers that there is a lack of storage.

This room doesn’t present well. It would be very challenging for buyers to see past this mess. even though the furniture doesn’t come with the house – this much clutter says to buyers that there isn’t enough space. Be sure to clean, declutter and organize!

3 –Scale and size of furniture.

Be sure that items such as furniture, plants and other decor pieces are in proportion with the room. You are selling the house (the space) not the items in it. Even if the rooms look somewhat empty, that is way better than over stuffed rooms. Story your larger pieces in a temporary storage locker or ask friends and family if they have some storage space you could borrow.

You need to make sure that a room has good flow. The buyers (during the showings) need to be able to walk around freely without obstacles. There is a lot of furniture is this room and although very attractive it’s too much for when you are selling your home.

4 — Clean, clean, clean.

I know this means something different to everyone so keep your self and your home on a regular cleaning schedule – if you have to contact a professional to help you out – do it, it will be worth the extra cost. Be sure your home is in ‘showing condition’ at all times. You may receive a call from your realtor about a showing while you are at work and your dishes from breakfast are still in the sink – that leaves a very bad impression.

You really need to be on top of your house work while you are selling. No one wants to come to view a property with dirty rooms, dishes all over the place etc…This leaves a really bad first impression.

5 — Your pet may be your best friends but he isn’t every one’s.

Some buyers are immediately turned off by any signs of animals in a home so keep pet hair to a minimum by vacuuming everyday, crating your furry friends or keeping them outside of the home while it is up for sale. When we were selling our home a few years ago, I went as far as paying my younger brother to “babysit” them during my open house.

6 — Pay attention to the details.

Don’t hide your flaws , either repair them before you go on market or have your price reflect that there is some work to be done. It is tough for a realtor to justify selling a house for top dollar when it is not in top condition.

7 — Upgrade periodically.

Change up your light fixtures, hardware, taps, faucets and drapery. You will likely get a better reaction from buyers plus it shows that the house has been maintained and cared for. Plus buyers are willing to pay more for a property that has already been updated. Not sure where to update or what to do? This is where your real estate agent and home stager can really come into play.

A new light fixture can make a huge difference in a house. It gives the whole home a fresh feel and look – opt for a style that is transitional (that means it works with different decor styles and this way this will work for most people).

8 — Don’t rush.

Get your house on the market once it is ready. Meaning get the little jobs done, listen to your realtor and home stager to help you get top dollar, an incomplete house is exactly that and buyers will not respond in a positive way. So take that time to finish up incomplete projects or tackle the to-do list from your stager – painting and small repairs can set up apart. Any time of year is a good time to sell, but when there is a lot of competition on the market (such as the spring season) you must be in peak performance.

Consider a fresh paint job in the home in a neutral tone, this instantly gives the whole home a fresh new feel and it looks clean and bright!

Selling can feel personal but it isn’t – you need to now think of your house as a product that is up for sale. Like a product in a store you want it to sell so put the time in to make it a product that a buyer will want! Be sure to avoid these home staging mistakes,

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