Selling your home, Presentation is everything!

When it comes to selling your home, presentation definitely matters. Many times sellers want to sell "as is" but they also don't want to "give it away." If the house needs some work, chances are it will sell at a bigger discount than it would with just a little bit of effort. A lack of any improvement in the home can result in a sales price that certainly may feel like a "give-away" to the seller. This situation, however, can be avoided often times with just minimal investment and effort. Paint and new carpet or refinishing floors can go a long way in totally changing the appearance of a home, both on-line and in person. These days people look on line at houses and there are plenty to see. If your home isn't appealing on line, they are off to the next one and you may never get the prospective buyer in the front door. Since a picture paints a thousand words, let me show you some examples. The first home is a modest but attractive mid-century modern I recently sold in Glenbrook Valley. In the first photo you can see the home has hardwood floors, but they desperately needed refinishing. The sellers didn't know if it was worth spending the money to refinish, but after they were done, it changed the whole appearance and feel of the house. Some simple staging and professional photography all combined to create a completely different on-line presentation. This home sold quickly and near a top of the market price per foot, despite lacking other updates. They more than recouped the cost of the refinishing.   

Here is another example. The sellers put the home on the market without doing any of the cosmetic freshening the house really needed.    After 45 days with minimal activity, the sellers had the interior repainted and new carpet installed.

It certainly looked much better, but then I took it a step further with some staging and professional photography.  This was done just a few days before the Christmas holiday.  The home had half a dozen showings the week between Christmas and New Years, usually a very slow time, and went under contract with multiple offers!  If you were looking, which home would you be more interested in seeing? One of the above two pictures, or the one below? By investing a little, sellers can often times reap great rewards, but not all improvements work. If you are considering selling your home, it is a good idea to call me BEFORE you embark on improvements so we can discuss which ones might get you the most "bang for your buck."