Best Place Real Estate

The condition of your windows is really important because they affect both the interior and exterior appearance of your home.  So definitely put them on your “To Do List” when you are preparing your home for sale.       

Preparing your windows is usually very inexpensive:

• Wash all your windows inside and out and make sure they open and close properly. 
• Also wash all the screens and check to be sure the screens are in good repair. 
• Window coverings and blinds should be clean and in good condition.  If you decide to change any window treatments, think light weight and neutral.
• If shrubs and bushes have grown very tall in front of  a window, consider trimming the bush so it looks well manicured from both the outside and the inside.
• When showing your home, it is best to have all the curtains and blinds open so your house is as light and bright as possible.

Staging tip:  Sometimes the house is so close to the property line that a room may have a window that looks out at a fence or block wall and this is often not a pretty site.  Change a negative into a positive.  Get some large outdoor pots and place them outside the window.  Buy some ornamental trees or bushes for the pots.  Or, a nice looking potted vine with a pretty trellis may do the trick.  You may need to purchase 5 gallon plants so they are big enough.  Add a cute bird-house or wind-chime.  Another idea is large bakers rack with lots of colorful potted plants.  With just a little creativity you can keep the blinds open and have a nice view too.  Just remember to water the plants! 

Most buyers form an opinion of your house before they even walk through the front door.  You know the old saying about first impressions.  The front entry is a key part of that first impression. 

The buyer often is standing on the front porch for several minutes while their agent is locating the lockbox, retrieving the key, and opening the front door.  Spending time fixing up the front porch is time well spent.

For a great looking porch: 

• Keep the porch well swept as well as the walkway leading up to it.
• Remove dirt and cobwebs from the porch light.
• Repaint the front door if it shows wear.
• Make sure the door knob is clean and working properly.
• Put out a nice new doormat.
• Keep the porch clear of shoes, toys, and other clutter.

Staging Tip:  Adding potted plants with bright colorful flowers makes your entrance warm and inviting.  If you have a really large porch, a couple of chairs or a bistro table/chair set adds ambiance.  Just make sure the area does not look cluttered.

Imagine that you are selling your home at the mall, let’s say in the “house store”.  You would do what all the other stores do. 

Clothes stores have mannequins in the window featuring the latest fashions.  The mannequin is wearing the whole outfit - dress, jewelry, shoes, purse, and maybe even a hat.  The same dress on the rack may look rather plain, but in the window, with the jewelry and all, it is the start of a really outstanding outfit.  The window display gives a shopper an idea of how well the dress may fit in her wardrobe.

Now let’s go to the furniture store.  You might walk through rows of couches and tables and find nothing that jumps out at you.  But, when you see a couch and tables displayed in a room setting with lamps, candles, and potted plants, you stop and think how great that couch might look in your home.  The store might even have the same couch in two different room settings, suggesting to the shopper that the couch works well in both formal and informal decor. 

So now to the “house store” where your home is listed for sale.  You want your house featured in the store window.  You want your house displayed so as to give shoppers an idea of how your home may fit into their lifestyle.  This is staging.  Staging sets your house apart from the houses on the rack or the rows of houses.

Just for clarification.  Staging is not decorating.  Staging is not preparing your home for sale by making repairs and doing inspections.  Staging is marketing your home. 

We live in our homes differently than we sell them.  Most people are at least a little emotional about their homes.  But when we sell it, we need to put those emotions aside.  When we put our home on the market, we really need to appeal to the buyer’s emotions.  This is where staging comes in. 

Even the most beautifully decorated and upgraded home may need to be staged.  Decorating is a personal thing.  Staging de-personalizes it. 

Staging doesn’t necessarily cost a lot.  Often it is only changing or rearranging a few things in a house.  In fact, the cheapest thing that has the most impact is getting rid of clutter.  On the other hand, I feel it is well worth the money to stage a vacant home with furniture and accessories.  The staging will probably pay for itself and then some in the sales price.

Regardless of whether we are in a slow real estate market or a rapidly appreciating one, staged homes usually sell more quickly and often for more money.

Not only do buyers consider the number of bathrooms in a home, they also consider the condition of the bathrooms.  To make yours show well: 

• Clean bathrooms from top to bottom.  They must be sparkling clean.
• Remove stains from sinks, tubs, and toilets.
• Polish faucets and repair any that are dripping or leaking.
• Unclog slow drains and make sure the sink pop-ups work properly.
• Repair and/or replace damaged or stained caulking.
• Remove water sports from shower doors and tub enclosures.
• All light bulbs should be the same wattage.
• Clear off the counter.  Only one or two items should be on the counter, such as a plant and nice soap dispenser.
• Hang up fresh towels.  If necessary, purchase new towels for showing the house.
• Pull back the shower curtain to expose the tub.  It makes the bathroom look bigger.
• And please, put the toilet lid down!!!

With the current buyer’s market and the amount of available inventory, sellers need to do what they can to set themselves apart from their competition.  One way to do that is to have a pre-listing home inspection. 

It is always recommended that a buyer get a home inspection during the contingency period of the contract.  The purpose of this is to make the buyer aware of any problems or defects in the house.  It is like asking your mechanic to check out a car you are thinking of buying. 

However, it can be very beneficial to the seller to get an inspection before putting the house on the market.  For one, sellers are usually aware of the condition of their house, but a pre-listing inspection documents it.  After the inspection, the seller may decide to do some of the repairs so it is in better condition when it goes on the market.  Or, rather than doing the repairs, the seller can disclose the defects to potential buyers.  Disclosing this before an offer is made reduces the possibility of the buyer trying to renegotiate the price after the buyer’s home inspection.

Secondly, if there is a problem the seller is not aware of, the seller will find out up front rather than after an offer has been accepted and escrow opened.  At this point the seller can decide whether to make the repair or reflect the condition in the asking price.  If the problem is not discovered before the house is listed, it will be discovered when the buyers do their inspection during the contingency period.  So it is better to find out sooner than later.  It is really hard on sellers to think they have their house sold only to have the deal fall through after the buyer’s inspection. 

When you have a pre-listing inspection, your agent can advertise that it has been done and also provide interested buyers with a copy before they make an offer.  Buyers should still get their own inspection of the home, but it is less likely that a condition will be found that is a deal breaker.  Yes, the seller has to pay for the pre-listing inspection, usually around $250 to $500 depending on the size of the house.  But, this is money well spent.  It could very well help to sell your home more quickly and maybe even for more money.

So, do something your competition doesn’t want to bother with and set yourself and your home apart from all the rest!

A friend recently asked me this question.  My advise was to remember the Internet.  Over 80% of buyers start their search for a home on the Internet and most will only look at the listings with photos.  You know, “a picture is worth a thousand words”.  

Although the teal blue carpet may look great with your decor, many people prefer a neutral color that goes with everything.  Many buyers will consider teal to be an outdated color. 

When a buyer looks at photos of a home with teal carpeting, different thoughts come to mind.  For example, “If the carpeting is outdated, the whole house must be dated”.  Or, “A house with teal carpeting must have old appliances”.  Or,”This looks like a cosmetic fixer.  Maybe I can get it for a lower price”.  Many buyers do not want to be bothered with a dated home unless there is something really special about it, like an outstanding view or a cul-de-sac location.  Or, if they are interested, they want it for a really low price.

Another thing to consider is that the buyers who see it on the Internet and decide to look at it, already have an opinion of the condition of the home.  So, you may have a strike against you before they even walk in the front door.

Many times sellers will offer a carpet allowance.  You can do that, but when you put that in the listing, what you are really doing is suggesting that the house is not up to par. 

My suggestion is that if you can afford to replace the carpeting, do it before you put the house on the market.  Install a medium grade carpet with very neutral color.  New carpeting makes a huge difference in a home.  It will help to sell your home more quickly and probably for a better price.  And the photos on the Internet will look a lot more inviting!

I found a recent article about staging in the Orange County Register rather disturbing. While the author, Babara Ballinger, admits that staging is done to help homeowners sell a home more quickly, she gives the idea that many sellers do it to cover up defects in the home. I have earned the ASP designation (Accredited Staging Professional) and I found her article to be very insulting. The article cites scenarios such as sellers using an area rug to cover up damaged flooring or curtains to hide rotted window sills. Covering up defects and misleading buyers is not staging!!! It is wrong and a real estate professional, with or without the ASP designation, will advise a seller not to even consider doing such a thing.

In addition, the seller is required to complete the Real Estate Transfer Disclosure Statement and most agents are requesting that the seller also complete the Seller Property Questionnaire. The agents on both sides of the transaction are also required to do a visual inspection of the property. The purpose of all these forms is to make the buyer aware of any known material defects in the property. On top of this, it is always recommended that a buyer get a professional third party inspection.

One of the things staging does is to depersonalize a home. This not only helps to sell the house faster, it also makes it easier for buyers to picture themselves in the home.

Staging a home is a good thing.  Covering up or concealing known defects is very bad.

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When it comes to buying and selling real estate, California has more disclosures than Heinz has pickles.  But they should not be taken lightly and are there to protect both the buyer and the seller.  Buyers may not take two of them as seriously as they should.  They are the Neighborhood Noise Sources disclosure and the Neighborhood, Area; Personal Factors disclosure.  I think the most important message these two disclosures give is that what bothers one person may not bother another or what one person may consider a nuisance is no big deal to another.

The Neighborhood Noise Sources disclosure advises the buyer that although the property may not be in an “identified airport noise influence area”, there still may be aircraft noise as well as other sources of noise such as traffice, trains, etc.  The Neighborhood, Area; Personal Factors disclosure advises the buyer that there may be other conditions that affect the desireability of the property to the buyer.  The buyer has the right and the responsibility to check into any condition the buyer considers important regarding the neighborhood and the area.

While it is true that some sellers do not disclose a known nuisance or even try to cover it up (big mistake on the part of the seller!), there are some conditions that the seller may not be aware of or that the seller just does not consider a nuisance.  

I have a friend who bought a home in Irvine several years ago.  She bought a house on a corner lot near the entrance of the tract.  Once she moved in, she discovered that her tract is actually a short cut many motorist take to avoid lights at busy intersections.  It is particularly bad during the morning rush hour.  She said there are times that she has a hard time just pulling out of her driveway without getting hit.  Maybe the sellers were aware of this and failed to disclose it.  Maybe they left for work really early or didn’t work at all and were not affected by it. 

After an offer has been accepted by the seller, the buyer has a “contingency period” to do inspections and investigations of the property.  This is typically 17 days.  I suggest that a buyer drive by the property several times during that period and at different times, morning, night, weekdays, weekends.  Walking through the neighborhood is also a good idea.  Take note of the traffic, parking, noise, etc.  Talking with neighbors is also an excellent source of information.

It is so easy to get wrapped up in finding the perfect house, that we forget that the neighborhood is a really important element of that house.  Take the time to check out the neighborhood and area.  You can change and remodel almost anything in the house, but there is very little you can do to change the neighborhood.

I knew the deal was in trouble when the property inspector with the mold detector dogs would not bring his dogs in the house because he was afraid the dogs would catch something from all the cock roaches.   It was advertised as a cosmetic fixer, but this unit was really in need of reconstructive surgery.  The place was filthy, in need of updated kitchen and baths, and everything else.  My buyers were willing to accept all of that.  But when we got to the mold and roaches, it was just way too much to accept.   

This is an example of why a property inspection by a professional is so important.  Yes, this is an extreme case.  And, yes, this really did happen.  But it proves a good point.  Buyers often do not want to spend the $300 or $400 for a home inspection, but it is money well spent.  There is no guarantee that the inpsector will find everything that needs repair and no guarantee that nothing will break soon, but it still gives buyers a good idea of the condition of the property they are purchasing.   I like to compare it to getting a physical.  While the doctor may not find everything wrong, you will be warned about things you may not be aware you have, such as poor cholesterol and high blood pressure.