by Monique Higginson | Mar 4, 2020 | Real Estate Tips, Selling Your Home, YourHome
Research has found that the spring season is one of the most competitive times to sell your home.
There are tons of active buyers in the market but there are also tons of sellers looking to fill buyer needs.
To stand out in the spring, you have to go the extra mile.
Read on for our five tips for selling your home in the spring!
1. Improve Curb Appeal
Curb appeal refers to the first impression your home makes when potential buyers are approaching from the outside. It includes the aesthetic impact of your home and your yard.
If you’ve never kept up with a full garden, put out a few fun pots filled with thriving plants. Make sure that your lawn is mowed, weeded, and edged.
Take the time to give your front door or shutters a new coat of paint if necessary. Peeling or fading paint will make your home look a lot older or more rundown than it actually is.
2. Depersonalize and Declutter
When people view your home, they want to envision what it will look like when they move their own belongings into it. If you have a ton of clutter or highly personalized decor, their imaginations won’t run as wild!
Toss any junk lying around and pack up any decor that distracts from your home’s structural qualities. If you’ve neglected certain rooms, you may want to disperse some of your furniture and other pieces to stage each space in your home. Buyers want to see that every room is functional but they also don’t want to feel locked into your specific design style.
3. Amplify the Natural Light
Natural light has a calming effect and has been shown to improve mental health. It’s not uncommon to hear buyers say that natural light is at the top of their list of desirable traits in a home. In the post-winter months, people may be craving natural light even more than usual!
Remove dark curtains and keep shutters and blinds open. Tone back dark walls with tan or white paint to amplify the natural light coming in. If you don’t get tons of natural light, stage a few large mirrors across from windows to reflect the light and boost the room’s brightness.
4. Renovate
You may not want to make major investments into your house before selling. However, consider making a few cosmetic renovations if some of your home’s features are outdated. For example, many homeowners are moving away from closed wooden cabinets towards a modern, open cabinet look.
A few cosmetic renovations can take your home out of the 70s and into the 21st century!
5. Find an Agent
Working with an agent who knows your area well can improve your turnover time. Buyers often have an agent in their corner so why shouldn’t you?
Sell Your Home in Salt Lake City
If you’re looking to sell your Salt Lake City home, allow MarketSource to help you! Our team knows exactly what Salt Lake City sellers have to offer and what buyers are looking for.
Contact us today and let’s get started on selling your home!
by Monique Higginson | Oct 3, 2019 | Real Estate Tips, Salt Lake City, Staging, YourHome
We take a holistic approach with our clients and consider every detail of buying or selling a home and how it will affect our client’s lives. Buying and selling homes tends to be one of the largest financial transactions of a person’s life. Finances aside, choosing to sell or purchase a home affects a person’s health and lifestyle as well.
Here is a checklist for selling your home we think you may find helpful:
1. Pricing your home to sell.
Home sale prices directly correlate with days on the market in our current market conditions. When a home is on the market for more than 30-60 days (generally in the $500,000 and below range), buyers perceive that there is a problem with your home and your offers will tend to get lower and lower with time.
2. Home Inspection Issues.
We can identify potential inspection issues for you when walking through your home and consult with you on repairs so that your sale will not fall through based on inspections. You might also consider getting a pre-listing home inspection to avoid complications during your sale as there are things we will not be able to see.
3. Home Warranty Coverage.
Some homeowners get frustrated by a home warranty because they assume they can hire anyone they want to make a repair and that if something is broken or old they can simply have the item replaced by the warranty policy. Home warranties offer important protection from unexpected repair bills, but they won’t usually be enough to replace an item that has worn out, had pre-existing problems, or were improperly maintained.
4. Seller Disclosures.
These disclosures provide a wide range of information. Overall the basic premise of the disclosure is to have the seller explain any known material or legal defects with the property. Some of the items to expect in the disclosures are the seller’s knowledge of any zoning or legal violations on the property, legal actions affecting the property, location within a Greenbelt, damage to the roof, past-due utility payments (ones that affect title), problems with culinary water, damaged sewer or septic tanks, damaged heating and cooling devices, etc.
5. Fraud.
In Utah, lying on a seller’s disclosure in a way that induces a homebuyer to purchase your home is a fraud. For instance, if you were to say that you’ve never repaired leaks in the basement, but in fact have patched an area that’s now hidden by boxes, that would be a lie. Don’t do it. Fill out the seller’s disclosures, and fill them out honestly.
6. Fraudulent Nondisclosure.
Fraudulent nondisclosure involves failing to disclose a material defect. For example, if you were to incorrectly claim that you never noticed any leakage in the basement at all, that would be a nondisclosure.
7. Staging.
Before listing your home it is important to have your home looking its best. Staged homes sell an average of 17% faster than homes that are not. There are many statistics to be found from many sources but staged homes also appear to sell for 1-5% more than a home that is not staged. We work with many different staging companies so we can tailor staging services to each unique home’s needs.
8. Marketing.
We achieve high list-to-sale ratios and very low days on market in contrast with other brokers. We excel in evaluating homes, making them better with staging, advising of needed repairs and setting the right price to get the best outcome for our sellers. We set realistic expectations based on anticipating repairs needed after a buyer’s home inspection, preventing most of the typical drama that comes up during a sales transaction.
9. Showings.
Sellers should be aware that same-day and even last-minute requests for showings are common, so a seller with a ‘24 hour notice to show’ stipulation often cuts himself out of a good chunk of the buying market. The only standard lag time that should be necessary is when you must give ample notice to a tenant. In Utah the standard is 24 hours notice. Once a house gets tagged as difficult to show by agents, you won’t receive as many calls to show it.
by Monique Higginson | Aug 29, 2019 | Home Maintenance, Moving, Moving Tips, Real Estate Tips
Yes. Buying a home can be stressful.
Hiring a professional to buy or sell a home is a good way to assist you in dealing with some of the stress points during a real estate transaction. Often times, buyers and sellers are unaware of all the possibilities that may come into play when purchasing a home or selling one. Your realtor is a trusted resource that will help you remain calm.
Here a just a few to consider:
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Sometimes you will have to write many offers in our competitive market before you will secure a contract.
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Sometimes home inspections do not go well and negotiating repairs can be stressful.
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Sometimes closing gets delayed or there is an issue getting your keys once closing has occurred.
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Often sellers may accidentally leave items at the home that are unexpected or leave the home less clean than anticipated. This can cause extra work to be needed before you may want to move in.
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If you do not understand the home buying process well or your lender and/or real estate agent are not communicating consistently, it can leave you feeling out of the loop and anxious.
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Feel free to constantly communicate with your agent and lender if it helps you feel at ease during the process. They really are such a valuable asset in so many ways.
by Monique Higginson | Feb 28, 2019 | Moving, Moving Tips, Real Estate Tips, YourHome
Working with a realtor to buy or sell a home is not only a good idea, it will take most of the stress out of the process. From dealing with the financials to writing contracts that protect you in the transaction, working with a realtor is an important first step to having a successful sale.
10 Reasons why you should work with a realtor:
1. Hiring a realtor will ensure your property is listed at the right price, as a result it will help it sell faster.
2. Presenting your property in the best manner is also vital to the sale, from staging to pricing, a professional can help direct you in this process.
3. Exposure is key. Realtors work for you, ensuring that your property has the proper exposure, from open houses to social media.
4. Working with a professional will ensure your contacts are signed and initialed correctly so there are no hiccups at closing. Working with a realtor streamlines the entire closing process and allows you to just show up at a scheduled time.
5. A realtor will schedule showings and appointments to see the property, all while keeping you in the loop on any progress.
6. Hiring a realtor gives you the peace of mind knowing that a professional ‘has your back’ and is working diligently to meet your needs throughout the real estate transaction. Have questions on any part of the process? Your realtor is there to help.
7. Typically, higher price offers will be presented when working with a realtor, resulting in your property selling at top of the market.
8. Negotiations and inspection issues are addressed by the realtor, therefore taking that responsibility off of you.
9. Closings are sped up when working with a realtor.
10. A realtor will have current market knowledge, knowing what homes have sold for in the area, therefore ensuring you have it priced correctly.
