submitted by Lynne Kelleher, Prudential Fox & Roach, Realtors – Newtown Office
1. First impressions count! Buyers determine whether or not your home is a contender when they pull up at the curb. A buyer’s perception of your home becomes their reality and expectations are set within the first 30 seconds. Hide your trashcans, put away your kids toys, clean up your landscaping, paint that peeling trim, brush the cobwebs away from the front door and put some potted plants on your front stoop.
2. Pack away – or better yet, throw away – all that excess “stuff” you’ve had hanging around forever and a day! Lose the wedding or graduation pictures with the really bad hair, dismantle the curio with all your cutesy figurines, take down the heavy drapes from the windows and remove every knick-knack from every surface. Then go back and de-clutter again. Then again once more! People need to imagine their stuff in your home, which is hard to do when they’re distracted by all YOUR treasures.
3. Neutralize where you can. Paint and carpet give you the biggest return on investment by far! If you’re lucky enough to have wood floors under that orange shag carpeting, for heavens sake take up the carpet and expose the floors.
4. Clean, clean, clean and clean again! An immaculate home demonstrates that the home has been well cared for and can help neutralize other objections.
5. Price your home to reflect its condition, what’s happening in your immediate market and taking your competition into consideration. You need to be priced so that by comparison, your competitors help you sell your home, not vice versa! Buyers shop for homes like they do for cars – by comparison. You need to be perceived as the bet value on the market in your price range, period.
6. Negotiate with the end goal in mind – not emotionally. Easier said than done, I know! That’s where the experience of your agent comes into play – be sure to align yourself with someone that has the experience to help you close the deal.
