Real Estate Expert Jack Thomas Reveals How to Get the Highest Price for any Home in Helena Montana

Jack Thomas (Montana Legacy Real Estate) — Tue, 25 Jan 2011 17:26:04 -0800

It's only natural to want to sell your house for as much as it possibly can go for. As an experienced agent in the Helena Montana area, I've seen many houses go for both low and high prices. What makes the difference? In this article, we'll go over several steps you can take to ensure your house goes for the highest price possible.

Tip #1 - Have Amazing Curb Appeal

Pay a disproportionate amount of time to your buyer's first impression. Your front lawn and the front of your house will make a big impact on your buyer's impression of the house. If the outside is dirty, at the very least have the house power washed. If the paint is old to the point where it's noticable, it'll pay off to have the exterior repainted.

Tip #2 - Stage the Interior Like a Pro

Staging a house well is essential to a top dollar sale. You wouldn't pay top dollar for damaged goods, any more than a buyer wouldn't pay top dollar for a house that isn't in tip top condition.

Make sure the walls, carpets, floors, tiles and even the ceiling are in great condition. Steam wash the carpets and repaint the walls if necessary.

Make any necessary repairs before showing the house. Scrape the tiles, grease up sqeaking hinges, replace rusted fixtures. Appliances such and refrigerators and microwaves should be cleaned inside and out.

Pay particular attention to the lighting and the scent. These both have a powerful subliminal impact on the buyer. The lighting in your house could be the difference between getting the sale and losing the sale.

Tip #3 - Have Great Marketing

One of the top reasons to work with an experienced real estate agent is because they bring great marketing skills to the table. They've sold dozens of homes already and know how to bring in buyers consistently. There are many different ways to market a house. Often times they're not exclusive. The more places you market your house, the quicker you'll sell your house and the more you'll get for your house.

Remember that none of the repairs or aesthetics matter at all if you don't get buyers in to your house. Working with a qualified real estate agent will help you do just that.

There is a lot of free information available to you about buying, selling or investing in Helena real estate. For complete information about the Helena Montana real estate market including current homes for sale, property values and more please visit the most complete website online dedicated to everything Helena Montana real estate at www.helenamtrealestate.net. Please feel free to contact me with any of your real estate related questions and I will be more than glad to answer your questions. Call me on my cell at 406-431-0599 or email me at hydro@bresnan.net.

Tips to Getting Any Home in Helena Montana to Sell Quickly

Jack Thomas (Montana Legacy Real Estate) — Sun, 23 Jan 2011 13:08:21 -0800

Houses sometimes fly off the market in just weeks. Other times they sit there for months. What is it that makes the difference? In this article, I'll reveal several tips to help you sell your house quickly, based on years of experience in real estate in Helena Montana.

Tip #1 - Have a Price in Mind (With a Definite Bottom Line)

To sell a house in Helena quickly, sometimes you may have to accept a lower offer. The time vs price dilemma is an old one indeed. How willing are you to sacrifice a higher price for a faster sale? Before you embark on selling your house, you should have a good idea of your price range - what price you will and won't accept.

Tip #2 - Get a Home Pre-Inspection

Most buyers will request a home inspection anyway. If you're going for the fast sale, it could speed things up quite a bit to have a home pre-inspection in hand already.

Tip #3 - Have Great Staging and Presentation

Staging is the process of making your house look as appealing as possible. This includes steam cleaning all the carpets, wiping down the floors, scraping the tiles and so on. When the buyer walks in, their first impression should be that your house is sparkling clean. If a house is clean, you're presenting the house as something that's worth a lot of money. If the house is dirty or if you just haven't tsken the time to make it look the best possible, you're presenting the house as something that can be bargained for.

Tip #4 - A Good Marketing Strategy

It's important to get as many potential buyers into your house as possible. This means you must have GREAT marketing. A good real estate agent will know how to market a home in Helena Montana because they've done it many times before. Your agent should be utilizing a range of effective tactics to ensure your house gets sold as quickly as possible. I offer all my clients a written marketing strategy for their home with specific marketing tactics and schedules for each. Most agents don't do so. NOTE: just pounding a sign in the front yard and "winging it" marketing will not work in these tougher market time. If the agent you're talking to cannot produce a full written marketing strategy specific to your property - move on to an agent who will effectively market your home.

Tip #5 - Use A Competent Real Estate Professional

A competent, full-time, experienced real estate professional will be of tremendous value to any seller and will assist the seller with the above tasks as well as countless others during the often complicated home sale process. Don't think you will save money by attempting to sell your home on your own. On average, homes sold with the assistance of a Realtor sold for 16% higher that those sold by the owners. Sellers should use a Realtor and put that money in their pocket.

There is a lot of free information available to you about selling your house in the Helena Montan real estate market. For complete information about Helena Montana real estate including current homes for sale, property values and more please visit the most complete website online dedicated to everything Helena Montana real estate, at http://www.helenamtrealestate.net. Also, please feel free to contact me with any of your Helena Montana real estate or property management questions. I will be more than glad to answer your questions. Call me at 406-431-0599 or email me at hydro@bresnan.net.

Jack Thomas's Blog

Real Estate Expert Jack Thomas Reveals How to Get the Highest Price for any Home in Helena Montana

Tips to Getting Any Home in Helena Montana to Sell Quickly