home selling tips: Home Sellers Should Forget the Headlines and Call a Local Real Estate Agent - 02/16/12 08:17 PM
Homeowners get it; the U.S. housing market is still far from “normal,” with new horror stories beig reported daily. Many wonder if they’ll be stuck in their homes forever. However, the reality is that the real estate statistics reported nationally are meaningless to the average homeowner. Yes, real estate is local, and has always been that way.    
  
Home sellers should forget the headlines and call a local real estate agent, the best one they can find. Local agents are the experts on local markets; they know what’s happening locally, the only statistics that truly matter to those wishing … (6 comments)

home selling tips: Create An Exterior Sanctuary To Gain An Advantage When Selling - 03/30/10 02:35 PM
In today’s competitive housing market, sellers can create an exterior sanctuary to gain an advantage when selling. With consumers maintaining a tight grip on their purses, many are looking for ways to make their home environment more attractive and enjoyable. And with the warm summer months just ahead, appealing to American’s love of outdoor spaces can significantly increase a home’s charm.
 
Creating or updating areas for privacy, entertainment, play, or gardening will have an almost universal appeal, and it just may create the competitive edge needed to generate a sale. Much of the work is not necessarily expensive, with many … (27 comments)

home selling tips: Ten Steps To Speed The Sale Of A Home - 09/16/09 07:15 PM
While most Realtors® may be aware of the steps necessary to sell a home in today’s market, most homeowners are not. And some of those homeowners prefer to omit the most important step and try to “go it alone.” Having built and sold hundreds of homes, I’ve seen the benefits of using the services of a professional Realtor®; and the numbers confirm my observations.
 
This post assumes that you have already done everything necessary to prepare your home for sale. You’ve made the decision on whether you’ll hire a Realtor® or take the FSBO route. You’ve made all the necessary … (11 comments)

home selling tips: Easy Home Repair Tips And Much More At The Housing Guru - 08/30/09 03:50 PM
Want to know how to repair a LEAKY FAUCET, REPLACE A TOILET FILL VALVE, UNCLOG A DRAIN, REPAIR HOLES IN DRYWALL, ADD A DIMMER SWITCH, or INSTALL A PROGRAMMABLE THERMOSTAT? Click on these links and find easy to follow instructions on how to make these repairs and dozens more.
 
Maybe you’d like to MAKE A RAIN BARREL, INCREASE YOUR ATTIC INSULATION, or get tips on GREENING YOUR HOME. The Housing Guru has lots of helpful information for home owners who want to upgrade, maintain, or repair their home.
 
But what if you want to sell that home. Need tips … (2 comments)

home selling tips: 10 Tips Guaranteed to Bring Buyers To A Home - 08/24/09 08:50 AM
With housing experiencing its toughest market in decades, anxious sellers want to know if there is something they can do to speed the sale of their home, and the answer is yes; the following are 10 tips guaranteed to bring buyers to a home:
1. Make your home irresistible. By following a few simple steps, sellers can make their home rise above the competition. Click HERE to learn how.
2. Price the home at or slightly below market. If you are underwater with your mortgage, consider a short sale. If you need to sell don’t wait; prices may continue to decline, … (35 comments)

home selling tips: Why Hasn't Our Home Sold? - 08/19/09 02:45 PM
Dear Agent,
Why hasn’t my house sold? You’ve had it listed for 3 months and we haven’t yet even had an offer. We’ve done everything we can do, yet we’re hardly getting any traffic. It makes us wonder if you’re doing your job.
Since we’ve done our part, the fault must be yours. Just so you remember, here is a list of all the things we’ve done.
Every time you tell me you’re showing our house, I lock Brutus, our German shepherd, in the laundry room. I know you said he barks real loud, but that’s part of his guard dog … (15 comments)

home selling tips: Hot Tips for Sellers on Blog Talk Radio - 06/23/09 01:42 PM
Home sellers competing with foreclosures and poor sales traffic can get the latest tips to make their home rise above the competition. John Mulkey, The Housing Guru, will be featured tomorrow on BlogTalkRadio at 12:00 eastern time. John will address the difficult issues that sellers face in making their home rise above the competition and will provide specific tips on how to do so.
 
Armed with the knowledge gained during his 40 year career in marketing homes, John shares the tricks and techniques used by the housing giants, and explains how sellers can inexpensively adapt those methods to help them … (4 comments)

home selling tips: 10 Steps to Beat the Competition and Sell Your Home - 06/20/09 11:54 AM
In a buyer’s market, it’s necessary to take extra steps in order to sell your home. Removing clutter, cleaning, and touching up paint are just not enough. Below I have outlined several strategies that will make an average home rise above the competition. This list assumes that the home already sparkles both inside and out with no obvious buyer objections.
 
1. Hire a PROFESSIONAL home stager. If you truly want your home to rise above all competition, you’ll have to do some staging. Review each room and make changes as necessary to remove potential objections that might be a buyer … (7 comments)

home selling tips: Can I Afford To Have My Home Staged? - 06/12/09 02:48 PM
As a former homebuilder with 40 years experience, I can say without equivocation that professionally staged homes have a distinct advantage over non-staged homes. I can say this as I have had direct experience with the sales of thousands of homes during my career.
 
With several years in the corporate world of home building, I saw first hand the advantages of staged homes. That’s why ALL major homebuilders, including the ones for which I worked, had professionally decorated model homes in each neighborhood. And strangely, the model home plan was always the big seller in that neighborhood.
 
The simple … (11 comments)

home selling tips: A Great New Article on The Housing Guru - 04/11/09 10:32 AM
The Housing Guru has just posted an interesting article about color selection written by AR member and professional home stager, Kathy Nielsen.  Filled with helpful tips to aid home sellers, the article describes the importance of selecting colors to appeal the the broadest audience. 
Visitors to The Housing Guru will also find the Sherwin-Williams "Color Visualizer" tool, a great way for homeowners to experiment with color without having the expense of buying test cans of paint.  The Color Visualizer allows users to select various room styles or exterior designs that most closely match there situation and then to drag and drop … (0 comments)

home selling tips: Timing the Housing Recovery - 04/08/09 07:37 PM
Lots of potential buyers are sitting out the housing crisis, waiting to see a bottom; and blogs and news sites readily proclaim the end is near. But is it? Is the housing hype just promulgated by starving Realtors®, eager builders, desperate sellers, news outlets needing a story, or a government frantic to stabilize the economy? Perhaps.
 
But the larger story is that it’s impossible to predict the housing bottom. If it were possible, investors could get rich. We can analyze the trends, look at the statistics, and gorge ourselves on predictions, but, in the end, all we come away with … (4 comments)

home selling tips: What Every Home Seller Should Know About Today's Market - 02/22/09 04:03 PM
The first reaction most sellers have to today’s market is disbelief at how much their home has declined in value in the past year, and their next reaction is usually to try to justify why their home is worth more than their neighbors. And the good news is: It may be. However, it’s not because of any emotional value; homes are worth more because they show better, have better features, more living space, upgrades, etc.
 
Pricing a home beyond its value severely delays its sale and creates future problems; homes that have been on the market for months, or in … (3 comments)

home selling tips: Frugal Living Info on The Housing Guru - 02/17/09 02:36 PM
The Housing Guru has just added a new section entitled, "Frugal Living" to its website, www.thehousingguru.com. The new section provides information on saving money when remodeling, green living, how to save on energy costs, and several easy do-it-yourself projects. 
 
Check out this new section; and if it has been a while since you last visited, we have added other useful information for those interested in buying, selling, building, or remodeling.  Also, watch for our new "Home Repair" and "How To" sections, coming soon. 
 
The Housing Guru is committed to providing timely and useful information for home owners, home buyers … (2 comments)

home selling tips: THE Website for Housing Information - 11/28/08 03:04 PM
A valuable storehouse of information for Home buyers, sellers, remodelers, and Realtors® can be found at TheHousingGuru.com. Providing up-to-date advice and news in the world of real estate, the website is continually growing to meet the demands of a complex housing market.
 
The latest addition, a series of comprehensive “How-To” videos will be added in the coming weeks. Handy men and women will soon find video demonstrations of the most common, and some not-so-common home repairs and upgrades. To learn more, or to suggest future topics, visit: www.TheHousingGuru.com.
… (0 comments)

home selling tips: 10 DONT'S IN SELLING YOUR HOME - 11/09/08 11:42 AM

 
1. Don’t put your house on the market until both you and it are ready. Make sure you’ve done your homework on pricing and have decided on both the listing price and what you wish to net from the sale. You should have already selected your Realtor®, and all of your touch-ups, clean-up, repairs, or improvements are 100% complete.
2. Don’t let emotions cloud your decision making process. Once you’ve decided to sell, the house is no longer your home; it’s a commodity you wish to dispose of. Buyers aren’t trying to offend you with low offers or criticisms … (0 comments)

 

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