Via Debbie Rumsey (Century 21 Sea Coast, Encinitas, CA):

Are you getting ready to put your home on the market and want to know what you can do to help your Realtor sell your home?  Below are some ideas that will get your house looking neat and ready for potential buyers to walk through.

1.  Reduce the amount of furniture you have in a room.  You want the home to have a large floor area and all doorways and halls to be open and clear. 

2.  Get rid of clutter.  The photos that you cherish and are hung throughout your home are a distraction to future buyers.  They want to imagine themselves in the house and not what kind of family currently lives there.  Remove knick knacks from counters and shelves and throw away or hide magazines.  Begin packing and store boxes in a storage unit or in your attic or donate to a good cause.

3.  Repaint those colorful walls.  Create a neutral canvas for buyers, paint walls an off white or light beige color.  You may have loved that bright orange in your kitchen and adorable pink in your little girls room, however, it's time to paint and create a generic look for future buyers.  Paint is cheap and will make a huge difference when your home is on the market.  It will look fresh and clean with a good coat of paint.

4.  Organize closets.  Buyers want to look in every door and sometimes the cabinets as well.  Take a day or two to throw away, donate or pack items that you aren't using.  Closets can get very cluttered and you want to show off your storage space as it is a great asset to your home.

5.  Put valuables in a safe deposit box or in a hidden safe.  Remember that strangers will be coming into your home to view.  Don't put your grandma's wedding ring or your rare baseball cards in drawers or counters where people can take them. 

6.  Make your home sparkle. Keep your home as tidy as possible by vacuuming, dusting, keeping dishes out of the sink, hang fresh towels in the bathroom, get your windows washed, dust fan blades, replace worn out rugs, remove cobwebs.

7.  Do the sniff test.  If you made fish the night before you may want to open some windows and boil a pot of water with some cinnamon sticks, light a candle or bake some cookies. 

8.  Do some minor repairs.  Fix leaky faucets, replace old grout, put some W2 on squeeky hinges, replace any burnt out bulbs, repair holes in drywall, remove wallpaper, etc.  Walk into each room and really look around to see what you can do to repair anything that is visible.

9.  Check your curb appeal.  The first impression your buyers will have begins before they ever enter your front door.  Lure them in with fresh planted flowers, neatly trimmed bushes, green and well manicured lawns, clean sidewalks and patios and clean exterior paint.  Make sure your address is easy to read from a car.

10.  Recruit your Realtor or best friend to do a walk through and give any advice after you have completed the previous 9 items.  Everyone sees things differently and they may have some great advice on something that was overlooked. 

Doing these 10 things will be the best things you can do to get your home sold quickly after you have decided on a competitive listing price. 

 
Posted by Kathy Fuhriman on 11/03/2009 08:48 AM   Comments (0)  

Face book iconHi…Wanna be my friend? BFF’s even? I am really friendly.  Why I just might be the best friend you may ever have. See…I actually do care about you. There are lots of people who claim to be your friend. But who besides your REALTOR really has your back?  I will take care of you in sickness and in health.  You can place your full trust in me to take care of the largest financial investment you will ever make.  Place it all on MY shoulders. 

Many professionals choose to just play the lurking friend role on their Facebook profiles (several blogs and webinars suggest this as well) and I have done that as well.

But this week I decided that I am doing myself a disservice and a disservice to my “friends” by being a lurker. The way I see it, this time is the most important time of all to be spouting advice on the real estate front to all who will hear it.

The general public will hear misinformation from the news media and word of mouth if I do not continually offer updates on what the real estate situation is like in my local market.  Where else will my “friends” get this information from? Zillow, Trulia, or any number of other consolidator sites with less than accurate information for the general population?

I say NO to being a lurker from now on. I am going to offer tips and tricks and general advice about the real estate climate.  Goodbye to Lurking. I am proud of what I do and I offer great advice and service to the public and I am not ashamed to tell them about it.

Yes I do want to be your friend.

 

Just noticed an interesting trend!!! The sales of homePumping gass have been a bit slow this year but are moving along quite swimmingly (is that a word?) The interest rates were at a high of 6% earlier in the year and have fallen modestly during the summer months, but WOW we are seeing a drastic drop since the end of September.  Kind of reminds me of GAS prices which soar in May just before the holiday and remain high for the summer demand months then fall in non-peak demand months.  Is the same tactic happening with mortgage interest rates?  Do you think we could have gotten more people to buy houses in the peak season if interest rates had been more favorable then?  Do the lenders do this on purpose?  Just asking...

photo courtesy of futureatlas.com

 
Posted by Kathy Fuhriman on 10/09/2009 10:52 AM   Comments (1)  

Sellers home owners insurance expired

The sellers counted on the home closing by a certain date as stated in the contract since the homeowners insurance cancellation coincided with that date.house on fire 

Well we got to the closing table and it turns out the buyers lender had not counted on the redisclosure rules delaying the sale another week.  The seller has limited funds and does not want to shell out more money on insurance at this point (no escrow). The buyer and the buyer's insurance agent assures me that the binder for the buyers insurance policy will cover the home for the extra week.  The buyer's insurance agent says that an insurance binder does not have to be paid for 30 days.

Who holds all the risk?

So that is when I posed the question....if the house burns down, someone gets injured on the property, or any other possible situations (Murphy's Law, Acts of God)....would the future buyers insurance cover a property they do not currently own.  The insurance agent claims they will...I remain skeptical. What if the house burns down, etc and the binder never gets paid?

Can I buy insurance to protect the neighbors property against damage?

 
Posted by Kathy Fuhriman on 09/06/2009 11:49 AM   Comments (2)   homeowners, insurance, risk, liability  
 
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Kathy Fuhriman

Tremonton, UT

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Bear River Valley Realty

Office Phone: (435) 257-2787 x 101

Cell Phone: (435) 730-3583

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