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Pricing, Pictures, and Great External Curb Appeal

By
Home Stager with Kates Home Staging and Interior Design Owner & Lead Designer

Some houses sell very quickly while others just sit on the market and really do not go anywhere.  There are three main things that need to be done to get potential buyers past your front door.

1.  Your online pictures.  I have to agree with this, since over 85% of buyers are looking online first before visiting a home.  If your online home picture are not impressive, most potential buyers will not physically go to see your home.  In the age of the Internet, online marketing is very important.  Once you have perfected your online pictures, make sure buyers can locate your listing everywhere.  There are even sites that allow you to list your home for free such as Zillow.

2.  Your home's price.  If you are priced too high in your neighborhood, your home is not going to sell and it definitely will not sell quickly.  Your online marketing and your home's price are the 2 most important things to get right when selling your home. This is something a qualified realtor can help you with.  To find a realtor in your area, you can go to realtor.com and take a look at the number of listings this realtor currently has.  This will help a home seller determine the realtor's experience in your neighborhood.

3.  Plain landscaping.  In this market, you need to have great curb appeal outside and draw potential buyers inside your home.  Please invest in some black or red mulch to make your flower beds pop and also make sure your house number is large enough and can be seem from the street.  A potential buyer will get frustrated if he/she cannot locate your home on a street because there is no number on it. 

These are the three items needed to attract a potential buyer into your home - the right price, the right online pictures, and great external curb appeal. 

Once the potential buyer has entered your home please make sure your home is clean and has been maintained appropriately. Also, add some color in the form of accent pillows in your living rooms and bedrooms.  This is another very inexpensive fix to make your home look great. Also, do not overlook any simple home maintenance repairs. A leaky faucet can be fixed with a 50 cents washer and should not be overlooked if you are planning to sell your home.  Please paint stained walls, shampoo stained carpets, and clean everything twice.  You really do not want to scare off a potential buyer with a quick fix that you could do on your own in an hour or less.

If you are planning on selling your home, it is probably the largest investment you have and you need to market it as such. Spending a $1,000 - $2,000 to prepare your home for sale will help you receive top dollar for your home and could also speed up the sale of your home.

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Comments(4)

Edward Bachman
EXIT REALTY SOLUTIONS - Kingwood, TX
Your Kingwood TX Realtor

Kate, you give good advise, if only more would listen.  Even those that do listen often have a differnent idea of what neat and clean is....if you know what I mean.

Aug 09, 2009 05:43 AM
Kate Talarico
Kates Home Staging and Interior Design - Goshen, NY
RESA, Top Orange County Home Decorator & Stager

Edward,

I definitely know what you mean. A few years back I was in a home that was missing drywall, but they had their own tanning bed.  -Kate

Aug 09, 2009 05:52 AM
Edward Bachman
EXIT REALTY SOLUTIONS - Kingwood, TX
Your Kingwood TX Realtor

Drywall or tanning bed.....come on Kate....where are your priorities???

Aug 09, 2009 06:49 AM
Annie Pinsker-Brown
Stage to Sell - LA Home Staging - Los Angeles, CA
Stage to Sell, Los Angeles Home Stager

Kate, great post! These are all important things for sellers to remember when preparing their home for sale!

Aug 18, 2009 08:10 AM