Presentation is every thing:

Since you are planning to sell your home, you are either planning to move into another home that you are purchasing or you will be renting.  In either case, pack 50% of you home contents and put them away in storage. We usually find that homes contain just about 200% of its capacity of goods that we accrued over a short period of time. We see that closets and cabinets are even filled by 200% of their capacity, some times even more.  If you remove 50% of the contents of your home, your property will look bigger.  This will allow the prospective buyers to imagine their own personal belongings in the empty spaces and they are focusing more on the house than your personal belongings, which hey didn't come to see anyway.  Further, we recommend you adopt the following words to live by.  Make sure that your property has the following associations: soothing, quiet, peaceful, homey, friendly, and a relaxing feel to it.  To accomplish these atmospheres, please make sure that the TV is not  on,  you are not cooking at the time of a showing, there are no dogs inside the house and open all the curtains which will allow natural sun light to fill your home.  Since you want your home to shine, please turn all the lights on for the few hours that you are showing your home, this includes "Open Houses."  Also, please let lots of fresh air into the house.  We recommend that you have background instrument music playing in all rooms at a very low level.  Most radio stations offer this and you can also accomplish this by buying a few $15 to $25 radios and, make sure your reception is good for classical music.  Light a few candles, ask us for the recommended scents, and last, make sure your house is clean and neat.

Fun marketing that works:

We suggest you throw 3 parties after all the improvements have been done.  You can serve coffee and cookies or have "Tea parties and bite size sandwiches or even BBQ parties.  You should keep a budget of less than $100.00 per day, as well as plan to have the parties on a Thursday, Friday and Saturday.  Or, you can also plan to hold the parties on Friday, Saturday and Sunday.  Just make sure that they all take place one week before your home goes on the "Broker open home tours."  Depending on your time, invite as many of your neighbors, friends and relatives in 3 separate gatherings to show off your home.  And, be very specific to let them know that you are selling it and the purpose of the gathering is to find a possible buyer.  Do let them know that you are very motivated to sell.  You see, your neighbors love the area that you live in so, they are your best marketers.  If your home is priced well, they will tell every one they know about yours.  And, since most people believe that their home is worth more than market price, if you price your home well, they will also convince their friends, co-workers and family members that you are selling it well below market value.  Plus, they know all the reasons why they like to live there and those are the reasons why they are convincing.  After all, every one likes to live close to some one that they like rather than a stranger.

Fun home work:

Find out where are the parks around your home, good restaurants, good café, preschools for, good schools are what makes your neighborhood good but, be sure to never mislead any one.
Before you price your property, look at the open houses in your area look at homes about 20% higher than yours, and determine what you have in common with them and why they are priced 20% more, as well as visit open houses that are priced up to 20% below your desired price to see what your customers will see in your area.  This fun home work will give you confidence, accuracy to see the reality of what is going on in your area.

Free Advertising:

Seventy-two percent of California home buyers use the Internet

As an "Important part of the home-buying process," The real estate sites used by home buyers typically filter price in $25,000 or $50,000 increments, so a home selling for $499,000 is likely to be seen significantly more than a home selling for $505,00 because the $505,000 home will be excluded by buyers who set $499,000 as their maximum price.

Above and beyond everything that we offer on marketing, we also recommend you to post an ad on Craigs List.  We can send you a step by step process of how to post on line ads as well as recommend that you update your ads every 2 days.

Last:
No agent knows your home as well as you. Most buyers feel more comfortable after meeting the actual owner of the property they would like to purchase. By hosting your own open house, you avoid agents using your home as a meeting place for buyers looking for properties OTHER than yours.