Selling your house: Ways to improve it!

[Lucy]

I thought with so many waiting on their house sale that this would be a good forum for those to get the house looking new again and hopefully share with others your tips that you have found make it all worthwhile.


Sinks and garbage disposals:
One thing that is an relatively cheap way to spruce up your stainless steel sink is using a product called Cameo Aluminum and Stainless Steel cleaner. Too if you are on the fence about replacing it, this might be something that will make it look new again for you. I think you will be surprised at how well it does.
When I used to sell Cutco/Wearever while in college, we had a product with jewelers rouge in it and another fine powder for scrubbing. that worked wonders on stainless steel, but I have no idea if you can get somehting like that anymore.

The place that first came up with a picture of the product was Amazon.com, so that is what I included for a URL so that you can see it. It comes in a powder form and it worked better in my hard water than Bar Keepers friend did.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0006M6...58-3839122

To clean out your garbage disposal, take out the rubber gasket flap, pour in 1/2 cup of baking soda, then slowly add about a cup of vinegar. Vinegar warmed up works better. After that sets for 10 minutes or so run your water till it gets hot and flush the pipes. Replace your rubber gasket

A plumber once told me to never put any grease down my sink, because it will clog everything up, so I always pour it into the trash and wipe down whatever dish or whatever that has any on it. Over the years, I have not had clogged pipes and the combination of using the baking soda and vinegar has helped everything go through smoothly and keep it sweet smelling too.

We use heated vinegar to clean our faucet strainers, showerheads and sinks occasionally. With the showerhead, our is one of those water pik kinds with the long hose. I just set a large dish containing a couple cups of the hot vinegar in the tub up on a stool so that it reaches all of the showerhead and leave it there for an hour.
We have a lot of lime in our water so it takes cleaning fairly often.

Same goes for the dishwasher, but I use a cleaner made just for the dishwasher, as I used vinegar on my last one and it killed the pump. Making a replacement for a new dishwasher!

Aloha,
Lucy

Having another Great day in Paradise, Wherever that Maybe!
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/TheLanai

[emorata]

Here are some ideas about getting the best bang for the buck in selling your home fast.... ( from my previous experience as a home stager)

Watch the HGTV buying homes/selling your home programs to pick up some great hints...or go to the local library and look at books on home improvement or check/google the web for selling your home hints, staging your home, home improvement projects.

Paint is cheap - make those purple walls a more marketable beige so everyone can put up their beautiful Velour painted pictures.

Old appliances in the kitchen - buying some new applicance can make the kitchen look completely brand new, along with maybe painting/replacing cabinets, replacing outdated countertops are key or changing all those old tacky hardware - even better replacing old flooring with easy to put in flooring. Kitchens and baths are the biggest return for the investments in every home sale/renovations.


Curb appeal is really important - put in fresh flowers/plants and pull out weeds and those old/barely surviving or yucky juniper shrubs (fill in with whatever is taking over the front yard) put in grass plugs in those open patches. Front doors have to be spotless and maybe repainted/stained to look inviting. Dont leave alot of cars, campers, garbage cans and stuff out in the front to block your curb appeal....store all that stuff somewhere or best yet start downsizing now.

Homes that are in great shape....keep them looking pristine always, keep on all the lights when people come by...burn candles, bake cookies or heat aromatherapy oils...put out the pretty towels, clean those windows and hide all the junk and personal pictures and chotckes. Editing is really key here, make all those rooms feel spacious....

It might be worthwhile to have a property stager revamp your home with a few hours they can re arrange your possessions, edit and create real visual appeal with a minimal investment....or even cheaper watch the HGTV home selling shows to pick up tips

follow up scrupulously with your agents marketing program, what they are doing week to week, advertising, direct mailings, agent tours, agent flyers....how are they following up on leads and giving you feedback....nows the time to be aggressive marketing wise and some agents are really lazy about marketing outside of placing a few ads in the paper.

Keep on top of the competition in your area, visit them during their open houses and talk to the agents holding them open to gage whats happening in the market and how they are doing with their listing....any potential buyers, offers, how long in market, price reductions also ask them about their competition and input on marketing in todays market.

Craigslist or other free ad sites are very good leads, make sure your posted on these sites or your agents post on these sites that are not picked up by local MLS systems.

Even though the market is slow there are buyers out there shopping, you just need to make sure your home is the best home in the market, is the most appealing and updated or has other benefits (views, amenities, lot size, etc) to make it stand out...if not than buyers will just pass it by or really just shop for the best prices for a ho-hum type of home - so your only option is to reduce price....so the best bet is to invest in making your home stand out above the competition and really see whats out there in the market that is better than your home and make the necessary changes/improvements or price reductions to make your home stand out.

good luck with everyone and hope you get to puna soon.

noel

[Les C]

Noel touched on something that we did. We moved a lot of stuff out of our house and garage into storage units. We only kept stuff around that was absolutely necessary for us to conduct our daily lives. We took down most of the pictures and cleared out most of the decorative knick knacks. We did this because when we first saw the place, before we bought it, the house was completely empty. This allowed us to better imagine our stuff in place.

This may not work for everyone, but it helped with other issues for us. Our home was in a fairly remote location with at least 10 miles of curvy mountain roads. So putting our stuff in storage lockers made the container loading much easier.

We carpeted over worn oak flooring because refinishng would have been an issue for our bird, besides being more of an upheaval. We also had laminate flooring installed over ugly kitchen floor tiles.

In the yard, we had a retaining wall installed with a large sitting boulder at the end that became the focal point. We planted with native plants for ground cover and flowers.

All of these things were fairly low cost. We were fortunate to have good, reasonably priced labor to the yard stuff.

Les C

[John S. Rabi]

I actually had a client once who "improved" his property by bulldozing the house!

Aloha,
John S. Rabi, ABR,CM,CRB,FHS,PB,RB
http://www.JohnRabi.com
Typically Tropical Properties
75-5870 Walua Road, Suite 101
Kailua-Kona, HI 96740
(808)327-3185

[jdirgo]

All of these tips are excellent and spot-on. But there's one vital thing you can do.

The single most important thing you can do is listen to your agent's advice and carefully review the information they provide about competing properties, etc. You as the seller set the price, of course, but listen to their advice carefully.

What you bought it for doesn't set the sales price, the market does.

What you want or need to get out of it (either for a new house or whatever) doesn't set the sales price, the market does.

What your non-real-estate-professional friends think it should sell for doesn't set the sales price, the market does.

What your neighbor's third-cousins sold her house for doesn't set the sales price, the market does.

Yes, your house is amazing and unique -- there's nothing else like it -- but that doesn't make it worth $50,000 more than everything else on the market in the same neighborhood and in similar condition.

John Dirgo, RA, ABR, e-PRO
Island Trust Properties, LLC
808-987-9243 cell

[John S. Rabi]

Excellent advice from John. I only would add the following:

There are real estate agents who will list your house at any price. Make sure you work with a knowledgeable one. Your friend's cousin's brother might be a real estate agent but separate business from friendship, don't list with "Jack of All Trades."



Edited by - John S. Rabi on 08/11/2006 10:19:03

[Lucy]

That was a bunch of great advise that you guys gave out there. So planning ahead and making some wise decisions about how you are going to do it for the best sale sound great!

You know Noel, I have wondered about something you maybe could give an answer to please, about staging?
I have a 3x5 card a stager sent to us when we listed our condo for sale last year. It was a picture of a condo at the same complex and they had taken out almost off of the furniture and put in one nice small table for two, with some flowers on it, then a picture on the wall. That was all there was in the living room area. Very minimistic look. It looked great to me! Question is, would/could someone restage their house with a few new items like that per room, using some of their existing furniture like beds and some furniture and things, at about a few grand cost for their house, rent out a storage unit, store their stuff and sell their house for many thousands more because all the gunk was out of the way and it looked just very clean lines and just "nice"? I know, tough call, but it has stayed in my head that this might be an option for us. Making it look so very minimal furniture or anything kind of a look/feel to it.

To the John and John realtors, I also have those thoughts of different realtors and how they make/help choose the listing prices. Didn't know if it was a good subject to bring up here though....but since John did, maybe that will be the next one to discuss.

I just hope that we hear from some who have taken some or all of the advise that would apply to their situation and it works out the best for them. I wish too that some that don't post often or lerk would come out and ask some questions or say if some of the advise helps them. It would make more folks post and sharing is what is is all about!

Aloha,
Lucy

Having another Great day in Paradise, Wherever that Maybe!
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/TheLanai

Edited by - Lucy on 08/11/2006 21:06:52

[Robin C]

We put our Northern California house on the market in March.

We did a number of the things that Noel and Les did. Paint is a great (and cheap) way to brighten up the house. Our living room walls were all white and at the suggestion of our realtor we painted an accent wall. It provided a nice look to the room.

We did hire a stager. The $1,000 was worth it. She brought in an elegant chair that blended with our stuff, lots of pillows, plants for each room and classy little knick knacks. We removed some of our larger furniture (gave it away) and removed all pictures (to let potential buyers imagine them in the house, not us).

Also...towels. The stager recommended buying new towels. At first I thought it was a waste of money, but its amazing what a bunch of new, fluffy white towels does for a bathroom. Of course, you can't actually use them or you lose the yummy smell.

We had remodeled the kitchen and bathrooms a few years ago. These upgrades really helped to sell the house.

We had it on the market for 2 weeks and closed by mid-April.

One thing that no one has mentioned is the emotional aspect of selling a house. Ours was our first and it was hard for me to part with it. The staging and getting rid of our stuff made it seem less like the house we had lived in for 8 years. For me, this helped.

Good luck to everyone.

Robin

[Carolann R]

I have seen professional staging done on TV and it makes such a nice difference. Our thing is that we will be gone when they start showing the home. I will make sure we have new towels arranged nicely in the bathrooms - it really does make a difference. I also have a very tasteful faux suede shower curtain and a brand new liner. And I bought some really pretty sheers and valances for the windows and cafe curtains for the two smaller bedrooms.

Tony gets this great glass cleaner from Toyota since he works there...they charge a bunch for it and now I know why...it does an amazing job on the windows...they say that's a big selling point.

Also - our front door is a mission style door with a speakeasy and iron grate over the speakeasy and lots of clavos...it is solid cherry and takes about 4 people just to lift it! I wash it down with Murphy's Oil Soap and oil it good with Old English...man what a curb appeal that gives! It looks like a castle door a lot of people say...they always mention that door.

They say that when your house is shown that within the first 20 seconds of a prospective buyer walking through the front door, they know if they want it...hard to believe, but I guess it's true.



Carrie

"The opportunities to reach into the lives of others in an inspiring way arise in countless ways every single day..." Dr. Wayne W. Dyer

http://www.hellophoenix.com/art

Edited by - carolann r on 08/12/2006 08:16:22

[Robin C]

Carrie.

Sounds like you are ready.
Being gone when they start showing the house will probably be easier.
We were still working and the process of getting the house spotless before going to work each morning was not fun.
Plus, we had to arrange to have the dog out of the house each day. The cat was allowed to stay but he did not appreciate the many "visitors".

Robin