House Selling Tips – How to Stage an Occupied Home For Sale

House Selling Tips 1 - You need to think of your house as a marketable commodity. Your goal is to get others to see it as their potential home, not yours. If you do not consciously make this decision, you can inadvertently create a situation where it takes longer to sell your property. The first step in getting your home ready to sell is to depersonalize it. 

House Selling Tips 2 - When a potential homebuyer sees your family photos hanging on the wall, it puts your own brand on the home and momentarily shatters their illusions about living in the house themselves. Put away family photos, sports trophies, collectible items, knick knacks, and souvenirs. 

House Selling Tips 3 – Clutter collects on shelves, counter tops, drawers, closets, garages, attics, and basements and remove it. You want as much open clear space as possible, so every extra little thing needs to be cleared away. 

House Selling Tips 4 – The kitchen is a good place to start removing clutter, because it is an easy place to start. First, get everything off the counters everything, even the toaster. Put the toaster in a cabinet and take it out when you use it. Find a place where you can store everything in cabinets and drawers. 

House Selling Tips 5 - Designate the room adjoining the kitchen as the Family Room. Emphasize the Kitchen and Family Room, with open flow, bright energetic colors and warm, relaxed textures. Make sure the space can accommodate food prep, eating, playing, relaxing, homework (kids AND adults). 

House Selling Tips 6 – Many people have too much furniture in certain rooms – not too much for your own personal living needs – but too much to give the illusion of space that a homebuyer would like to see. Observe how other builders place furniture in their models so you get some ideas on what to remove and what to leave in your house. 

House Selling Tips 7 – Your lawn should be evenly cut, freshly edged, well watered, and free of brown spots. If there are problems with your lawn, you should probably take care of them before working on the inside of your home. 

House Selling Tips 8 – The back yard should be tidy. If you have a pool or spa, keep it freshly maintained and constantly cleaned. For those that have dogs, be sure to constantly keep the area clear of debris. Your back yard has to appear as spacious as possible, especially in newer homes where the yards are not as large. 

House Selling Tips 9 – When choosing a color, it should not be something garish and unusual, but a color that fits well in your neighborhood. Of course, the color also depends on the style of your house, too. 

House Selling Tips 10 – Deep clean the whole house, every nook and cranny. Paint anything that does not come up clean. Polish every item, especially wood floors, and metallic surfaces, that could gleam, glow and reflect light.

Home Selling Tips – House Selling Tips for Open Houses

Home Selling Tips 1 - If you are trying to sell your house, there are some things that you can do to help make sure that your home makes the best appearance possible for your visitors. The very first and foremost task is to give your home a good, thorough cleaning. 

Home Selling Tips 2 - The sense of smell is very powerful, and it can have a direct effect on our emotions, both for good and bad. Identify foul odors in your home, and then get rid of them as soon as possible. 

Home Selling Tips 3 - If some of your rooms are small, remove any nonessential furniture to help them appear larger and more inviting. 

Home Selling Tips 4 - Giving your walls a fresh coat of paint is a very cheap and easy way to brighten up the appearance of almost any home quickly and easily. 

Home Selling Tips 5 - Other ways to liven up the appearance of your home and set a warm, inviting atmosphere is to bring in flowers and place them around in strategic locations. 

Home Selling Tips 6 - The use of music can be very beneficial too as long as it is kept quietly playing in the background. Classical or jazz music are good choices that appeal to a lot of people. 

Home Selling Tips 7 - Clean up the important rooms such as the front hallway where people first walk in, the kitchen, the master bedroom, and all the washrooms. Gleaming tiles, clear windows, and polished hardwood make a great impression. 

Home Selling Tips 8 - Make sure leaky faucets are fixed, squeaky spots on floors are taken care of, and walls should be freshly painted or super clean. 

Home Selling Tips 9 - Put away the family photos and take down the kids pictures from the fridge. You want buyers to feel like it is their home, not yours. 

Home Selling Tips 10 - Make sure your home smells inviting - a subtle fragrance from a pleasant air freshener will do wonders. Buyers notice all the little details, so you should too.

Home Staging Tips Or Summer Real Estate Staging Tips

Home Staging Tips 1 - In hot and competitive market of summer, buyers are expecting yards to be parading their - best in bloom - colors, and showing off all their assets. So, slap on that sunscreen and get in gear to optimize your homes final sale price. 

Home Staging Tips 2 - Stage the table with a nice linen or cotton table cloth: something airy and summery. Set up some colorful potted plants or flowers around the table to add some appealing color. 

Home Staging Tips 3 - Water features are enticing elements and if you can – spring - for a well placed fountain on your deck or in your garden. The sound of water generally evokes a calming emotion and can serve to drain out any unwanted neighborhood sounds. 

Home Staging Tips 4 - Adding lush green foliage is a great way to spruce up empty space that is currently unused. An easy way to add beautiful green, tropical flair to your landscaping is to add hanging ferns. 

Home Staging Tips 5 - you should make sure your deck is as appealing and comfortable as the inside of your home. Watch for cracks on structural timbers. Check the surface of the deck and remove any old nail heads or screws that are sticking out and replace them with galvanized decking screws. 

Home Staging Tips 6 - Less is more. Edit and refine your garden accents. We want buyers to concentrate on the home, not the ornaments. 

Home Staging Tips 7 - Rid the Rugs. Summer is all about cool and fresh. Roll up those rugs and let your bare floors set the stage for the season. If you need to have a rug down, try purchasing a grass, bamboo or weather resistant version for a seasonal setting. 

Home Staging Tips 8 - Baths can be refreshed with large apothecary jars filled with bath salts and scented shells.  Replace jewel toned towels with neutral or white shades. 

Home Staging Tips 9 – Add umbrellas for extra shade. Select umbrellas in cool colors; floral patterns look pretty but often have warm colors. Place your umbrellas in big pots or even in the dirt around your garden. 

Home Staging Tips 10 – Use white and blue iridescent accent lights. Look for bulbs that simulate natural daylight. Soften your rooms lighting at dusk with many light sources instead of a few bright lights.

House Selling Tips – Lawn Care Tips

House Selling Tips 1 - One deep watering is much better than watering several times lightly. Lawns need about one inch of water each week. If the weather is very hot, apply an inch of water about every three days. 

House Selling Tips 2 - Fertilize less. Instead of stocking up on fertilizer, clear out yard debris and test the soil to find out the pH of the soil, missing nutrients, how much of each is needed, and when to apply them. 

House Selling Tips 3 - Thicken your turf. Choose grass suited to your climate, soil conditions and lifestyle. 

House Selling Tips 4 - Think beyond grass. Grass will not grow everywhere, so consider shade loving ground covers, ornamental grasses, and plants instead. 

House Selling Tips 5 - Do a weekly walk around. Check the lawn once a week for stressed plants and turf, bare spots, compacted soil, and signs of too much watering. 

House Selling Tips 6 - Good basic maintenance techniques will go a long way in keeping the lawns of your home and garden healthy, thriving and with few weeds. 

House Selling Tips 7 - Spring is the best time to fertilize lawns as this is when the grass is waking up and will need the extra nutrients from the fertilizer to assure healthy growth. The best garden lawn fertilizers will have a combination of nitrogen, phosphates and potash. 

House Selling Tips 8 - Many times it is a good idea to follow up the spring fertilizing of your lawn garden with another round of fertilization in the summer. 

House Selling Tips 9 - It is also a good idea to use a fertilizer mixture that contains weed killer to help keep the weeds to a minimum. A properly fed and thriving healthy lawn will allow you to enjoy beautiful lawns around your home and garden throughout the growing season. 

House Selling Tips 10 - No building is complete without some grass, a few plants and some shrubbery to help enhance the quality of the building. The added value of curb appeal can make the difference when selling a house or increasing the value of a home.

Home Selling Tips – Tips on Landscaping

Landscaping can be a smart investment; the first impressions of a buyer can often make or break a sale, and the exterior of your home is the first thing everyone sees. For a small investment of time and money, you can use landscaping to make your house stand out and be noticed. The following are some Home Selling Tips about of landscaping you should consider before putting your house on the market: 

Home Selling Tips 1 - Plan before you buy. Sketch your landscape design on paper before you start planting and building. Knowing exactly what you need and where you're going to put it helps avoid wasting money. 

Home Selling Tips 2 - Begin by coordinating the colors of your flowering foliage. Think about your selling season and plan for flowering plants that perform well during that time. Also give thought to the desired atmosphere and use plants to support that concept. 

Home Selling Tips 3 - If you have no dedicated walkway to the front door, add a simple pathway. A wandering pathway to the front door psychologically feels better than a straight-shot walkway. If you have a plain, straight concrete walkway, create undulating flower beds on either side to encourage a relaxed, friendly feeling. 

Home Selling Tips 4 - Adding a water feature also enhances the ambiance, because moving water relaxes the body and mind and refreshes the spirit. 

Home Selling Tips 5 - Cutting fresh edges where grass meets mulch makes the lawn look well kept. A move as simple as curving the edge of your flower beds could increase the value of your home by one percent. Also, if your foundation plants are overgrown, widening the beds by two feet will make the shrubs seem smaller. 

Home Selling Tips 6 - Choose a highly visible area for your planting; near the front of the house or next to a front path or stair is usually a good choice. Landscaping should match the style of the house. 

Home Selling Tips 7 - It is important that you start out with good soil and maintain the ideal growing conditions for your grass type. Generally, this starts with having your soil tested. Testing the soil will ensure that you are fertilizing correctly and help you understand which grass is best for your area. 

Home Selling Tips 8 - Fences provides privacy, but select a style, such as lattice, that lets air circulate while blocking the view. Dress it up with an apple tree or pyracantha trained in a decorative design on a wire grid. 

Home Selling Tips 9 - Brick paving and lion sculptures add to the semiformal look, which is made less rigid by splashes of annual flowers. 

Home Selling Tips 10 - Talk to the professional Home Stagers or other Landscaping Professionals. You may not need to hire a landscape architect or designer to develop your whole project, but somewhat little for an hour long consultation is well worth the money if it saves you from costly mistakes later.

Home Staging Tips – Staging the Kitchen

Home Staging Tips 1 - Pay extra attention to the sink, counters, stove, etc. Kitchen design is certainly important when selling a home, but cleanliness is also a must. 

Home Staging Tips 2 - Consider making upgrades to the kitchen if necessary. In the market of buyers, you should go beyond basic cleaning and actually upgrade some of the features of kitchen. Tour some model homes or view them online to get an idea of current trends. 

Home Staging Tips 3 - Turn the lights on and open the curtains to showcase the sparkle. Shed some light on the subject. If you have dark areas of your kitchen, you might even consider adding supplemental lighting, such as recessed lighting around the edges. 

Home Staging Tips 4 - Changing the paint color, counter tops and back splash can improve the look and feel of the kitchen. 

Home Staging Tips 5 - A coat of paint or re staining the cabinet might be all they need. Adding new hardware will also give them an updated look. 

Home Staging Tips 6 - One of the best ways to update a kitchen is with lighting. Kitchens need task lighting so think of under the cabinet lighting. You can even place an up light in a corner to through off more light. 

Home Staging Tips 7 - Remove everything from your kitchen counters that is not essential for every day cooking. These items should be stored in cupboards. Clean out the food storage areas and refrigerator to make sure nothing is expired, moldy or rotten. Clean out under the kitchen sink. 

Home Staging Tips 8 – Make your storage space smaller and more minimal. If you have lots of storage, you will fill it with stuff. 

Home Staging Tips 9 – When it comes to papers in the kitchen, just say no. Kitchens are for cooking and eating. Bills, newspapers and school papers belong in an office area or in a desk. 

Home Staging Tips 10 - Dressing the kitchen is our final step. Remember when it comes to the kitchen less is more. Keep the entire small appliance tucked away. Bring out only what you need and when you are finished using them put them away.

House Selling Tips – Curb Appeal Tips to attract potential Home Buyers

House Selling Tips 1 - Achieving curb appeal for all four seasons begins with a plant selection plan that will provide something to catch the eye in each of the four seasons. The goal is to have flowering trees throughout spring and summer, fall foliage in autumn and good structure in winter. 

House Selling Tips 2 - When you are designing a landscape that will be going on the real estate market, you are designing for the tastes of someone else not your own. You need info about what buyers are currently looking for, as well as a grasp of curb appeal. 

House Selling Tips 3 - Curb appeal can be a challenge along the seacoast, where salty soils and salt laden winds present a landscaping problem. If you wish to dress up the approach to your beach home, use specimens such as the salt tolerant plants. 

House Selling Tips 4 - You need not have a perfectly green and crab grass free lawn, but plugging holes and filling in bare spots with seed can enhance visual appeal of your home. Keep your grass trimmed and orderly, rake up fall leaves, and do something about all of those dandelions. 

House Selling Tips 5 - Trim the vegetation around your home -- particularly those bushes that may conceal windows. Then be sure that your landscaping looks great all of the time, even if you have to hire a gardener while your home is listed. 

House Selling Tips 6 - Make sure the sidewalk and front walkways are swept clean and remove any weeds you see growing in the cracks. You should repair any bad cracks in the front walkway. 

House Selling Tips 7 - Make sure the lawn stays freshly mowed and all shrubs are neatly trimmed. Add a little sod to any bare spots in your lawn. 

House Selling Tips 8 - If the roof needs to be replaced, do it before you start showing your home to buyers. Replace any broken or missing shingles or tiles where needed. If the eaves and fascia boards look bad, just give them a fresh coat of paint. 

House Selling Tips 9 - Doorway is the focal point of your home. You can simply repaint the door and replace the hardware to give a new fresh look. If you have house numbers by your door, those can easily be replaced, if needed. 

House Selling Tips 10 - Annual flowers are an inexpensive way to add instant color to your exterior. Whether you choose hanging baskets, window boxes or planters on the deck or porch, area nurseries will have a wide variety available.