Staging your home to Sell in Spring!

by Norman on April 10, 2012

Any home stager will tell you that “staging is staging” and the principals remain the same throughout the year—keep things clean, clutter free and colorful. But that doesn’t each season comes without its own brand of staging magic.

For spring, there are a number of things you can do both inside and outside to take advantage of the beautiful weather.

Barb Schwarz, creator of Homes Staging® and CEO of Stagedhomes.com, suggests adding splashes of color to your porch with potted flowers. She favors larger pots placed on each side of the front door bearing tulips or daisies with greenery in the middle.

Bringing spring colors into a home is just as easy, especially with accessories like throw pillows, area rugs, artwork, towels and bedspreads.

“Change accessories and the whole house changes,” Schwarz said. Swap-out decorative pillows on a sofa for a fresh, new look. “This year nature colors are really in; green is really big and hot orange is an accent that is strong.”

Designers recommend using other knickknacks that speak of spring, such as pears, eggs, sea shells, nature, leaf patterns in fabrics, wicker, real leather and rust metal as contrast.

Schwarz said it’s also a good idea to replace the drapery panels in a home or office. She recently changed a den from a daisy pattern in blue to cream plain panels that went from ceiling to the floor “and the whole room looked bigger and more elegant,” she said.

Of course, all rooms in the house are important and there are ways to liven up each one as the spring season blooms. You want the buyer to buy the whole house, not just one or two rooms staged, so it’s important to create a cohesive design.

Yet don’t forget your “great outdoors.” Clean up your yards, remove fallen leaves and dead plants, and trim bushes and hedges.

Indeed, spring brings more buyers so take advantage of all that the season has to offer.

We can refer you to our own staging and remodeling folks if you prefer not to do it yourself!  Should your home need more than just staging, a bit of cleanup could mean replacing your carpet or changing out the old tired tile in the baths.   See www.Redesignmyplace.com  for that but ensure you stay tuned here for more real estate ideas.

We are Sell This Place Now.com (and soon – BuyThisPlaceNow.com also!)  We can help you if you are buying or selling!

Call us at 713.818.0829

 

 

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Is it time for a Discount Broker?

by Norman on April 6, 2012

Why not hire a discount broker?  One who charges less – in some cases, apparently a lot less.

This has been asked time and time again.   All agents are the same, right?  Then why not just put my home up for sale with a discount broker and sell and save?  After all, I’ve seen ads that say “We’ve saved our clients Thousands of $$ over conventional brokers..”

First, let’s show you the break down of how agencies get paid.

Let’s assume a $310,000 home sells for $300,000.00 and there is a 6% commission.   Usually there is the listing broker and the selling broker splitting the 6% (3% + 3%) equally, or $9,000.00 each

Would you want to offer less to the agent that has the buyer?  say just offer $3,000?  Maybe $6,000 or so?   Probably the buyer’s agent would not show your property.  You would lose out.    True – the buyer’s agent works on behalf of the buyer but is going to direct traffic to homes that will pay the “standard amount” of 3%.   Thus, cutting down on the buyer’s agent commission is dangerous.

That leaves the listing agent fee.  Your marketing money.

The discount broker as a listing agent would have to cut the amount of marketing to sell your home.

Is this a good idea?  YES – if we are in a true Seller’s market.  In a true seller’s market “the buyers are going to come anyway” might be the thought.  Few homes for sale -  many buyers.   You may just put a “For Sale By Owner” sign up and you will be flooded with inquiries.

What about in a Buyer’s Market?   Lots of homes for sale – few buyers.  Should we skimp on the marketing?

We all know what happens to other companies when things are tough. They cut their advertising budgets and then fewer sales.  Cut some more. Even fewer sales.  Finally the company may have to close down.

Does it not make more sense to advertise MORE to attract the most possible buyers?

 What does Sell This Place Now and Prudential Gary Greene Realtors offer that discount brokers do not?

1) A large sales force.  City wide we have over 1,000 agents going to work for you.

2) Home in at least 23 different web sites with expanded photo coverage (look at Realtor.com  web site and compare number of photos offered by discount companies and the Prudential brand.

3) Bundled Services:  Mortgage, Sales, Title, Renovations all under one roof

4) Postcard mailers with your home on it mailed to thousands (with the price of postage now, this is quite expensive – but effective)

5) Known name in the industry.  It is important to have the leverage of the name brand when dealing with other agents, mortgage companies and relocation.

6) Worldwide relocation.  The Prudential network is worldwide.  With one of the largest arrays of corporate accounts feeding us sellers and buyers – we may have that right buyer for your home. Now combined with Brookfield Global Relocation – we are even larger!

7) Internal marketing departments.  At discount brokers, the one agent takes care of everything from planting the sign to running his/her own copies to carrying mail to the post office.  Additionally, most discount brokers are individuals themselves with no other staff.  We have an entire department dedicated to marketing!

Which one of these items would you like to cut?  The Relocation?  The Advertising?  The large Sales Force?  The Marketing Department?

The  TRUTH is:  More marketing money= more potential buyers attracted = more offers = higher sales price potential!

 

Norman Frenk and the Sell This Place Now team have the education, expertise, marketing plans and marketing dollars to get your home positioned correctely on the market and exposed to thousands of potential buyers.  Call to get your places sold now!

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