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Getting the Highest Price for Your Home

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Listing Tips

Your home is often the largest investment you own and selling your home is a significant financial transaction. One of the most important elements when selling your home often overlooked is preparing your home to sell. To maximize the amount of money you can sell your home for it is worth spending the time and the money to assure your home looks and is operating at its best. Your realtor can advise you on the elements required to achieve as high a price as possible.

Professional Photography & Drone Videography

It is well known that high quality photographs and video will give you the competitive edge when it comes to real estate marketing.  Drone photography is the most effective new technology to enter the marketing world. We are now seeing dramatic aerial footage, sweeping scenes and fly-arounds of home exteriors and settings. In the Okanagan Valley, with our lakes, vineyards and vistas, drone photography is becoming at popular choice for larger estate type properties. Most of your potential buyers will be searching the internet for listings, and drone imagery will give your home a definite edge for online marketing.

Staging

The art of home staging is all about showcasing your home and is a vital step to preparing your home for sale. Three main elements of home staging are decluttering, cleaning and decorating.

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Decluttering

Hard as it may be, remove your locally famous refrigerator art. Consider renting a storage container to temporarily remove seasonal clothing and other items that make your closets seem crammed and messy. Remove items from the floor, including full laundry baskets, sports equipment and shoes. Most likely, your guests will open your closets to determine if they are large enough for their wardrobe and you want them to see a large tidy space. Other items to place in temporary storage are extra pieces of furniture, and unused items in book cases and on countertops. With decluttering, you will optimize the dimensions of your room.

Cleaning

One thing is for certain; your guests are going to look through the windows and patio doors, so make sure they are clean. When cleaning your kitchen, concentrate on decluttered clean countertops and appliances, cupboard facing and floors. For your bathroom remove all shampoo bottles and other personal items. Consider buying a new white shower curtain and brand new towels neatly folded on the counter and add a few unlit candles and the bathroom will be transformed to a spa- like oasis.

Home Staging
Home Staging

Decorating

When it comes to decorating for saleability, less is better. The psychology of colour can be pretty powerful, and some clients have literally said no to a purchase because they did not like the interior colours. Create neutral tones when possible, with fresh paint and room accessories such as curtains. You don’t want to sidetrack the sale with personal taste, you want your guests to envision their own colour palate and feel comfortable in your home. Make sure the entrance to the home is set up nicely. From the moment the buyers arrive they will be deciding if this is a good home for them The front yard should be well maintained and a few inexpensive touches really can make a difference, A wreath on the door, a chair at the entrance with a nice cushion and a couple of planters really can set the scene.

Home Maintenance

Giving the impression of a well maintained home is also important. Simple items like doors opening and closing properly are an indication immediately to a buyer that the home has been maintained properly or not.  Most common faults are not painting areas of the home that need it, entrance ways, stairways, doors, this can be the  most effective and least expensive way to set a positive mood the buyer. Too many times I’ve arrived at home with the entrance door looking horrible, dirty and chipped paint and a sticky key which is embarrassing as the agent has difficulty opening the door and not a good first impression.  If the entrance hardware it old and worn out paint or finish is faded it’s not that expensive to replace it.  Make sure all basic operational items are in good condition, have your furnace cleaned and serviced before the sale and leave the service receipt out for the new buyer along with receipts for any upgrades such as a new roof or hot water tank. Does everything work?  The home inspector will pick up on all these items and more that need repair. Some sellers will have a complete pre home inspection done themselves before the buyers bring their own home inspector in so there are no surprises when it comes to the sale.


Pick the agent that will help do more than just sell your home, they should advise you on all the aspects of your sale and guide you through the entire process using all the appropriate professionals to help maximize the sale of one of your life’s biggest investment.

For more information please contact Gary at GaryAthans.com

News from © iNFOnews, 2017
iNFOnews

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