Sellers take these as tips to possibly implement in your home to appeal to more families. You could just take this advice to make your home more kid-friendly for your own family. Buyers may want to chime in and add any I forget or add these attributes to your criteria and pay attention to these items as you tour homes.

1. Paint that shows less dirt or fingerprints

Flat paint is NOT the answer. If you never need to wash the surface or plan on it getting dirty, you can use flat paint. Flat paint shows everything and does not resist grease or stains. Eggshell is a bit better and can be washed through some rigorous scrubbing. Satin paint washes even better than eggshell, but you can not scrub it like eggshell. While semi-gloss is one of the more expensive paints, it’s great for rooms getting lots of use. It resists dirt and grime and washes and holds up very well. High gloss works well near sinks, toilets, etc. You can even get “Kid Room Paint” for rooms where children play.

2. Backyard playing fields

Most families want a backyard conducive for playing, with some size to it. If a backyard is small but backs up to a common area, maybe a fence is not best before you sell. On the other hand, you will want to make sure potentially dangerous areas (hills that drop off) are creatively managed so it does not pose a threat. Landscaping in the back is great, but in a such a way that it only adds to the experience without causing threats.

3. Community amenities

Communities with amenities like a playground, park, walking trails, and a pool are all big hits with families looking to move. Plenty of newer communities have these amenities and even more, so ask your Realtor which ones have your preferences. As a buyer, drive around neighborhoods to see how many children you see out and about.

4. Sidewalks

As a seller, you can’t do much about this or the community amenities, but you’d be surprised that they aren’t in every neighborhood. Actually, they are a bit more rare than they are available. Things like Google’s Street View will help you determine if the neighborhoods you like have sidewalks.

5. Parking

Neighborhoods where parking on the street is common presents blindspots for playing children. Many homeowner associations will prohibit this in many suburbs, but some do not. Others do not have HOA covenants and restrictions. It is obviously more common to see parking on the street in more urban areas. It may not be a deal breaker, but you might at least investigate it. When considering a neighborhood, you might have your Realtor get you a copy of the Covenants and Restrictions, if they exist.

6. Bonus rooms

While plenty of homes do not have designated bonus rooms, having a separate space for toys and play is important for most families whether it’s a bonus or not. That might be a screened porch, an extra bedroom, a basement, or a second family room like a den or living room. If you’re looking to market your home and you do not have a separate bonus, make sure you stage the space you have so people can easily see spaces for play and family areas.

7. Toilets?

Some of the lower grade toilets can present challenges with small children. One small toy down one of those things and it’s trouble. Not that foreign objects are not bad in general, but higher grade toilets can be a little more forgiving.

8. Storage is king

Storage is something that can always be improved if not enough of it exists. Built-in bookcases, shelves in closets, bench seating with storage underneath…these are all ways storage can be added to a home. If you’re looking to sell you home, remove 2/3 of the items in your closets so they appear larger. No one wants to walk in a walk-in closet (if that’s what it is) and feel like the clothes and other items are attacking them…they’ll think it’s too small for their stuff.

So what else is important? What have you done to make adjustments to any shortcomings?

Do photos sell homes?

Yes, to an extent they do.

Let me first say, I’m not a professional photographer. Not even close. But I know how to find and use a professional when it’s needed…like, say, when someone’s most precious and largest investment (yes, even today) is at stake. It’s really not okay to use bad photos to promote a listing. By all means, it’s not okay to omit photos altogether from your most prominent marketing sources. It’s up to like 95% of people now that go to the Internet to search for their next home. Photos, or lack thereof, absolutely determines if buyers want to even consider a showing or the home altogether. When the competition is using professional photos, guess which one will get buyer’s attention. Great photos are not necessary they are crucial.

Whether you are a buyer, seller, looky loo, or you don’t care one bit about real estate right now, I’d like for you to play along and fill up the comments with your opinions on this one.

One shot for a first impression

With all the inventory available in any given price range, people are not going to waste time. Case in point, I recently pulled up a group of homes for my husband to view. I was driving at the computer. He’s a busy business man and just doesn’t have time to waste. Each home got 1/2 a second to grab his attention. If it didn’t capture him right away, “Next” was the immediate response. I tried to plead the case of some of the homes out there, with,” Oh but it says it has this or that. I know you can’t tell it, but…” “No, I don’t like it,” was his response. He passed on some true gems, but that’s because they were not showcased as gems. It wasn’t the home’s fault, much of the time. It was the photography. If there weren’t interior photos at all, forget it. He didn’t even give it the 1/2 a second look. Guess which ones he immediately liked and spent quite a bit of time investigating what was written about the home and additional photos…the ones with professional photos that truly showcased the home for what it was. I had seen some of them in person. Some weren’t any better than the houses he passed on, but they sure looked better online. They looked lighter, brighter, cozier, more spacious, warmer, homier, even cleaner! Let me say that again, they looked lighter, brighter, cozier, more spacious, warmer, homier and cleaner! That sounds like a deal breaking differentiator in two similar, competing properties to me.

My husband is not any different than the majority of buyers out there. You see, people decide which homes they want to see in person and ultimately buy based on their limited view inside them online. There were some great homes I would not be able to drag my husband to go see because he passed on them online, and it was over. For some of the homes, his perception was inaccurate. He realized it too, but he values his time more. Once buyers make a decision on whether they want to see your home in person or not, it’s usually final. When there are so many options that “appear” to be better, why would they waste time when they “know” (or think they know) they already do not like it?

The risk, you think, is that too many photos give buyers more to dismiss it from the list. Maybe so, maybe not. However, wouldn’t you rather have fewer showings if the showings are actually made up of qualified and highly interested buyers? I would think…yes?

Examples of home photos…and better ones

So let’s look at some examples. This first example is not “too bad”, but let’s assume you’ve already got a large list of great looking homes in the $1 million range to see and you want just 1 more added to the list. Which one would you pick comparing one picture to the other?

Would you believe the home on the left is actually the more expensive one by about $70,000? When you look through listings and their photos, it would be easy to miss that “chef’s dream of a stove” in the photo on the left in a quick flip through the photos. The first thing and almost the only thing I notice in the photo on the left is the island. My eyes notice three things right off the bat in the picture on the right: the stove, the spaciousness of the kitchen, and the beautiful, shiny floors.

For me, the kitchen on the left seems small and cramped with an island consuming the small space that is there. When I looked at the measurements of the kitchen, the one on the left is actually 20×20 and the one on the right is 12×16. The way the photos were taken, it definitely looks to me like the more spacious kitchen is the one on the right! In the photos on the right, I see the hardwoods and am impressed. I can also see into another room and notice how open the kitchen is. I almost want to cook in that kitchen, even though I never want to cook. The glare and lighting on the left picture makes me think it’s a little less warm and little bit darker than the other one, even with the dramatically lighter colored cabinets. It looks much smaller than it really is, and is not doing a great job at highlighting the room’s best features appropriately…the island is even getting a little bit of the shaft because of the angle and glare. Now because I saw the floors in one, I am more aware of floors in general…and maybe even obsessed with floors now. I hadn’t thought of the floors in the kitchen…oh my! So, I might not like the floor in the left kitchen. They might be gorgeous, but my first instinct is not to expect the best because I haven’t seen the best representation of this room.

Let’s take another look. It’s the bedroom this time. Same deal - two similarly priced $1 million range homes. Which one looks like a safe haven? Your ideal private and luxurious sanctuary?

I can’t even see anything about the room on the right because it’s so dark in there. So it makes me wonder…is it always that dark? Are there even lights in there? How tall are those ceilings anyway? Is it big enough to fit my bed and furniture? Is the carpet ugly? Wow, the windows are almost floor to ceiling…then why in the world is it so dark in there, again? It says it has a great view to the beautiful outdoors…really? Eh…never mind. Next! Do you know what I wonder about the room on the left? Nothing “initially”…other than being hopeful and curious about the master bath. I see enough of that room to know I like it and will find out more when I see it in person…which I’m excited about, by the way. That’s just me. How about you?

Weigh In

• What roles do photos play for you, if you are a buyer?
• What kind of photos will your Realtor use if you are a seller?
• Will your Realtor pay the extra $ to feature more photos of your property on the most trafficked website for home searches, Realtor.com?
• Will they include as many photos as are allowed in the MLS?
• Will they feature additional pictures anywhere they can? Will they use a professional?
• Will the home you sell or the home that meets your buying requirements be captured adequately to show its benefits, how much sunlight actually does come in the home, how beautiful some features actually are, what that view truly looks like, what great condition it is in, how clean it really is, or the spaciousness of it?
• As a buyer, how frustrating is it to look for homes that you can’t get a good feel for online?

It could all be the difference between a sale or not. It’s that important. It’s a vital part of the overall marketing plan that your Realtor implements. That’s why you should make sure your Realtor is hiring a professional to give your home the exposure it deserves. What are your thoughts?

What others had to say

These quotes were taken from various sources where buyers specifically talked about the use of photos in searching for a home:

“I like to SEE what i’m looking at before I go and look.. I dont have time to waste and if I see no pics, I skipped right over to the ones that have pics. And in a market FULL of choices, you dont want to give someone any reason to skip over your listing to another because there are no pictures. Horrible pictures (like a pic of furniture without really seeing the room) is just as bad!!”

“No or few pictures mean instant pass for me.”

“I NEED pictures, the more the better! I won’t even consider a property unless I have pictures, due to the fact I am searching for a new place long-distance!”

“Not only do I want to know the size of the living room, but I want to see photos of it for placement of windows, doors. I also want to see photos of the kitchen to see if it’s going to need replacement and that I have no interest in wood cabinets. For some reason, a lot of realtors think we want to see photos of beds. Photos are good but virtualtour is better. You can tell when an agent is really lazy when they take the one front view of the house through the car window.”

“I have also been scouring RE sites for some time now, hoping to learn more and get a grasp of what I can realistically hope to afford when the time comes (soon I hope). In my mind, when I see a listing that shows clear, well-taken inside and outside photos I tend to linger longer and pay more attention…often adding it to my list of “maybes”. But if a listing has only fuzzy, dark photos or only pictures of the yard and gardens I wonder “What’s wrong inside?”, and if all they show in photos is one or two rooms inside, I think “The yard must be a stye or a very bad neighborhood”.”

“Everyone has different requirements and taste in houses and I wouldn’t waste any time on a house that had no photos.”

“If they want to draw the most buyers they should have plenty of photos. When we were looking for a house i would not look at anything without photos. My time is valuable, I am not willing to spend the time driving to a home that turns out to be a dump.”

“Listings need pictures and full information- if they don’t have them you have either a problem or a lazy agent. When people sell properties they should first look for the agents who advertise well - with nice listings.”

Williamson County is home to many of the respected horse farms including the areas of Leipers Fork in Franklin, other parts of Franklin, Brentwood, Thompsons Station and Arrington. You can search for individual properties with land or horse farms in Williamson County and find quite a few.
You will find both private estates as equestrian properties or equestrian communities, which are listed below:

• Brandon Park Downs, Franklin TN - The average property in Brandon Park Downs was built in 2005 and averages 4 acres, with an average size of 5000 sf. One of the very few equestrian communities where you can find a home under $1 million, home prices begin in the upper $700,000’s in this gated community with tennis courts, pool, clubhouse and underground utilities. There are 44 properties with plenty of lots still available to build. Horse stables are available.
• Lynnwood Downs, Franklin TN - This community is nestled among rolling hills and beautiful valleys that feels so far away from it all, but it is literally just minutes from the heart of Cool Springs. Lynnwood Downs‘ average year homes were built is 1990 and average 5000 sf, but there are still some buildable lots left. The average lot is just under 7 acres and could be as much as 44 acres. Other amenities in this gated community include: tennis courts, volleyball, pool, playground and a clubhouse. The stables have two community horses for use, and each property comes with 2 stalls for your own horses. Ride on trails or the outdoor ring. Homes begin around $1 million.
• Two Rivers, Franklin TN - Two Rivers is another picturesque neighborhood with 22 luxury properties averaging 8.5 acre lots (and go up to 18 acres). Homes average 6200 sf and go up to about 8500 sf. Homes start near the $2 million range.
• Hidden River, Franklin TN - is a 29 home community with the average home being 8500 sf (up to 18,000 sf), built on average in 2001, with 7 acres of land, but certainly can be much more. Homes in Hidden River are in the $2 million+ range.
• Grace Valley Estates, Franklin TN - This is an exclusive, 7-lot equestrian community. This, too, is $1 million+ community, and homes range from 4000-4500 sf. Residents of Grace Valley Estates each have an average of 10 acres of land.
• Beechwood Plantation, Franklin TN - Beechwood Plantation is a newer community (homes built in 2008+) in the Leipers Fork area with lots averaging 12 acres and may go as to as many as 40 acres. The 39 lots will have homes averaging 5500 sf and will start in the $1.5 million range with home sites beginning in the $300,000’s. This community offers private entrances, pastures, 6 miles of trails accessible from every property, spring-fed streams and ponds, and beautiful views. Whether you choose a wooded or pasture lot, private barns are permitted.
• Saddle Springs Estates, Thompsons Station, TN - Saddle Springs $1 million+ luxury community includes underground utilities, walking trails and an average of 4 acre lots per property. Some properties are as much as 12 acres of land. Home sites begin around $200,000. The average home is 5500 sf, but can be as much as 9000 sf. Saddle Springs is packed with the finest in equine facilities with a 65 stall barn, lessons, 6 tack rooms, dressing and shower facilities, laundry care and blanket facilities, indoor riding arena, observation/party room, paddocks, outdoor riding arena, outdoor round pen and dressage ring, and open field for riding. A 9000 sf conference and recreation center with pool, fitness room, tennis courts and a game room is also planned for the future. Stocked ponds are available and an outdoor pavillion near one of the ponds will be available for parties and weddings. These amenities are financed through only those residents who use them.
• Paddock Place, Mount Juliet TN - Tucked away East of Nashville in Wilson County, Paddock Place community is the most affordable of all ranging from $300,000 to $500,000, with one or two exceptions. Most of the home sites are about 1/2 an acre, some with beautiful views of the rolling hills and valleys. The average sized home is 3000-3500 sf. This community is within a few minutes of Old Hickory Lake. Other community amenities include playground, clubhouse, walking trails and underground utilities. The Equestrian facility has an indoor show arena, full care boarding, lessons and turnout paddocks.

You also have regular subdivisions with much larger lots (5 acres or more) that allow horses like Garrison Springs Estates, and Traceland Estates in Leipers Fork, parts of Deerfield and Rosemont, also in Franklin, to name a few. So if you’re interested in a property that will be equipped for horses, you can easily find individual properties or even properties within an equestrian community in Middle Tennessee.

Equestrian community properties come at luxury prices for the most part in Middle Tennessee and do not come available regularly. One thing is for certain about all of the communities mentioned, is they are set among some of the most picturesque land and panoramic views of Middle Tennessee including rolling hills, valleys, wide open pastures, and woods. If a luxury equestrian community is not for you, look into individual horse farms. There are plenty available all across Middle Tennessee for many different budgets.

Click on the highlighted links to find a listing of homes currently for sale in these equestrian subdivisions. You’ll have access to the photos and details of the properties. To see properties in these areas or put your home on the market, or for general questions/discussion call me at 615-739-2944 or email at denawilliams@kw.com.

The wide range of real estate tools available on the Internet for consumers can be overwhelming. Sometimes they can be very helpful. At other times they can be misleading. I have to applaud companies like Zillow and Trulia for creating insight for consumers, but they still have a way to go before they will be as accurate a resource as the MLS from the local realtor. My honest opinion is that it will be extremely difficult to automatically apply algorithms accurately and effectively to give value, but when they do give a range it is a great place to start. Consumers should consult with their Realtor before making life decisions on these sources though because for as good as they are…they are not full-proof.

In this article, I’ll discuss some of the more popular tools out there, how they are helping you and how you should not use them.

Trulia is more than a real estate search engine. While there are definitely more comprehensive real estate search engines I would recommend, Trulia offers a few unique benefits not given through many other sources like: a Google street and satellite view of the home, list price per square foot calculated, and the ability to ask a question about the property as you’re looking at it. Although, from what I hear, they are trying to get MLS data, which would make them much more competitive. Trulia’s Advice and Opinion is a great section because it really acknowledges and reaffirms that local professionals are still the experts on the real estate market and give them the opportunity to interact, give advice, answer questions and share knowledge.

While I think it’s a great automated attempt, I am still not confident enough to make life decisions based on  the comparable data, properties and recently sold homes. I will say that it is nice that some information is provided, but it is not a complete picture or accurate for assessing a home’s value.  The new homes and foreclosure listings seem like it will give great information, but it doesn’t give any specifics. It’s only a segway to the builder to collect information or a service of which you pay to get details on foreclosures. Because of that and the fact that it gets its data from various sources instead of the MLS, it is not an effective tool for one-stop home shopping in a local market. The third shortcoming is the amount of information provided directly about the listing itself compared to what is possible to be pulled. Overall, Trulia’s benefits do outweigh their drawbacks.

Zillow is another popular consumer site. It has undergone several major changes since it began. The one thing I really like about Zillow are the Guides. They are not nearly as easy to find as they once were, but they are now under the blanket of the Advice section. Guides are provided in a wide range of topics from home buying and selling to home improvement, gardening, mortgages and more. It was one of the first to offer Q&A on a specific property, which is a benefit, though that service is underutilized. For the longest time, that feature was extremely hard to find, but its position has improved. Zillow also has a unique and helpful way of giving a visual of the homes on a map through Microsoft Virtual Earth. For individual properties, it also offers a Google Street view, which is helpful as well.

Unfortunately, Zillow has several challenges in its service. As a real estate search engine, it has some of the same issues as Trulia, although Zillow, too, is in talks with MLS data. The advice section does not compare with Trulia’s for the amount of quality information exchanged in the discussion questions and answers. Many times you’ll see more discussion about homeowners or visitors noticing errors in they way a home is listed more than anything else. What people seem to use the most on Zillow are the Zestimates. It was the first automated home value estimator of its kind. Many people use Zillow as a source of value to make home buying or selling decisions, which can create disillusion about the market. Data is not real time and is dated by several months. There seem to be inaccuracies in the data all around. Foreclosures seem to be treated as actual sales transactions. The comparable properties of which it assesses a value is too wide of a range of properties, and does not take into consideration the many factors that contribute to comparable properties. A Comparative Market Analysis from a Realtor, has been and still is the best source of comparable data because it’s custom for that particular home and is based on accurate data and truly comparable homes. I don’t claim that it will always be true, but it still is today.

Walkscore is a brilliant concept. It is so helpful when you are blindly searching an area online (to relocate) to quickly pop in an address and then see how far places of interest are located from that address like: coffee, libraries, schools, groceries, drug stores, restaurants, clothing and music stores, hardware stores, parks and bars. Like many tools online it is not completely accurate, but it still does a fairly decent job at giving you a general idea of the vicinity around your home…in most cases.

Realtor.com is one of the better sources of the actual market comprehensively and locally (which counts the most). As a real estate search engine, it contains a more accurate listing of homes for sale. It does a good job of including the main property features and details. It does show the property on a map and provides a few additional tools that are helpful like monthly payment calculated for it, ability to save the property and ability to ask some direct questions to the Realtor. For property value, they put you in contact with a local realtor who has advertised for that spot. Realtor.com also has a vast amount of articles, videos and resources for you on a wide range of topics.

On the other hand, pictures of the property may or may not be included. This is a HUGE downfall. Realtor.com pulls listings from the local MLS, but it only includes pictures when the listing agent actually adds them. I do not think this is in the consumer’s best interest, but it is the process, nonetheless. The first picture is free to the Realtor, which does not explain to me why some properties have no photos! This is the shortcoming of the Realtor in following their service because Realtor.com is the #1 visited real estate search engine in the country, by far. If your house is listed without a single picture, it’s time to have a serious talk with your Realtor about why your home is not displayed on the website that receives the most traffic for home searching. Additional pictures are an expense to the Realtor. It is not a light fee, so the amount of pictures available on homes is quite limited in most cases.

Google and Yahoo have real estate search engines that are like many sources out there getting their data from a variety of sources. They way the search is laid out is very user friendly, but the data that is returned is not comprehensive at all. Pictures and details may be sparse on the ones they do have listed. These sources should be used for the information and guides they provide about the process, or maps, etc. rather than a real estate search. I would use Google maps (satellite views, street view, etc.) to look up individual properties separate from the real estate search engine.

Homes.com is a bit more comprehensive that many of the other search engines. Much like Realtor.com, it has a high percentage of the listings shown, but it may be low on photos. It is disappointing because photos are so important on a real estate search. It allows you to map the home, see area facts, climate and has a few nice features. When it comes to value it does a better job of saying…”here are a few homes that have sold near you, and click here if you want a comparative market analysis from a local realtor.” It doesn’t necessarily claim to have accurate and up to date comparison data, but it does include some helpful information. It too, has a decent section for resources. Overall, it has some interesting features to offer.

With all of the bells and whistles of some of these nationwide search engines, sometimes your best bet will still be the local search engines that tie directly into the MLS area where you are searching. There is usually a local MLS search engine for every area available to consumers. In my area, it’s Realtracs. You also have search engines on individual agent sites, which tie into the MLS as well. “Sometimes” these sites are more informative than the local MLS because of map integration, ability to save and make appointments on properties, and other added features. These are usually your best sources for photos of the property, disclosures about the property, and links to perhaps more photos, virtual tours and even more information. The one thing it can not help is when a real estate agent does not understand the importance of good quality photos and information about the property. So it is up to the agent to provide this information about their listings, unfortunately. Use these sites for your real estate search and some of the others for informational resources, more map views and additional features.

With all of the innovation out there in real estate online technology, we’ve still got a long way to go…stay tuned!

Staging costs

While studies have been done that show staged homes sell faster and for higher prices than ones that are not, it is worth consideration to give your home an opportunity to stand out against the competition. With so much inventory, you’ll need everything you can get for edge as you get your home ready to sell. While this calculator is only an estimator, it gives you an idea of potential costs of hiring a professional stager with rented furniture and decor.Every home is different. Every professional stager offers different services and charges differently. If you do explore this route, I can arrange for a free consultation for you.

What does the buyer think?

Your stuff is nice. It’s what you chose for your home, and you like it. Having stuff here and there, actually living in it…it makes it more of a home, but that’s just it. It’s your home. And your stuff is now a major distraction when you need someone else to want it to be their home. That must change when your house goes up for sale. They need to see the home as their home. So all your stuff needs to be hidden, de-personalized, stored away or organized very well. They need to SEE your home.

Sometimes I’ll get excited about something in a home I’m showing that I know a client has expressed interest. When the home is too cluttered or personal, I have trouble getting a client to look past the homeowner’s stuff to the features. In these cases, I also almost always hear this: “I feel like weird about going through someone’s home like this.” Oddly enough, they never say it in a home that is neutralized, uncluttered or de-personalized. In the more personalized homes they look at a few of your pictures you have out, and then they feel guilty or like they’re intruding. This causes them to speed through your house like lightning, skipping rooms and hardly looking at anything at all. Sometimes they won’t make it past the first room or two. The other side of the spectrum is that they get stuck on your things or even you. If your kids (from pictures) are cuter than your house, and they are, they’ll look at your kids. Perhaps they’ve never seen such a large collection of silver spoons. Or maybe they’re impressed with your flat screen that’s larger than life. Make a note: (impressed with your tv = bad for you), unless its in the home theater room and the tv comes with the deal. And if you just have cool stuff, they might spend more time cyber stalking you to try and figure out ways to beome your friend rather than buy your house.

So what do you do?

1. Pack it away. Put away any knick knacks, collectibles or excess of decorations sitting out that draw more attention to your style and your decor than your home. Keep surfaces clear for the most part but minimalistic in what you do leave in view. If you have a library or bookcases, you’ll want to pack 2/3 of your books and put in storage. Bookcases should only be 1/3 filled. Vary the way they are stacked as well (flat, on their side, etc.) Just remember, the more stuff you have in a room the smaller it feels. You don’t want that!

2. Organize in 3’s. For what you do have out in plain view, arrange them in groups of 3’s in a triangle. Some examples include:

• 3 identical picture frames on one wall with non-personal photos.
• 3 varying height candle stands with candles on the side of the fireplace.
• 3 different items on a bookcase, shelf or table (3 different heights)

3. Organize closets and cabinets. Use labeled baskets or nice boxes where you can and plastic containers elsewhere. I recently bought more baskets than I could carry from TJ Maxx for this very purpose. Their price was quite reasonable too. You can do something as simple as store towels, bathroom necessities, etc. grouped in baskets in the guest’s linen closet. Or store all of your laundry room products in a small and short basket or two on the shelf above the washer and dryer.

If you have a walk-in closet, make sure you can actually walk in it. You want the buyer to be able to walk in comfortably without feeling like clothes and “other hidden things” might jump out and get them. It should feel large and spacious…big enough for all of their clothes. So start packing away those shoes and hanging clothes now. Leave only what you need between now and your move.

4. Renew the office. We all have a home office, whether we have the dedicated room for it or not. Sometimes it’s a nook in the kitchen, bonus, a spare bedroom or somewhere else. You may not actually work there, but you store your bills, important documents, mail, reminders, and more there. As hard as it might be, it has to be organized. For a desk space, there are tons of great office organizers out there to neatly hide magazines, papers, etc. Remember to minimalize what’s out, but it might be a good time to start clearing out for the move. In all reality, if it’s not a dedicated office according to your floor plan, it shouldn’t look like an office at all. Spare bedrooms should look like bedrooms.

5. Hide kitchen tools. I love people who actually use their kitchens to prepare meals. It is a fairly foreign concept to me but intriguing, nonetheless. You might have matching small kitchen appliances, and that’s great, but we don’t want to see them. It will be a hassle to keep storing away everyday use items, but your buyer wants a lot of room to move and work in their kitchen. They will believe there’s more if you show them more. If it looks like you don’t have enough storage space (appliances out), they’ll get concerned. If you have upgraded countertops you absolutely want to show off every square foot possible.

6. Clear out the garage. Garages are for cars. Make sure you can actually get vehicles in all of the allotted spots you have for them. Yes, I know the garage becomes many things, so it’s acceptable to have something like a nicely organized tool chest or cabinet or a sports rack as long as there is PLENTY of room to walk all the way around the vehicles. On the average home today, garages are made very small. They barely fit a mid-sized vehicle. However, today’s buyer wants a spacious garage. They can look at two homes with identical sized garages and pick the one that has less in it because it appear to be larger to them. So you might have to rent a storage unit while you’re on the market to take eliminate the storage unit your garage has become.

7. Put bulky items in storage. Unfortunately, even some of your furniture can be put in the clutter category if you have large pieces or even quite a few pieces in a small room. You don’t want the room to be bare, but you should be able to walk around easily with plenty of room. Keep only the furniture that’s necessary for identifying the room or its feature. For example, keep the bed in the bedroom. However, if you have two nightstands, a chair, a bench, two dressers and a chest…you might be better off packing away everything except the bed, one small furniture item and one dresser.
Follow these steps and you’re well on your way to getting closer to selling your home.

Getting your home ready for the market is the single most important thing you can do. You should start preparations well before you intend to list it. Staging your home is perhaps one of the best ways you can set your home apart in a tight market, especially if you’ve had trouble selling it in the past. Studies show in the past that staging brought higher sales prices where homes sold in a fraction of the time as other homes on the market. It is true that the home that shows the best overall gets the offer. Staging can mean many things, be simple or complicated, but one thing that is essential in staging is a clean home.

All things equal except cleanliness? Cleaner home sells.

Clean, clean some more, and then yes, do it even more. And then keep cleaning it and keep it clean while for sale. This is the time to clean your home like it’s never before been cleaned. I show homes all the time. If you take two almost exactly equal homes (which happens a lot) of which one of my buyers are considering, I almost always hear one ultimate differentiator: one would need a good scrub, but the other one does not. Guess which one they buy? Right, the cleaner one…every time. It’s not just some buyers that notice how clean a home is or isn’t. Their senses are in overdrive when looking for a home with the endless options they have. Everyone notices it. And they will scrunch their nose up at the one that’s not clean. Often after they’ve seen another 5 or 6 homes or more, they won’t remember all of the great things your home has to offer…they’ll remember that it needed cleaning, and that only.

Walls

Clean high, clean low, and certainly in the middle. One dirty place they will absolutely notice and be unforgiving is the walls. Cleaning the walls is essential to getting your home ready to market. I don’t know why, but they look at the walls. Maybe its because you’ve taken down all of the personal things (hopefully), and it’s more exposed. Maybe they want to seem like a home condition expert by doing their own personal inspection whether they know a thing about houses or not. Maybe walls are all there is to look at because it’s empty. Or perhaps they are embarrassed about looking through your personal home and stare there more often. Something you can use to get stains off the wall is Krudd Klutter.

Floors

You should really consider getting your carpets professionally cleaned, but if you have just have to minimize costs to get ready, you can go to any local grocery or hardware store and rent a carpet cleaner for the day - RugDoctor is one I frequently see. It’s usually a minimal cost of $35 or so. You have to buy the products that go along with it, but make sure you treat it with the stain treatment and heavy-traffic area treatment first before cleaning it.

For bare floors, clean them thoroughly until they shine and appear spotless.

Windows

Even though you may never look out your own windows, buyers definitely do. They want to see what’s in view from every room outside. You want to make that view as pretty as it can be, even if it’s your neighbors roof that’s in need of repair.

The rest

Make sure there’s no grime anywhere. Scrub the inside of all your appliances and the top of your stove. Make sure the bathroom is especially grimeless in the shower, floor, tub area, around the toilet and of course near the sink. Make sure your ceiling fans are dusted and that every other surface is dusted…even the parts you never see. If you are short, count on someone over 6 ft wanting to buy your home. They’ll see those surface tops you never knew existed. Get on the chair or stool and clean up there.