MRoseSellsNJHomes

Townhomes and condos can be a bit more challenging to sell because often they look very much the same as many of the other homes in your neighborhood.  One can easily blend right in with all the others-- not good when you're trying to attract buyers!

So how do you make your home stand out from the rest?  How do you encourage offers on your home instead of the others?  You've already heard the advice for homes in general-- declutter, clean, paint, and make repairs.  But what specifically can you do in a townhome or condo that will make a difference? 

Here are my top five tips: 

1.  Spiff up your curb appeal!  Within the limits of your home owner's association, add special touches that will make your home stand out.  Add pots of flowers to the front step or just outside your door.  Hang a wreath on the freshly painted door.  Make your landscaping beautiful with color.  When the buyers get out of their cars, help them to know that yours is the house to buy!

2.  Create as much space as possible.  These are not usually large homes and the biggest complaint I hear from buyers is that the homes are too small.  You may have outgrown the place but don't let buyers see that.  Rent a storage for extra stuff that can be packed and for furniture that is too large.  If you have a storage space attached to your home, don't pack it full.  It's a selling feature-- let the buyers see how much space you have!

3.  Play up anything unique about your home!  Do you have a gourmet kitchen?  Do you have a fireplace when most units don't?  Do you have a beautiful view?  Use what you can to highlight those features that differentiate your home from the rest.  When I sold my townhome, I focused on the view of a large pond.  In fact the first photo in the MLS was of the pond.  It caught a lot of attention.

4.  Update Standard Fixtures and Lighting!  A lot of these homes still have the original builder's grade fixtures and lights.  Add a more contemporary and "dressed up" look to yours by replacing dated shiny brass with black iron, burnished bronze, or polished nickel.  Look through current home magazines to see what's in style.  Don't think that just because your home store sells it, it's the "in" thing.    

5.  Consider Your Customer!  If someone is looking for a townhome or condo, they usually are looking for low maintenance, so do the repairs for them.  Depending on your area, your buyers could be single, or young marrieds with no children, or older with no children at home.  They may work a lot.  Know who your target is.  Consult a local professional home stager to make sure your home will appeal to the audience in your area.  The cost of a consultation is a small investment and the return will make it worth every penny!

Follow these tips and you will be pulling ahead of the competition in no time!  If you're in Burlington or Camden County and would like to schedule a consultation, give me a call!  We are here to help you get your home sold!

Michele Rose is a Realtor and Professional Home Stager in Burlington County, NJ.  She has been assisting both buyers and sellers with their real estate needs for the last 6 years.  In 2007, she founded Rose-Colored Staging, a professional home staging and redesign business, to help sellers successfully market their homes with professional home staging.

From my sister Lisa, my Guest-blogger!

Hunting for a new house can be so exciting!  Potential buyers have a vision of a desired lifestyle, they crave the "perfect" house, they know everything will be better in "the new house."  Isn't life grand?  They've done everything by the book.  They are ready to buy.  Their agent brings them to your house and then?

No offer.  Why?  You may not know it yet, but your home may have just been labeled by the consumer.  Or worse, YOU may have been labeled by the consumer!

As a consumer, I have visited Smelly House (not just a smell-- this odor remained on me after a 10 minute drive with all the windows open.)  Note:  Don't wear open-toed shoes when house hunting for bargain priced homes!  Which brings me to Squirrel House.  I wanted to run away crying from that one.  There was a home we visited when no sooner in the door I said, "Get out of here quick!"  We don't like to discuss that one.

Ok, so maybe your house isn't that bad.  But the gross and dirty are not the only houses being labeled by picky buyers.  I visited Lightbulb House.  Or actually, Lack-of-Lightbulbs House.  No lie, the homeowner carried their one lamp into every room we visited.  What did the house look like?  You got me!?!?  Bean and Rice House was a boy at his kitchen table eating beans and rice.  Nothing horrible, just a distinct odor really.  Pee Pee Bathroom House obviously had young boys.  Nothing a good cleaning couldn't take care of.  In Scary Bird House the guy said "not to worry 'cause they don't hurt ya."  Not comforting!

There is a whole different list for carpet-- Bleach Stain On Carpet House, Pink Carpet House, No Carpet House, Pea Green Carpet House, Ugly Brown Carpet House, Nasty Carpet House.

I bought a condo that we called The Precious Moments Hallmark Store House.  It was fairly clean and kind of smelled like a Hallmark Store.  I could see past the cutesy wallpaper.  She had a curio of Precious Moments figurines nestled in Easter grass surrounded by a picket fence and stuffed sheep animals.  Why didn't that condo sell faster?  Didn't exactly send a message of serious seller.  She taught kindergarten for a living.  I bet she was good at it.

One of my favorites is the Wedding House.  Every room has pictures from their big day along with the unity candle, dried flowers, framed invitation, white gloves, the garter, the champagne glasses... the list goes on and on and guess what?  No buyer wants to see that!  I know it may seem harsh, but they don't care mainly because they weren't there.  They simply can't relate.

The most annoying one is The House With Only 3 Bedrooms, But The Agent Listed 4.  How is this going to help the seller and the agent?  I'd really like to know.  It didn't help the buyer who needed 4 bedrooms!  What a letdown!

So how do you steer clear of being labeled?

My Top Five Suggestions Are:

1. Hire a good stager before you list your house.
How do I know this?  I hired one!  My sister to be exact.  Michele Rose is a Realtor and Professional Home Stager.  I sold my home in a tough market.  And I would have sold sooner had I listened to her price suggestion from the beginning.  Live and learn.  We settled $100 over her initial price suggestion within 90 days.

Stagers are professionals who come to your home with an objective eye.  They view your home as a buyer would and give you suggestions to make your home more appealing "to the masses."  They generalize decor and creatively plan how to appeal to home buyers and their senses.  It's worth the investment, and you will see a return, whether it be in terms of lesser days on the market or a higher offer than the average seller.  Already listed?  Never too late!  Every house deserves to be staged.  EVERY house!

2. Clean it!
De-clutter the home by packing collectibles and "stuff" neatly somewhere out of sight, deep clean the whole house including professional vent cleaning, professionally clean the carpet and floors, clean up the messy paint jobs and touch-ups and such, tidy the gardens, tidy the exterior, and powerwash.

3. Make it special.
Hang nice art in place of all your framed family photos, burn a lightly scented candle, leave some snacks like cookies and punch for potential buyers, fluff some pillows, decorate with hardback books, buy fresh flowers for the entry vase and please have all the lights on so we know you're inviting us to really look at your home.

4. Hide the unmentionables.
Take your pets and all signs of pets (some people don't like pets!), hide the cleaners, toiletries, dirty laundry, medicines, bills and anything with your name on it.  This is no longer your home after all, it is your house-- a product that you are selling to a consumer.  We don't want to see your cat's litter box or your rash cream!

5. Listen to trusted professionals.
If you are not getting showings after you have completed a professional staging and you have "done everything right," and your agent has marketed your home appropriately, then you may need to lower your price.  It's hard to hear, but it's true and it gets you to where you want to be-- sold and moved!

By the way, when I was selling my house, it was labeled The Clean House. Now that's the kind of label I can live with!

Michele Rose is a Realtor and Professional Home Stager in Burlington County, NJ.  She has been assisting both buyers and sellers with their real estate needs for the last 6 years.  In 2007, she founded Rose-Colored Staging, a professional home staging and redesign business, to help sellers successfully market their homes with professional home staging.

This great post comes from an agent in Tennessee but the same thing can happen anywhere.  Sellers: you need to be in constant contact with your listing agent and you should always have a clear picture of the market, how your house is showing, and how it's priced according to the market. 

If you're selling your home in Burlington or Camden County and need a Realtor, call me!  I'd be happy to help!

Michele Rose is a Realtor and Professional Home Stager in Burlington County, NJ.  She has been assisting both buyers and sellers with their real estate needs for the last 6 years.  In 2007, she founded Rose-Colored Staging, a professional home staging and redesign business, to help sellers and other real estate agents successfully market their listings with professional home staging.

Can you tell which of these houses had the best chance of selling?  Let's examine three houses recently on the market.

House #1:  "The Cute Ranch"   I say cute because it was small.  It had been on the market for just over a year when I got the listing and it had been overpriced.  The owners were discouraged and ready to give up.  Previous feedback (when they got it) had been mediocre.

House #2:  "The Mess"   There was mold present, an underground oil tank, and a septic tank that would never get a certification, among other things.  It was an estate and the previous owner was a hoarder.  The sellers couldn't believe anyone would want the house and actually felt sorry for me, taking the listing!

House #3:  "The Early 80's Flashback"   It featured 30-year-old bright green carpeting with light fixtures and décor to match.  It was generally well kept and had a lovely landscaped yard with a gorgeous in-ground pool.

Any guesses?  Who was our winner?

 Actually, it was House #2, The Mess, that sold the fastest but really, they are all winners!

Why?

House #1:  The owners were ready to sell, priced it accordingly, and agreed to staging.  A few simple changes made the home seem much larger than it had originally appeared.  The staging and storage investment came to under $200.00, well worth it because within 29 days, we had a buyer who fell in love with it and we were under contract!

House #2:  I arranged to have someone come and clean out the mess, so that investors would be able to see what they were dealing with.  In this case, all the staging in the world could not have helped!  Priced as a total fix-up, this house was snapped up by investors in just 1 day!

House #3:  The owners had already placed an offer on a lovely new home and were ready to do whatever it took to sell this one fast.  We replaced the carpet, lighting, and staged the entire home within 2 weeks.  The inside now matched the gorgeous exterior.  The whole investment for carpet, painting, lighting, and staging came to about $5,500.  We had multiple offers its first day of showing and it sold for $9,000 over asking price. 

Each of these homes had some serious issues that could have left them sitting on the market, unsold.  In each of these cases, the owners were ready to sell.  They were ready to price the homes competitively and if needed, stage their homes to increase the appeal to buyers.

 There is hope for every home!

Even in this market, there is NO reason for any home to remain unsold.  The fact is homes that are priced well and showing well are selling.

That, my friends, is good news for everyone!

Michele Rose is a Realtor and Professional Home Stager in Burlington County, NJ.  She has been assisting both buyers and sellers with their real estate needs for the last 6 years.  In 2007, she founded Rose-Colored Staging, a professional home staging and redesign business, to help sellers and other Realtors successfully market their listings with professional home staging.

OK--so I'll bet there are more than just two!  But these are the two I heard this week, more than once, and from different sources.  Ready?  Here they are:

"I'm in no hurry to sell my house"

and...

"I'm not going to give my house away!"

The First Phrase:  "I'm in no hurry to sell my house."  Translation-- I want it priced higher than what is recommended, I want to "test" the market, I think I can get more for my house if I'm willing to wait.

The Reality:  Overpricing a house rarely brings in MORE money.  Especially in a declining market, the longer a home sits, the LESS it will sell for.  And LOTS of overpriced houses are out there, sitting, waiting, and waiting... and expiring.

The Second Phrase:  "I'm not going to give my house away!"  Translation-- I have an idea in my mind of what my house is worth and it has nothing to do with your silly "comparative market analysis!"    

The Reality:  Does anyone give their house away, really?  Really?  Maybe other agents have experienced the "house give-away" but I surely haven't!  Your house is only worth what the buyers are going to pay AND what it will appraise for, given the market.  It has nothing to do with the love and care you've given it all these years, or what you paid for it.  Wouldn't it be wonderful if it did?

Those two "phrases" that make agents cringe do so because they don't help you sell your house for the best price possible.  So, what should you be saying if you want TOP DOLLAR for your home? 

"What do I need to do to make it show as best as it can and what price would you recommend?"

There it is:  the most successful sellers are willing to do what it takes to make the house show well and are willing to be honest about the price and the current market conditions.  Successful sellers recognize that the seller controls two of the most important factors in selling a home:  price and condition.

When looking for a Realtor to list your home be willing to look at the facts, at the realities of our current market and what that means to you.  Look for a Realtor who will tell you the truth and who is not just telling you what you want to hear.   

If you want to be assured you'll get the most money possible for your house, invest in a home stager to make sure your home shows at its absolute best.  Then, follow the advice of your agent and price it to sell!  

Michele Rose is a Realtor and Professional Home Stager in Burlington County, NJ.  She has been assisting both buyers and sellers with their real estate needs for the last 5 years.  In 2007, she formed Rose-Colored Staging to help sellers market their homes with professional home staging.

Yes, a simple can or two of paint can totally transform your home!  Paint is, hands-down, the least expensive change to your home you can make, adding the biggest impact.  If you are not sure how much "bang for your buck" you can get just from picking up a roller, just take a look: 

This bathroom from a home in Mt. Holly was indeed hard on the eyes!  With outdated foil-like wallpaper, pink tile and flooring, everything about this bath would surely frighten most buyers away!  Since the very limited budget did not allow for updating anything else, we simply painted the walls white and replaced the blind.  We then used white accessories to calm down the pink that remained.

This kitchen from a home in Willingboro has outdated metal cabinets, and a very dated counter.  And the green floral wallpaper was not doing it any favors!  Even the lovely little built-in hutch in the hall was lost in the chaos.  Renovating was not an option so we enhanced what we could by removing the wallpaper and painting the walls a beige color that actually made the cabinets look warmer and nicer.  We used the same beige color to make the hutch "pop" and with a bit of de-cluttering and red accents, this kitchen was ready to show! 

This last little gem was truly designed for the homeowner's taste-not the buyer's!  This bath would have been right at home at a bed & breakfast in Cape May, but in Eastampton, NJ, buyers were saying, "No Way!"  We removed the gold ceiling wallpaper, black floral wallpaper, and lace so we now have a clean, light and fresh bath, sure to appeal to the buyers!

 When getting your home ready to place on the market, it is not always necessary to completely update everything!  The goal is not to have a perfect house, but to have a house that allows buyers to imagine the possibilities-- to see themselves living there. 

If you are considering placing your home on the market, call Rose-Colored Staging for a consultation!  We can tell you what changes you should make to your home that will give you the most "bang for your buck" and will help get your house sold!

Michele Rose is a Realtor and Professional Home Stager in Burlington County, NJ.  She has been assisting both buyers and sellers with their real estate needs for the last 5 years.  In 2007, she formed Rose-Colored Staging to help sellers market their homes with professional home staging.

A while back I saw on television show with doctors giving advice on weight loss.  They said that yes, some people are genetically predisposed to being overweight and a large part of it is heredity.  But, they said, that is not an excuse to be overweight, it just means you have to work harder.

Hmmm...

Kind of like selling a house in a tough market-- it's not that it can't be done, you just have to work harder.  Yes, it may be more tough-- but that does not mean it cannot be done!

So what does working harder to get a house sold mean? 

• Be Committed:  Be serious about selling your house.  I mean, seriously serious.  I mean doing what is needed to get it sold.  I mean taking the advice of your agent and a home stager. 
• Have an "Exercise" Plan:  Fix the needed repairs, update anything not from this decade, and add a fresh coat of paint.
• Picture Yourself in a New Place:  Get into the mindset that this house (which is no longer your home) is going to be sold-soon.  Pack away whatever you can live without for the next few months, since you will be moving.  (The weight-loss advice would be to get rid of the "fat clothes!")
• Track Your Progress:   Get feedback from your agent, be aware of market changes, know your agent's marketing plan, and make sure your home's marketing is excellent.  Make sure your home is advertised, especially on the internet.
• Keep Your Goal in Mind:  You may have to adjust your price, or you may need to make concessions to get what you want.  Keep your goal in mind-you are selling your house.  Do not let anything get in the way of that goal!

There is no reason, even in a strong "buyers' market" that a home cannot sell.  It needs to be priced well and it needs to show well.  As in weight loss, motivation is key.

Now... if only shedding those pounds was as easy as selling a house...