Time to downsize?

If you are downsizing you have a couple of possible issues, one if you are thinking of a garden home you may find that it actually may cost more than what you can fetch for your larger home. This is market driven, high demand equals a higher price and since most families are much smaller today larger homes have less demand equalling a lower price. These are both pretty straight forward economic principals but you can fight back and at least get every penny from the sale of your home that you can. In coming blogs we will provide you useful tips that can help you get more for your home but for today we are going to give you the basics.

You have to make your home stand out from the competition but it has to be in a good way, too many sellers simply get an agent to put up a sign and take a let’s see what happens approach. Well what usually happens is the home doesn’t sell or it sells for far less than what it should. If you are thinking about selling than step back and begin to look at your home like you did when you bought it, forget the memories, and forget about what you have done, forget about how much you love your home and start to think like a buyer!!!

Have you ever gone for a drive and drove past that home and remarked “that’s a cute home”? I think we all have said this at some time or another and if we really stopped to look at the home that was very cute what would we find? Well the yard will be pristine, the lawn will be free of weeds, the landscape will be perfect, the trees and flowers are easy to maintain but add a nice touch. The home is well cared for, the siding is clean and well maintained, windows are spotless, and the roof is in great condition, the driveway is clear of clutter. In simple terms the home welcomes you to have a look!!!

That’s it! Nothing you can’t do but few sellers take the time, we have listed many homes and begged our clients to take some time and tidy these things up but if we had a dollar for every time a client said I am not spending one more cent on this place well wouldn’t have to work anymore. It should take you two to four months to get your home ready to sell…yes we did say two to four months. Above, all we talked about was the outside…inside will need even more work. Buyers today are picky they want the home to be pretty much perfect and every home has maintenance issues that have been neglected. How about the window that doesn’t open or the door that sticks, when was the last time that it had a coat of paint on the walls and ceilings? What about our favourite topic “clutter”? Reduce reduce reduce and then reduce some more!!! We all have way too much stuff, take a look at your closets and is there any space on the shelves or rods? We bet there isn’t an extra inch because we fill every inch of our homes. If you have five bed sets plus the one that is already on the bed box up five and just wash and reinstall the one that you have left, do you have 20 towels but usually use only one or two well than start packing now. A buyer who sees a full closets only sees a house that is too small and on to the next one.

The best advice we can give you is to think like a buyer when you are a seller. If you really do this walk outside and step onto the sidewalk and have a look at your home. What do you think, is this home for you? Have a note pad and as you walk towards your home write down all that needs some attention, nothing is too small. Step inside and go through your home room by room. Please, please, please remember you are not going to be living here anymore so that extra special colour you fell in love with but everyone else thinks you lost it now has to go!!!

If you follow this basic plan and tackle your home with the goal of making it a “very cute home” it will sell and it will sell in a shorter time period often for more money than what others are getting. It’s up to you leave money on the table for the buyer to take or put some elbow grease and a few targeted dollars into the old place and put some cash into yours.