How long will it take to sell my home?
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Smart Realtors will tell you the first 30 days on market is the most important. Thats when the listing is fresh on the MLS listing and for some of us who use the latest in technology, it also goes across the National Listing Service (NLS). When thinking of Surprise real estate and Phoenix real estate in general, you want your home exposed not only to local Realtors, but to the general populace. There are more than 20 realty bots ( more being added every day) for people to search on for property. Homes.com, Point2homes.com, truila, google and yahoo are just a few of the sites that you must use to get the broad distribution needed to market Surprise real estate for sale, or anywhere in the West Valley. In any case if you use good marketing for selling your home it will increase the opportunities buyers have to see it and when they do step in your home, the right visual clues to them (home presentation) that will help them make that final buy decision.
If you are a seller and on the market for more than 90 days and no offers, I think you have a couple of options (i.e. assuming you need to sell and not just testing the market) to have more showings. First carefully re-evaluate what the sales situation is in your neighbor hood. and that means selling activity on homes, do another market evaluation. You may need to adjust pricing a little or a lot, it is market dependent. Do you have a pricing strategy? Dropping to the wrong price can cost you a lot. The second is to make sure your house is ready for market presentation. That means uncluttered, clean, bright, and staged to provide the best appearance.
In todays market (winter 08) houses will be on the market for 100 to 120 days if your home does not have the best appearance. If it looks like a fix up and priced like a ready move in you may not sell in 180 days. The homes the best appearance have a good chance to be on of those homes that sell in under 90 days, if they are priced right and look right. Be critical of your homes appearance, where one of these 3 categories do you fit in?
As your Phoenix and Surprise Real estate agent, I can help you with data on area sales and listings to price your home to sell. Give me a call at 623-606-8861 or email me at info@mikehortonrealty.com and I will be glad to provide you with a free evaluation. |
Preparing your home for sale
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Pack up early.
Sellers should pack up several large pieces of furniture and as much of the clutter in each room as possible. Don't just shift the stuff to another room or garage- rent a storage space and get it out of the house before showing. The way you live in your home and the way you sell your house are two different things.
Stick with beige.
Carpeting shouldn't look worn or flat and lifeless. Colors should not look like a box of crayons or be shaggy. If you have loud carpet in your home you should consider replacing it with plain "real estate" beige or the popular Frise in an offwhite or light color with some speckles to not show new spots. Don't assume that the buyers will be able to look past the bad carpeting and just take something off the price. In a buyers market, it won't work. I had a home listed where the seller had a bright bright green carpet in the bedrooms. The house could not entice anything but low ball bids and the house did not sell. Offering a credit might work, but some buyers just can't get past that first unflattering look. When you decided to put a more netural carpet in the home. make sure that it is a good color match with your walls.
Use the rule of three.
Three items are pleasing to the eye. Whether it's artwork, figurines on a shelf, a magazine rack, pillows, or candles, arrange them in threes for a more pleasing display.
Paint your home to sell.
Does you home have bright pink exercise room to energize you when working out? How about purple in the kids room? Yellow in the boys room and mermaids in the bath room? If any of these conditions exist or anything like that, you are setting yourself up for a long time to sell your home. In a buyers market, your house must be paint perfect!
What does Paint Perfect mean? So first lets consider a few points
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Look at the style and complement it with your paint.
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Use the color brochures found in many stores to see how paint comos work together.
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Try your paint first by buying quart size jars and trying it our in different places with different lighting. This can make a big difference in your paint selection.
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Try different combinations to see which one works best
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Make sure your exterior color selections fit your area and your HOA approves to the extent it needs to.
With next question is really how to select the paint. A few more points to consider are:
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Use the Pittsburg paint rule. (60-30-10) 60% of paint color goes to the body. 30% goes to the trim and 10% goes to accent items.
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Those items that you don't like about the house should be painted in the main color. These items tend to fade into the background.
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Use paint as an accent on those items that you want to standout.
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Paint your front door in a color that really pops, some examples are dark plums, cranberry reds, teal blues, mahogany stain.
Need more help look at these sties for additional help:
Benjamin Moore - www.benjaminmoore.com
Sherwin-Williams - www.sherwin-williams.com
Behr - www.behr.com
Rohm and Hass - www.paintquality.com
Well good luck in selling your new home. I would be gland to help you.
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Selling Your Phoenix and Surprise Real Estate
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 Thinking about putting your real estate on the market? Have you decided on your objectives? You might not hear that often from other realtors, so what does it mean? As your Surprise Real Estate Agent I want to help clarify what you want to accomplish in selling your home. This will make the difference between success and failure. As your Surprise real estate agent I want to understand what your needs since it will take a partnership to get your home sold, so good communications upfront is important. That list of questions include how soon do you need to sell? Are you considering a short sale and possibly foreclosure? Is this a move dictated by your job? Does the home need to have staging or maintenance? There's more and we will take a little time upfront getting to know your needs.
Do you want to know what your property is worth, a market analysis? You need to have a professional analysis of your market area, one that provides some solid analytical support for the proposed price range. Sometimes you hear that the house down the street sold for X dollars, a lot more than the analytics indicate. Make sure what you hear is accurate and within a time frame (2 or 3 months) that can help predict accurate market value. A Client Gateway customized for your evaluation is a great way to keep up with the neighborhood activies.
If you use an online program that promises to provide you with the value of your home, use a conservative approach and be sure to understand all the options for adding or subtracting value from your home. I have frequently spent time with clients on their computer to help them understand why these programs are often inaccurate and that can be either to low or high!
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If you have any general questions about selling real estate in Surprise AZ or anywhere in the West Valley, please contact me; I'm pleased to help as your real estate consultant. Please browse my website for listings, selling advice, area reports and important local real estate information. If you don't see it, send an email and I will see what I can find for you.
"Homing in on your dream" is more than just a phrase, it's my commitment to you.
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Selling a Home in Surprise, Arizona
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Selling your home is an involved process that affects your family and your future. Before you begin this process, you'll want to ensure that you have the most up-to-date information. When should you sell? How do you get the best price? What kinds of renovations should be made prior to the sale?
These home selling reports will assist you in answering the many questions that arise during the home selling process. When you're armed with the right information, and an experienced real estate professional, you'll be closer to reaching your goal - selling your home fast, and for the best price. | Please contact me if you have any questions about selling your Surprise home. Below, select desired reports and complete the form provided.
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How to Sell a House Where Pets Live
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Almost everybody loves pets except the home buyer who is buying your house. Don't ask me why, but that's often how it
works out. Home sellers who adore their pets have a hard time imagining the negative attitudes others harbor against pets. So, while this might be a bitter pill to swallow, if you want to get top dollar for your house, pay attention to how much you might lose with a dog or cat in residence.
Why Don't Home Buyers Like Your Pet?
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Nervousness. Pets make some people very uncomfortable. Not everybody grew up with a family pet or enjoys outings at the zoo.
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Fear. Real and irrational. It's not only dogs that instill fear in people. I recently showed a house with a large Rotwieller. He was very nice but not when I stepped to close to his food bowl.
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Inexperience. Pets are not always predictable.
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Your pets aren't their pets. They imagine yours bite, jump, vomit, claw, spit-up hairballs or are just plain hyper and bad.
#1 Preferred Pet Solution
The best thing to do to ensure top price for your home is to relocate your pets while your home is on the market. Putting them in the back yard, in the garage or in another room that you keep locked is insufficient, and it's not fair to them. You need to remove them from the house.
Overcoming Negatives Associated with Your Pets
If you shrug off all professional advice and absolutely refuse to move your pets out of the house, then at least minimize the
objections and nuisance factors, real or otherwise:
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Cat Litter Boxes & Dog Potty Pads. Keep them out of sight and impeccably clean. Nothing turns off buyers faster than opening the door to the laundry room and being greeted by a full or stinky cat box.
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Carpet & Floor Pet Stains. Hire professionals to remove the stains. Buyers will spot them and form unfavorable opinions about the rest of the house. If the stains can't be removed, then remove the floor covering and replace it.
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Pet Odors and Smells.
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Bring in a neighbor to do a whiff test.
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Do not use air fresheners. People with allergies will react.
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Try enzyme cleaners such as Simple Solution , Nature's Miracle or call a professional ozone company.
Remove Signs of a Pet
You may be required by state law to disclose that pets have lived in your home, but you don't need to advertise that pets live
at your house. Removing signs that you have a pet is simply smart practice. Why turn off a buyer at the get-go? It's those
first impressions that are so all-fired important.
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Do not put photos online showing your cat asleep on the bed
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Seal up doggie doors
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Put away food and water bowls when not in use
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Vacuum religiously, every day, sometimes twice a day
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Pick up pet toys and put them away
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Pack up cat trees and other signs of cat paraphernalia (you know who you are)
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Remove photos of pets from refrigerator, walls and table tops
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Pack up all cages, carriers and other tell-tale signs
Showing Your House
Put your pets into a carrier and attach a note warning buyers not to disturb them. The last thing you need is somebody sticking their hand inside the carrier and getting bit or scratched. You can't predict how your pet will react when locked up and alone.
Your agent should notify buyers agents via the mls listing of a Pet Alert to insure the buyers is prepared for the pet and not surprised. |
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Garages come in many shapes and sizes, but most have one thing in common: clutter and some times bad smells. Faced with a mountain of old sports equipment, broken lawnmowers, and little-used tools, some home owners have a hard time finding room in the garage for their car. But when it comes time to sell a house, disorganization in this all-important area is a turnoff to potential buyers, who’ll be unable to imagine their own stuff in the space. Smells from trash from open cans, open paint or gasoline fumes are real turn-offs. The rest of the house might be perfect, but a bad garage can send a buyer packing.
Empty the garage. If you plan to tackle a garage organization project in one day, it’s most effective to remove everything from the garage, or from large sections of it, and haul it to the driveway. There, you can sort through it easier and group similar items together. Just be sure that you don’t drag out more than you can deal with during the time you have allotted to the project. Otherwise, you’ll end up dragging it all back in.
Keep, donate, or throw away. Separate your items into one of these three categories. When deciding which category to place each item, ask yourself some important questions: When was the last time you used it, if ever? Is the item in good working condition and safe to keep? It is something that’s still useful and relevant? Do you have a place to keep it? What is the worst thing that would happen if you got rid of it?
Use what you already have. Before you decide to buy new organizing systems for the garage, look around the house and ask yourself if you have any furniture that you’re no longer using or have considered replacing. That old dresser, buffet, bookcase, TV card, or filing cabinet can make attractive, original, and economical garage storage systems.
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