What Every Seller Should Know (Part 2)

Hello Sellers! It's time for another installment of What Every Seller Should Know. Last time, I discussed the importance of making sure your home looks its best from the outside. Today, we're moving on to making cosmetic improvements to the interior of your home.

Making Cosmetic Improvements
If you've ever watched any of the home-improvement shows on TLC or HGTV, you know what a huge difference a cosmetic makeover can make to a space. The great thing about these changes is that they're often simple and cheap, especially compared with major remodeling. Speaking of major remodeling, I do NOT recommend it as a means to get your house ready for sale. Replacing an outdated oven range or a grungy bathroom fixture is one thing, but doing a total re-haul of your home's floor plan (or other similar measures) can easily land you in a situation where you either can't find a buyer who likes what you've done OR you can't recoup the costs of the remodeling by selling. Bottom line: Accept your home for what it IS, and make the best of it, rather than trying to make it something it isn't.

That being said, here are some great ways to help your house fulfill its potential:

- Paint the entire interior in warm, neutral colors. Think colors like sandy browns, sage greens, and light greys. And think SIMPLE - if your painting gets too customized with trim colors, accent walls, or borders, you'll end up narrowing the field of buyers who will find it attractive. Read more about using warm neutrals here.

- Remove, store, or hide any of your stuff that you don't use every day. This includes furniture, knick-knacks, family photos, small appliances, and more. You want your home to appear as large and spacious as possible. You want buyers to immediately start imagining what THEY would do with the space, instead of being distracted by what you've done with it.

- If you have carpet, it should be professionally cleaned. If it's in poor condition, or if you have pets, you should consider replacing it. Wood laminate floors are incredibly popular with today's buyers and they are a great option if your flooring needs to be improved.

- Clean all kitchen, bathroom, and lighting fixtures throughout your house. If hte fixtures are dated or damaged, consider replacing them. Fixtures in a home are kind of like makeup on a woman's face. When they're done right, you might not be able to put your finger on why, but you know the house looks nice. When they're done wrong, the place looks ugly.

- Keep your home relatively clean the whole time it's on the market. Usually you will have plenty of advanced notice before a buyer drops by, but you want to be ready just in case! I'll discuss how to stage your home for a showing in greater detail later in this series.

I hope that helps some of you! The best thing to keep in mind when your getting your house ready to sell is that you want it to be a blank slate. Make your improvements with this in mind, and you'll find that your house appeals to more buyers!

Stay tuned for next time, and keep an eye out for more useful information for Sellers in the next edition of my newsletter!

What Every Seller Should Know (Part 1)

As we near the deadline for the $8,000 tax credit, there has been a flood of information for first time home buyers. It seems like you can't read an online newspaper without seeing an article aimed at educating or encouraging all the buyers out there.

But what about sellers? I've heard from a few customers that they'd like to know more about how to maximize the value of their homes as they get ready to sell. Over the next few days, I'll be publishing a series of blog posts called "What Every Seller Should Know." Each post will deal with a new aspect of preparing your home for sale. Feel free to leave questions in the Comments section, and you cal always visit my Seller's Page for more information!

What Every Seller Should Know: Part 1

Understand the Value of Curb Appeal

When you list your house for sale, one of the first things your agent will do is take pictures of the outside. These pictures are likely to be the first thing most buyers will see, and you want them to be appealing. Real estate professionals call this "Curb appeal."


This is an example of bad curb appeal. What's wrong with it? Well. . . bare branches in the foreground, an unkempt lawn cluttered with bicycles, old furniture on the front porch, and a dingy air conditioning unit hanging out of a front window.
These characteristics don't add up to entice a Buyer, even though the home itself is freshly painted and in decent shape.

Here's a better example: Green grass and a leafy tree, mowed lawn with some well-maintained shrubs, and no excess clutter. These are the types of things that Buyer's might not consciously look for, but are drawn to just the same.

Each season comes with its own ways to make the most of your house's curb appeal; In the spring, a neatly maintained lawn with some flower beds or landscaping is great. In summer, if you can keep your lawn green, that's a huge help. (In Wichita, though, it's also a huge expense. If you know in springtime that you plan to list in summer, have your agent take exterior pictures before your grass turns brown.) In the fall, rake the fallen leaves out of your yard, and try to have pictures taken BEFORE the trees are bare. Winter is probably the toughest season to work with, but if you're stuck with it, try to get pictures taken when the ground is snow-covered. Shovel your walkways and driveway, turn all the lights on inside, and go for a "Christmas Card" look.

Regardless of the season, make your home inviting by leaving lights on in the front rooms, and porch lights too if it's after dark. Try to keep your yard free of toys, tools, or other equipment, and keep the lawn well-maintained in case someone does a drive-by viewing. Also, when your Realtor® does take pictures from the front yard, make sure they're taken either before a "For Sale" sign goes up, or from an angle that doesn't show the sign. The pictures are to advertise your house, not your Realtor®.

For more ideas about maximizing your house's curb appeal, browse through the internet or magazines in search of pictures of homes. Even if the pictures aren't Real Estate related, odds are they were staged to be attractive. Take your cues from how the professionals have done it. (A Google Image Search for "curb appeal" yields a bunch of great examples.)

Stay tuned for Part 2 of What Every Buyer Should Know, which will be about making cosmetic improvements to the interior of your house.

Now get out there and enjoy this beautiful weather! I'm headed out for a 5-mile run in Sedgwick County Park. It doesn't get much better than that :-)

Home Sweet Home!

Hello Wichita!

Can you believe how gorgeous it has been outside lately? I feel like Spring has arrived with authority! I couldn't be happier about it :-) Of course, part of that happiness is probably because Bryan and I moved into our very first house last week! I'm here to tell you firsthand that home buying is a HUGE ordeal, but ultimately a very gratifying experience. If you got my newsletter this month, you'll know more about what I mean.

Things in the new house are fantastic! Here's a picture of Bryan and me in one of our favorite new rooms:


And, almost as much as the house itself, I love my yard! We were greeted last weekend by an explosion of blossoms all over a tree in our back yard:


Caught up in a Spring frenzy, I planted some flowers around our mailbox:


And I found some of these growing out front, another surprise!


Stay tuned for more house/garden updates! Happy Spring!