Sell Your Home Without A Realtor

Something I've learned in getting my house ready to sell: people say they want to picture their things in your house, neutral colors make every one happy, etc. But there's something else going on, something that buyers will never ever admit, but it's true.

When people look at a house, they want to see the life that they think they want to live. People buy a house based upon the life that they idealize, not the one they actually live.

So your job is to give them that ideal. Make the rooms look big, make the kitchen look beautiful and uncluttered, make it smell nice, make it look nice. Make it look like they could move in and live a wonderful, TV-perfect world in your house.

My last house sold in a couple of days. I'm about to move again, so I'm crossing my fingers, decluttering, tidying up and making the house look like the kind of place that people dream about living in.

http://www.ziprealty.com/featured_homes/virtual_tour.jsp?listing_num=2575151&property_type=SFR&mls=mls_phoenix&featured_home_id=1862199&cKey=btfmg6h6&source=ARMLS&page=3. We would love some feedback of what you think how the house turned out. The listing front shows the before pictures and the virtual tour shows the after…..
http://www.ziprealty.com/featured_homes/home_detail.jsp?listing_num=2575151&page=3&property_type=SFR&mls=mls_phoenix&featured_home_id=1862199&cKey=27wtrjw7&source=ARMLS

We do Interior staging all the time for clients selling their home, for new home builders and in our own rentals where we set up models of each unit type. I downloaded the virtual tour and no offense, this was a very basic job. I don't mean to be rude or offensive, but when we set up we bring in accessories, furniture, books, electronics, pictures for the walls, pillows, throws, lamps, etc. and we set up each room with a traffic pattern that encourages flow through the home. This design has no concept, is too stark and makes the home cold. Worse yet it makes it look like everything is builder basic which cannot justify the asking price. The home has a great floor plan and terrific bones which aren't being used to their fullest potential.

Is it necessary to stage every room or just the main living area. What are the bare minimums and neccessities when staging a vacated house for sale?

Staging isn't required in every room. Any area that might cause confusion should be staged. Living room for sure. Master bedroom too, especially if it is a very big or very small room, or has an unusual shape. Some buyers need to see the room 'dressed' or they just can't picture how they might set up furniture. Staging the dining room is a good idea - and bake a loaf of bread or an apple pie the day of the open house.. The smell will stay with any potential buyer on a subconscious level, inviting feelings of warmth and comfort when they think about your home.

Staging my home for sale, but not moving out: What should I do with my elliptical machine?

I have a relatively small 3 bedroom 1.5 bath ranch style house from the early 1980s with bedrooms on one side of the house and kitchen/dining/living room on the other.

It’s only about 1100-1200 square feet, but the space is used well and “feels” larger than it is due to a great layout.

I have done a lot of work on the inside and out have this one staging issue left:

I use my elliptical trainer every day and want to continue to, but the only place it fits in my house is in this perfect little enclave in the living room where there is a notch cut out of the wall.

Problem is, that notch is one of the best architectural features of the whole house and could really be used to sell the house by placing an entry table, secretary. wine storage, large mirror, beautiful plant, or something along those lines there.

That little notch is the difference between “ordinary aging smallish
3, 1.5” and “wow, this place is pretty nice for an affordable first home”.

The main part of the house is pained a warm golden color, neutral but warm. I was thinking of painting the notch an eggplant color to make it stand out and decorating it for sale…but…what do I do with my elliptical – it won’t fit anywhere else? Should I

1) Buy a pretty privacy screen and a plant, and still paint it eggplant?

2) Leave it as it and forget about it?

3) Give up my elliptical and store it while I’m trying to sell?

4) Other?

Leave it as it is. If it was out in the middle of a room, or interfering with the view of the space, I'd move it. The screen might be more of distraction than a help. The eliptical isn't a huge deal, people can imagine the space with it in place.

Good luck selling your home!

There are several things that are critical if you want to sell your home. Pricing is first. Your house must be competetively priced if you have any hope of selling. Don't try to price your house on your own. EVERYONE thinks their house is worth more than it is. Get a real estate professional to do a comparative market analysis to place a fair market value on the home AND don't necessarily go with the one who is promising you the most money for your home. He is just trying to 'buy' your listing.

Staging (or appearance) is second. Contrary to what another writer wrote, this is not making your home something that it isn't. It is taking what you've got and enhancing it. It's like putting a shine on a dull pair of shoes to make them look good.

Curb appearance is important. I've driven up to houses with customers and never made it inside the door because the house looked bad from the outside. Colorful flowers and a freshly painted front door will help to at least get the customer inside the house.

When it was a seller's market last year you used to be able to get away with things like offering a carpet allowance to replace the carpeting or a paint allowance to have the house painted after the sale. You can't do that in a buyer's market. There is too much good looking inventory available and if your house needs too much work the buyer will just move on to another house.

How much work should you do? That depends. You can do a lot of things that will cost you nothing. Clear up clutter. Get rid of over sized furniture to make a room look larger. Leave the bare essentials in the closets and pack up the rest to make it look like the closets are large. Don't put computer desks in bedrooms etc. You are selling SPACE and clutter makes a place look small.

Take personal items such as personal pictures off the walls. Take down cultural or religious items. The idea is to let a potential buyer envision himself in the house. It's hard to do if your have 3 generations of family pictures hanging on the wall.

If your house needs painting then paint it. If plumbing needs repairing, fix it. Don't go replacing whole kitchens or doing expensive upgrades on bathrooms. You won't get your money back in the short term.

And yes, some of the HGTV shows mentioned are a good source to watch for some inexpensive fix-up ideas. As a realtor, I watch it frequently.

I hope you find this information useful. If you have any other questions, please feel free to go to my website, www.flwaterhomes.com and contact me. Good luck on the sale of your home.

Jim Reske, Realtor
ERA Advantage Realty, Inc
Port Charlotte, FL

We need to try and sell our home ASAP because we don’t want to be moving when its snowing out. I have a 3 month old and I am alone all day til hubby comes home to help. Ive had a few of my friends say staging my home is what I should be doing. However…I have a few problems, Its hard to get rid of so many things when you have a baby and a bunch of pets. I have a dog and 4 cats. Ive been told they cant be in the house when I show….how am I gonna get 1 dog, 4 cats and a baby in the car and drive around the block for 15 minutes? As long as the house looks clean isnt it ok?

Board the cats and place 50% of what you own in storage. That will help a great deal.

like that fresh baked cookie smell without actually baking a batch but using the oven or stovetop
No candles or incense

Take a drop of vanilla extract and place it on top of a light bulb in a lamp, preferably a 3 way. Turn it on it's lowest setting, and in about 10 minutes you will have the smell of vanilla floating through your house. It's awesome.

If your home won’t sell, try renting furniture to make it feel more homey! Call Furniture Affair for a quote (602) 863-9955

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Hi, I am putting my home for sale the end of this week. Any ideas on staging? Thanks.

Cardinal (see his answer above) is completely wrong. Yes, pricing is important, but the same house priced right will sell much faster if it's staged well. Actually the same house will sell for MORE, if it's staged right.
Just today I previewed a wonderful house, where the owners use their living room as a dining room (they have a huge dining table there) and they use their dining room as a sitting room. Maybe this is convenient for them, but it looks very strange. Buyers get confused (not many people can imagine this house being empty and then furnished the way they like it.)
Being an agent, I saw houses sit on the market for 6 months and then sell within days after a professional staging company took care of it.
You do not need to hire a professional (it's a good idea to do it, but it's not cheap) but you MUST make the house look "neutral" (your high school football trophies are not something the potential buyers want to see, and your computer in the kitchen is not a good selling tool.)
There are many "tricks" how to present your house. One of the most important one is - completely empty and clean kitchen counters.