From a Pile of Coal Comes a Diamond

Just a quick post today.  Sometimes when I'm getting reading in the morning I have thoughts about improving my business or other people's businesses (including the business of selling a home, for instance).  I tell homeowners and realtors about the staging process and why it works...but some people listen and some don't.  Happy are those who listen to me because their homes move!

So I try to come up with ways to explain why you need your home to look great if you want to sell it. I try to come up with analogies and stories so that people get the concept. Pictures help a great deal...so here's my picture analogy of why you should make your home look the best it can and how a qualified home stager can help your home look its best.

Lumps of coal Source

Can turn into...

It takes work, but your house can be a Diamond! Which of these two pictures represents your house? Make sure it's in "Diamond" condition - then your days on market will be short!

Call me if you need any help getting your home ready for the Spring selling season! 631 793-1315

Image credit for diamond: Source

Want to Win $5000 worth of Furniture from Raymour & Flanigan?

Do you need some new furniture - just about everybody does, right?  Especially when you are selling your home.  Why don't you enter their contest to win $5000 worth of new furniture?

Source

Just go to this LINK on their Facebook page to find out the particulars.  On Facebook, they have a link to their site where you can create a beautiful room of your choosing and then enter it to hopefully win.

It's worth a shot.  So, get going and give it a whirl. The contest ends in mid-February - so get going right now!

Have fun...and you never know.  You may win!  Good Luck!

Happy Holidays and Why Some Houses Sell & Others Don't

I just wanted to wish every one of my readers and clients a very happy and healthy Holiday Season - and a prospersous New Year.

As we come to the end of 2011, I just wanted to leave you with some thoughts about how to change things for next year - if indeed your home or listing did not sell this year.  There's such a correlation between price and condition. If a home is priced correctly and it's in good condition - it will sell.  Any aberration to that ratio...well, you may not be as successful.

Jay Papasan, a co-author of many real estate best sellers, gives the best advice I have ever heard about why some houses don't sell in his YouTube video.  Here it is - some food for thought.

Call me at 631 793-1315 if you need any help with selling your home.  Remember, home staging is not a cost...it's an investment.

Happy Holidays

Linda

Selling and Staging a Home That is Being Rented

With owner-occupied homes that are going on the market, you have to edit, declutter, repaint etc because the desire and motivation of the owner is first and foremost - to get the property sold. But with a rental, you also have to consider the renter as well...and not every situation will be a smooth one. Will the renter keep the home clutter-free, neat and tidy - or... will there be dishes in the sink and an unmade bed during showings?

When I was selling the second house I had ever purchased - a two family home in Whitestone, NY - I had a single male renter who kept his apartment immaculate. He was sometimes a little late paying his rent...but he was a very quiet tenant and he kept his place as neat as a pin. While I sometimes bemoaned choosing him to rent my place - he turned out to be such an asset to me when selling the house! I staged my downstairs apartment where I lived - and I had little to do with his apartment (it looked fantastic). The home sold in two days - for $70,000 more than I paid for it two years prior. Having a tenant who was amenable to showing the home - and the fact that he was neat and quiet - was one of the reasons why I sold the home so quickly.

I know that it may be hard to figure out who will be a neat tenant - but, just in case you ever have to sell an income property such as a rental - it really pays to put in the time to know who your tenant really is: Not only from a credit standpoint...but also from past landlords as to how they kept their apartment. Fortunately, I got to meet his former landlord and from him I understood that my tenant would keep the apartment in tip top shape.