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Ask An Agent – My House Hasn’t Sold, What Can I Do?

March 16, 2011 – 5:00 pm

My house hasn’t sold for 6 months plus. What strategies can I employ to get it sold?

First – Look at your house and the other houses in your price range. You may be being unrealistic. This market is not the same as a few years ago. Second, consider the condition of your property, both inside and out. Take an objective look at the curb appeal. Is there clutter around the house? Are the kitchen counters overflowing with appliances? Get rid of all the clutter for a clean appealing look. You may be fond of the orange carpet and lime green walls, but such extremes in color and design turn off the vast majority of buyers. Next, take a look at your location. No, you can’t change your location but taking an objective look can help you price accordingly. *In this market, proper staging & de-cluttering can be time and money well spent. Hire a professional if you need assistance. You want that “wow factor” the moment a buyer walks in the front door. Remember, you only have one opportunity to make a first impression.

Then ask yourself whether your home is being marketed properly. Is your real estate sales agent using all the tools available to them? Do you have multiple photos online & not just the front of the home? Do you have a quality virtual tour? If you have a fantastic kitchen & bath, are the photos on the internet? Remember, kitchens and baths sell homes!

Today’s buyers are savvier and they are using the internet to start their search. When I market a home I get the home on approximately 25 different high traffic real estate websites & add 12 – 24 professional quality photos. At a minimum your sales agent should have your home on zillow.com, frontdoor.com, trulia.com and realtor.com just to name a few.

By admin | Posted in Selling A Home | Comments (0)

Staging Homes always makes sense–dollars and cents, too!

March 16, 2011 – 2:46 pm

If you are thinking about selling your home, it is time to think about marketing it to the widest audience.  A good stager can help you set priorities by going room by room through your home and helping you see it through the eyes of a potential buyer.

The buyer wants to be able to picture him or herself in the home.  That means you don’t want them distracted by your personal belongings including pictures and awards and even religious items.  The idea is to present a very clean, well-maintained appearance with enough flair to catch the eye.  Get rid of all clutter.  Pack it up or give it away.  Hold a yard sale or take larger more valuable pieces to a resale shop. Then go through again and see if there is even more that can be cleared out.  Don’t neglect closets and drawers.  Buyers will be opening doors.

Think of this as your chance to really organize your life before you make the move.  It will make things a lot easier on the other end.

Next, make sure that you touch up chipped and scuffed areas.  Ask your stager for ideas on wall colors.  It might be a good time to update the color scheme and freshen ceilings,

Then, your stager will give you ideas for creating vignettes in focal areas of your home.  It may mean setting an attractive table in the dining room with matching plates, mats and center piece.

You can usually find things in your home but it may be worth spending  a bit to get new colorful towels, pillows or toiletries to spruce up your rooms.

Your stager will also help maximize your living space by making recommendations about furniture arrangement,  It can make a dramatic difference in room perception by just readjusting some items.

Finally, don’t neglect the exterior as that is going to make the first impression on buyers.  Don’t turn the showing into a driveby because you haven’t painted your home recently, mowed the lawn, raked leaves, or missed other important outdoor maintenance work.

The bottom line is that statistics prove that staged homes sell faster.  Staging puts your home above the competition.  And that’s right where you want to be in today‘s market.

By homesinmaine | Posted in Real Estate Staging | Comments (0)

RE/MAX By The Bay Company Meeting – Oct 2010

October 26, 2010 – 4:24 pm

Rainbows, laughter, energy, sharing, ideas, synergy, great food, beautiful vistas and more describes our quarterly meeting of Re/Max By the Bay at the Portland Yacht Club Falmouth. Good news! Re/Max By the Bay is still #1 in sales for the state and Cumberland Country with approximately 60 agents. Our stats were shared and smiles and cheers abounded.

Eden Sunshine from the Ken Goodfellow’s coaching team flew in from Arizona to share the Disc Profiling Process. What an eye opener that was for all of us. Finding out I have the conscientious style which is slow paced and task oriented is not a surprise. My former life as a surgical technologist at Mercy Hospital instilled that in me. An upbeat presentation by Fiona Beecy, from Re/Max New England was energizing.

A short clip about social networking is the reason why I am doing this blog. The unveiling of our new website by Chrystie Corns, from our marketing department was well received. Being ahead of the curve is always the goal of the company and this website certainly meets that need. The 6 degrees of separation says that with every six people that you meet, someone in that group will know someone that you know. We are connected in more ways than you think but… you just have to ask and engage to know.

We enjoyed a fabulous lunch from Basil’s Provisions in Cumberland, Maine and some mouth watering cinnamon buns filled the desires for sweets.. Lastly our beloved Kim Coit shared the latest core course on “Promoting Public Confidence”. Great job by all involved and special thanks to Tina Segerstrom, our office manager who is a gem and anticipates our needs before we know them, What a great team! What a great company. Go Re/Max By the Bay!

By homesinmaine | Posted in RE/MAX Events | Comments (0)