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Tips on Selling Your Home
Tips on Staging the Home
- Make the Most of that First Impression
A well-manicured lawn,
neatly trimmed shrubs and a clutter-free porch welcome prospects.
So does a freshly painted - or at least freshly scrubbed - front door. If it's autumn, rake the leaves. If it's winter, shovel the walkways.
The fewer obstacles between prospects and the true appeal of your home, the better.
- Invest a Few Hours for Future Dividends
Here's your chance
to clean up in real estate. Clean up the living room, the bathroom,
the kitchen. If your woodwork is scuffed or the paint is fading,
consider some minor redecoration. Fresh wallpaper adds charm and
value to your property. If you're worried about time, hire professional
cleaners or painters to get your house ready. Remember, prospects
would rather see how great your home really looks than hear how
great it could look "with a little work." Find a cleaning
service or handyman to help.
- Check Faucets and Bulbs
Dripping water rattles the nerves, discolors sinks, and suggests
faulty or worn-out plumbing. Burned out bulbs or faulty wiring
leave prospects in the dark. Don't let little problems detract
from what's right
with your home. Find a plumber, electrician or general contractor
to help.
- Don't Shut Out a Sale
If cabinets or closet doors stick in
your home, you can be sure they will also stick in a prospect's
mind. Don't try to explain
away sticky situations when you can easily plane them away. A little effort
on your part can smooth the way toward a closing. Find a handyman to help.
- Think Safety
Homeowners learn to live with all kinds of self-set
booby traps: roller skates on the stairs, festooned extension
cords, slippery throw rugs and low hanging overhead lights. Make
your residence as non-perilous as possible for uninitiated visitors.
- Make Room for Space
Remember, potential buyers are looking
for more than just comfortable living space. They're looking for
storage space, too. Make sure your attic and basement are clean
and free of unnecessary items. Find a contractor to help.
- Consider
Your Closets
The better organized a closet, the larger it appears.
Now's
the time to box up those unwanted clothes and donate them to charity.
- Make Your Bathroom Sparkle
Bathrooms sell homes, so let them
shine. Check and repair damaged or unsightly caulking in
the tubs and showers. For added allure, display your best towels,
mats, and shower curtains. Find a contractor to help.
- Create Dream Bedrooms
Wake up prospects to the cozy comforts
of your bedrooms. For a spacious look, get rid of excess furniture.
Colorful bedspreads and fresh curtains are a must.
- Open
up in the Daytime
Let the sun shine in! Pull back your curtains
and drapes so prospects can see how bright and cheery your
home is.
- Lighten up at Night
Turn on the excitement by
turning on all your lights - both inside and outside - when showing
your home in the evening. Lights add color and warmth, and
make prospects feel welcome.
- Avoid Crowd Scenes
Potential
buyers often feel like intruders when they enter a home filled
with people. Rather than giving your house the attention it deserves,
they're likely to hurry through. Try to give them time in
the home with the Realtor.
- Watch Your Pets
Dogs and cats are
great companions, but not when you're showing your home. Pets
have a talent for getting underfoot. So do everybody a favor:
Keep Kitty and Spot outside, or at least out of the way.
- Relax
Be
friendly, but don't try to force conversation. Prospects
want to view your home with a minimum of distraction.
- Don't
Apologize
No matter how humble your abode, never apologize for
its shortcomings. If a prospect volunteers a derogatory comment
about your home's appearance, let your Realtor handle the situation.
Don't Turn Your Home into a Second-Hand Store
When prospects
come to view your home, don't distract them with offers to
sell those furnishings you no longer need. You may lose the biggest
sale of all.
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TIPS ON FINDING YOUR ALBUQUERQUE REALTOR
- Get the Henson and Preston
Team!
OK, you got us, this is a shameless plug. Call us at 505-822-TEAM to give
us a hard time about it!
- Get someone who's honest!
The honest ones will put your interests before their own and they will
be straight with you no matter how much money is on the line.
- Get
someone who's hungry!
The hungry ones are likely to dedicate
themselves to finding you a home.
- Get someone who's experienced
in the Area!
It's probably a bad sign if you know the area
better than your Realtor.
- Get someone who's full time!
Nothing against part-time Realtors, but the home-buying process requires
a lot of time and attention.
- Get someone who's there for
you!
If you have to leave voice mails every time you call and
then it takes a long time for returned calls, you might want
to start calling someone else. Pick a Realtor that has good relationships
with other Albuquerque Realtors! This will help when negotiating
and going through the inspection process.
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TIPS ON NEGOTIATING THE DEAL
-
Make it a win, win.
When someone tries to beat the Seller in a negotiation, they almost always
end up losing. They pay a higher price than the Seller would have accepted
in the first place or they lose out on a great home. Professional negotiators
work to set up a "win, win" scenario where both parties are satisfied.
Winning in a home negotiation should be defined as Buyer getting a great
home at "fair market value" and Seller receiving "fair market
price" for
their investment. A good Albuquerque Realtor can help you to review the
market in an area to determine the ballpark "fair market value".
Our definition of negotiation is two parties making a strong effort to
try to come together to make a deal.
- Make a strong offer and don't play
games!
Give them something they can sign - If you offer is strong, the Seller might
simply accept it instead of feeling the urge to counter-offer.
On some homes you might have to offer full price or higher. Remember that
Albuquerque is currently a "Seller's Market". On many high demand
homes and areas, you might have to offer full price or more to get the
home. This is especially true when homes are new on the market.
- Keep it "clean"!
Keep the offer simple. Don't negotiate something "out of the norm"
unless absolutely necessary. Sellers (and humans in general)
tend to shift their focus to negative items. If you request something
in the offer that is out of the ordinary, the Seller might start to
focus on these insignificant negative items and this will make the
entire offer look worse (Call us if you have questions on which fees
are often paid by the Seller and other common Albuquerque Purchase
agreement terms).
- Don't
justify your offer!
Your offer should be strong enough on its own and not need justification.
This is a very common mistake in negotiating. The Seller is not interested
in your reasons that you have for offering less on the home. As a matter
of fact, Sellers are proud of their homes and usually take it personally
when someone starts taking shots at their pride and joy. Simply make
your offer and wait for a response.
- Don't talk to strangers!
Avoid talking with the Seller or the Seller's Agent about negotiation
items. It's
nice to have the Real Estate Agents working as a buffer for negotiations.
When Buyers talk directly with Sellers or their Agents, someone might
get offended and blow up the deal.
- Trust the power of the pen!
Always put negotiations in writing. Verbal negotiations have a
strange way of falling apart quickly. Even worse, you might think you
have a deal, but neither side understands the terms of the deal. We
have seen many people have convenient memory lapses.
- Be reasonable
man!
Try to keep your emotions out of it. Many deals are lost over
silly things and small amounts.
- The million dollar question;
"So,
how much $$$ do people usually negotiate" in
the Albuquerque Real Estate Market?
This is a tough question and we get it a lot. We can't give a
straight answer because it varies on every home. However, we can
give you the averages of what we see in our market. In the current
Albuquerque home market we see Buyers and Sellers negotiating an
average of around 2% or less off of the purchase price (this is
a VERY ROUGH average based on homes that have been on the market
for around 30-45 days. This is not a scientific calculation. It's
simply our best guess.)
- Respond quickly to counter-offers!
Keep in mind that when an offer or counter offer is made, it can
be withdrawn while awaiting a response. Even though the standard
New Mexico real estate forms provide a deadline for offers, the
party awaiting a response can still withdraw their offer before
the deadline (if they have not yet "received" and "accepted"
your response).
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TIPS ON PLANNING FOR THE MOVE
- Always have a backup plan!
In New Mexico Real Estate, all trains don't always arrive on time. Closing
delays can be caused for many reasons (just to name a few - Mortgage Companies,
Title Companies, Realtors, Appraiser's, Home Inspectors, Home Repair Contractors).
So, don't kill yourself to meet a rigid moving schedule. We've seen many
Buyers make poor decisions on home inspections and repair items because
they're
not willing to change their moving plans to get problems solved correctly
before closing. The best way to avoid problems is to give yourself plenty
of time to make the move.
- The Devil's in the Details!
Try to get the small details like setting up phone, electricity
services, & cable
install appointments before moving into the home. These service providers
usually take a week or more to get into the home for install.
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