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Selling a Massachusetts home

Staging and Preparing a Massachusetts Home For Sale

by Bill Gassett on May 6, 2010 · 5 comments

Massachusetts home for sale

Back in the boom times of the Real Estate market from the mid 1990′s until the mid 2000′s getting a Massachusetts home truly ready for the market was far less important than it is today. Every home seller today is in stiff competition with the next guy down the street with far less buyers in the market place.

This makes it far more critical for your home to be polished when the for sale sign gets placed on the lawn. In a buyers market those that are looking at your home are far less forgiving. It is easy for buyers to be choosy because there are so many more homes for them to look at. Massachusetts homes that are not in good shape can take a severe price beating in this environment. Most buyers are looking for turnkey properties. Far fewer buyers are interested in spending the time and energy of fixing up a sellers headaches.

One of the things you hear talked about a lot in Real Estate circles is “curb appeal”. 1st impressions are an important factor when you are selling a home. Since the 1st thing a buyer looks at when they visit your property is the yard and the exterior of the house, you want to make sure that at the very least it is presentable.

Here are some tips for minimal money that will help to facilitate a more timely sale:

EXTERIOR HOME SALE TIPS

  • Clean up all debris from the winter months including any tree limbs, branches, and left over leaves.
  • Clean the driveway and walkway of any sand and other debris.
  • Pay careful attention to have all your landscaping beds raked and weeded out. Adding a fresh coat of mulch always goes a long way.
  • Trim the bushes if needed. Pay attention to keeping them a few feet back from the home allowing for proper ventilation.
  • Consider planting some hearty Spring flowers that have lots of color.
  • Assess your driveway and get it seal coated if it looks old and worn. Seal coating is fairly inexpensive and really does wonders to give your home a new and appealing feel.
  • Clean out your gutters. Leaves hanging out of gutters creates a feeling that the home is not well maintained.
  • Hose down your deck and consider seal coating the surface if needed.
  • Look for any rotted trim and replace as needed.
  • The entry way to your home should sparkle! A fresh coat of paint on the front door always looks great. Make sure you remove any cob webs.
  • Consider adding a few potted plants at the entry with some vibrant flowers.
  • Use a garden hose and spray down any areas of your siding that may have mold or mildew build-up.

Before visiting some tips for sprucing up the interior of your home please keep in mind that a buyer almost ALWAYS estimates higher than the actual cost to make necessary repairs and or improvements. It will cost you far less money to do these things than letting the buyer deduct an appropriate credit in their mind.

INTERIOR HOME SALE TIPS

Massachusetts home sold

  • The 1st thing any home seller should consider is taking any unnecessary possessions and remove them from the house. You want to make your home feel as large and airy as possible. De-cluttering old furniture, boxes, and nick knacks go a long way in making a home presentable. I would consider a local storage center in your area for these things, as it is well worth the money spent. This of course is if you don’t have the space in a basement or attic.
  • If there is not a local storage facility, I would suggest renting a storage unit from PODS (portable on demand storage).
  • Once the clutter has been removed a major Spring cleaning should take place. The bathrooms and kitchen should be spotless! These are the rooms that buyers will pay the most attention to. These rooms are the most costly to upgrade so buyers will be much more picky here.
  • Clean out all the closets in your home. Buyers are always looking for closet space. Having the closets neatly organized is important.
  • Wash down all the windows. Homes always show better when there is plenty of natural light. Don’t let years of grime and dust get in the way.
  • Touch up painting is essential in any home sale. Concentrate on high traffic areas where scuff marks and worn paint are easily visible.  Homes that have painting issues really stand out but in a bad way!
  • Always paint or bleach any old ceiling stains away. For example, if one of your kids took a shower without the curtain fully closed and there is a large stain in the kitchen ceiling below the bath above get it fixed! The fact that it looks awful is reason enough but buyers will also assume you have a plumbing issue.
  • Clean out and organize the garage. A spacious garage will be a consideration for many Massachusetts home buyers.
  • In areas of your home where natural light is not the best make sure you have lamps with higher watt bulbs. In addition make sure they are on for showings. There is nothing worse than a dark home.
  • Clear your kitchen counters completely of everything but the bare bones essentials. Buyers love to see spacious counter areas.
  • Clean all faucets,mirrors,lights, and ceiling fans. There should be no visible dust bunnies!
  • Re-caulk any tubs, showers, sinks, or tile work that has loose grout.
  • If you have leaking faucets make sure they are corrected before placing your home for sale.

Watch the terrific Howcast video below that does an excellent job of pointing out the things that are necessary to prepare a Massachusetts home for sale. Staging a Massachusetts home is an important factor in improving your chances for a timely sale.

While getting your home to look outstanding is an important piece of the home sale puzzle don’t forget that the right price and picking a top producing Realtor to work with should be the two most important considerations.

Best of luck with a timely sale!

Related Real Estate articles:

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About the author: The above Real Estate information on staging and preparing a Massachusetts home for sale was provided by Bill Gassett, a Nationally recognized leader in his field. Bill can be reached via email at billgassett@remaxexec.com or by phone at 508-435-5356. Bill has helped people move in and out of many Metrowest towns for the last 24+ Years.

Thinking of selling your home? I have a passion for Real Estate and love to share my marketing expertise!

I service the following towns in Metrowest MA: Hopkinton, Milford, Southboro, Westboro, Ashland, Holliston, Upton, Mendon, Hopedale, Medway, Franklin, Framingham, Grafton, Northbridge, Shrewsbury, Northboro, Bellingham, Uxbridge, and Douglas.

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How Not to Sell a Massachusetts Home

by Bill Gassett on April 26, 2010 · 3 comments

Pricing a Massachusetts home properly

Every week on the Multiple Listing Service (MLS) you see countless homes that come up “expired”. For those that are not familiar with the term, an expired listing is a home that did not sell. When looking over the possible common denominators of why some homes do not sell the reason is usually pretty easy to spot.

In most cases the reason is very simple. The home was improperly priced. In a very competitive Real Estate environment, the price that is set on a home can be more  than 75% of the marketing!

What the hell do you mean by that Bill? Very easy… if you come on the market at the wrong price, the best Realtor in the country with the most sophisticated marketing will not be able to get a home sold.

As the graph above shows, the further you get from market value, the percentage of buyers dwindles.

So who is to blame when a home comes on the market at the wrong price? Tough question to answer but most of the time the fault lies with the Realtor. How so? The Realtor is the one who does the market evaluation on the property and gives the seller a suggested list price and probable sale price. I know there are some that are probably thinking that is all well and good but on many occasions sellers think their homes are worth more than the suggested value and insist of the home being listed for a higher price.

My response would be the Realtor doesn’t have to take the listing! The problem in our industry is that for every overpriced home there was a Realtor who was willing to take it. There are some agents that have the hardest time walking away from potential business.

Then there are the Real Estate agents that always tell sellers what they want to hear in order to get the home listed, especially when the agent knows they are in competition with other Realtors. Shocking but true. Buying a listing in this industry has been going on since the 1st Real Estate companies went into business. Tell em what they want to hear, get a signature on the contract and then beat em over the head for price reductions. So unprofessional but it happens a lot! Some agents don’t care because they use a listed home to generate buyer calls which can turn into future business.

How do you avoid this? When you are sitting down with Realtors to go over the value of your home you should be getting some kind of appraisal report preferably with pictures that show other like homes that have sold. The homes being compared to yours should look similar. If they don’t a red flag should be going up in your head. Likewise, if the homes do look similar yet the agent is telling you a much higher price for your home there should be a rock solid explanation of why that is the case.

Remember fair market value is what other similar homes have sold for. Not what you need or want to sell your property for. Buyers could care less what your perceived needs are. All they care about is paying the right price.

Over and over again statistics show that homes priced properly out of the gate sell for more than those who believe a higher list price leads to a higher sale price. As the days on market grows for any property on the market so does the gap between the original list price and final sale price. Ask any buyer which home they feel they have more bargaining power on…the one that has been on the market for 200 days or the one that has been on 20.

Top Producing Massachusetts Realtor

The second biggest part of the equation to having a successful home sale is picking the right Realtor.

Over the years this has been the one thing that really baffles me about the Real Estate business. Selling a home is a huge decision yet on many occasions there is so little effort that goes into picking a Real Estate agent to work with.

Unfortunately, some folks mistakenly believe we all do the same thing to sell homes. This could not be further from the truth! Choosing a top producing Realtor should be an important criteria yet it does not always work that way.

In most industries when you want a hire someone to do work for you the persons track record and qualifications are of the utmost importance. From what I have witnessed 1st hand, a fair amount of time this does not enter a sellers mind when putting their home on the market. Instead they pick someone they think has a good personality or again tells them something they want to hear.

In most industries there is an 80/20 rule where 80% of the business is done by 20% of the people. Most people do not realize that in the Real Estate industry 94% of the business is done by 6% of the agents! While that is mind blowing, it also is easy to see why there can be a lot of disappointment amongst consumers with their agents.

So much goes into being a successful Realtor and an entire article could be written about it but some of the important traits you should be looking for are a past track record of success, a powerful marketing plan centered around the internet,  excellent communications skills, and brutal honesty. If a Realtor possesses these four traits you are more than likely going to have a very pleasant experience selling your home or condo.

Asking some good Real Estate interview questions for Realtors always goes a long way in making better decisions.

Other obstacles to a successful home sale include making it difficult for people to get into the home and not presenting the home well. In a competitive market you want your home to shine not stick out like a sore thumb. It is awfully tough to sell homes when they look like the pits and equally as difficult when potential buyers can never get in to view it.

Related Real Estate articles:

_________________________________________________________________

About the author: The above Real Estate information on how not to sell a Massachusetts home was provided by Bill Gassett, a Nationally recognized leader in his field. Bill can be reached via email at billgassett@remaxexec.com or by phone at 508-435-5356. Bill has helped people move in and out of many Metrowest towns for the last 24+ Years.

Thinking of selling your home? I have a passion for Real Estate and love to share my marketing expertise!

I service the following towns in Metrowest MA: Hopkinton, Milford, Southboro, Westboro, Ashland, Holliston, Upton, Mendon, Hopedale, Medway, Franklin, Framingham, Grafton, Northbridge, Shrewsbury, Northboro, Bellingham, Uxbridge, and Douglas.

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