Everyone’s taste is different when it comes to what they want in a house.  You can’t force someone to like the sponge paint in the bathroom or the colorful wallpaper you have in the kitchen, but you can easily make that fix.  However, switching the position of the staircase or moving the laundry up three floors is a different story.  Here is a list that will turn buyers away immediately:

Small houses
People nowadays want a lot of space.  Expect to get what other people are willing to pay for the space when you’re trying to sell the home.  If you can’t afford to increase the size of the home then you need to do everything you possibly can to make it look bigger.

One bathroom
When people are buying a home, they are usually upgrading from what they are used to.  That means that they don’t want to wait in line anymore for the bathroom.  The only time one bathroom is okay is in a one bedroom condo.

No air conditioning
Probably one of the greatest luxuries when the heat is unbearable is air conditioning.  It’s going to cost you between $10K-$20K to install central air if you don’t have it but it’s a must these days.

Spiral staircases
Of course they look good but let’s be honest with ourselves.  Who wants to carry a bed up a spiral staircase?  A bed isn’t even the hardest piece of furniture. 

Basement laundry rooms
We finally discovered that it would be more convenient to have the washer and dryer on the level with all the rooms.  Who thought it was a good idea to make a hike to the basement to wash your clothes?  People have come to realize that it’s all about convenience nowadays.

Popcorn ceilings
I don’t need to say much more other than no one is a fan of them anymore.  Just make the change.

Small master baths
The majority of the world is materialistic and they expect to have a big bathroom to go along with their big bedroom.  Even though you don’t sleep in your bathroom, it’s a complex buyers have come up with and there’s no prescription.

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So you want to sell your house?  There are about a hundred things that are running through your mind but ultimately it comes down to one decision.  What can I set the price at?  Many of the other factors are out of the seller’s control.  For instance, the number of homes on the market, the motivations of the other sellers, and possibly some foreclosures bringing down the prices in surrounding areas play a role.  Like any type of scouting, you’re going to have to scope out the competition.  This is where you’re going to have to get into research mode.  Check out the homes that are on the market in your neighborhood and comparable homes that have recently sold in the past three months.  This will give you an idea of what you may be able to list your home for.  Now if you want top dollar for your home, you better make sure your home is worth it.  I went into a home the other day that was priced at $849,999 in Fairfax, Virginia and the kitchen was tired.  What I mean by this is, it looked like it belonged in a home built in 1990.  None of the appliances were upgraded, the counters were from when the home was built 30 years ago, and the cabinets were nothing spectacular.  People come through a house and don’t want to have to do any work if they’re paying that much for a house.One thing you have to realize is price vs. value.  If buyers are not making any offers, then the price does not reflect the value.  As a seller, you cannot control the value.  You are not the one buying the home so your opinion does not matter.  However, location is a selling point.  If your home backs to woods or is on an acre of land, you’re going to stand out from the others.

The home that is priced at $849,999 has been on the market for 30 days now.  It’s the highest priced home in the neighborhood’s history.   There have been several offers but nothing has sparked their interest to work with any of them.  Soon the sellers will realize that they’re going to have to drop the price if they want to get it sold.  Don’t be a stubborn person when it comes to selling your home.  Your home is either worth the every penny of the list price or it’s priced too high.  If you’re not going to get the price you want, then don’t sell your home.  It’s that simple. 

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If you’re thinking about selling your home in this buyers market in Northern Virginia, you’re going to have to go the extra mile to make it stand out. Maybe you’re the next Martha Stewart when it comes to interior design or maybe your home consists of a couch, tv, kitchen table, and a bed on the floor. For those that don’t have the interior decorating skills or want to remodel, here are some tricks to staging your home no matter what your budget may be.

Here are the tips and tricks to make your place shine:

1. First impressions are always the most important
Buyers decide in the first eight seconds whether or not they want to buy your home.

• Paint the front door and trim
• Add potted flowers (they bring a smile to your face
• Get the grass looking like Fenway Park with fertilizer
• Spread some fresh mulch around the bushes
• No one like a broken doorbell

2. Let there be light!
After location, light is the second most quoted reason why a buyer chooses the house.

• Clean all the windows
• Replace drapery with sheer curtains or white shades
• Replace lamp shades with sheer white shades
• Replace light bulbs with higher wattage(”natural” light bulbs)
• Trim back shrubs that block window light
• Put up lights in each corner of the major rooms

3. Remove clutter
People can’t visualize themselves living there when they can’t see past your clutter.

• Remove personal objects like family photos and children’s artwork
• Make sure the closet floors are clear
• Put as much unneeded stuff into storage
• Hide all electric cords and wiring
• Make sure your plants are healthy
• Put fresh sheets on beds with four extra pillows

4. Send Mittens and Sparky to Grandma’s House
People buy with their eyes and their noses.

• Remove kitty litter, dog beds and other smelly pet items
• Light some candles or put up air fresheners
• Smoke outside; remove ashtrays
• Open all windows an hour before the buyer arrives
• Keep the trash can clean

5. Freshen the kitchen
The kitchen is everyone’s favorite room in the house.

• Clear all countertops.
• Re-grout the tile.
• Update kitchen knobs.
• Paint or replace cabinet fronts.
• Put in a window; it can increase the value of your home by 10 percent.

6. Clean the bathroom
No one wants to move into your bathroom.

• Scrub the walls and floors.
• Clear off all shelves and put away personal items.
• Re-grout tiles and replace caulking.
• Hang a new shower curtain.
• Buy fresh hand towels and rug.
• Replace old soap.

7. Add color
Touches of yellow and other warm colors say ‘welcome home.’

• Buy new throw pillows for the sofa and bed.
• Using neutral colors lets buyers us their imagination

8. Don’t empty out the house
An empty house makes the seller look desperate. Buyers generally don’t pay full price for an empty house. In addition empty rooms look smaller.

• Rent or borrow furniture if you need to in order to make the home look lived in and give the buyer a sense of space.

I know some of these tips seem like they’re impossible to do. You’re probably thinking you won’t have time to do any of these things. You can also prevent from having to do any of this by preserving your home. However, you have to think of selling your home as an investment. Just by putting in some extra elbow grease, your home will stand out above the rest of the crowd. Make it look like you took care of your home, even if it was a last minute fix up. Buyers will appreciate how clean and fresh your home is.

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As most of you have heard, right now we are in a buyer’s market. With interest rates being so low and so much inventory to browse, buyers have a lot to choose from. What does this mean? Seller’s are becoming desperate. You walk into their home and they tell you it’s the next best thing to sliced bread. However, who wouldn’t tell you their home is the best? If their noses grew like Pinocchio’s, they might poke your eye out.

Here is a list of misleading fibs you should look out for:

“My neighbors are wonderful!”
You’re going to have to find out for yourself. Go knock on their door and tell them you’re thinking of moving in. If they slam the door in your face, they probably aren’t as wonderful as you were told. Another source you could use is RottenNeighbor.com.

“The roof leaked once, but we fixed it.”
Does this mean that they got their ladder out and put a patch on the hole? Did they replace the whole entire roof? The seller may think they’re being honest but you need to get to the bottom of fix. People’s definitions are different when it comes to things like this. Get a professional home inspection.

“I’ve only seen one termite on the deck.”
If they even mention the fact that there were signs of termites, then they probably are concerned you might come across one. These pesky little creatures can ruin a home and are typically not checked for when you get a home inspection. These little guys usually don’t roll solo, they’ve got lots of friends. If there is any hint that there are pests, get an insect inspection.

“I didn’t know I should have told you about the foreclosure.”
Get title insurance. Judgments, tax and mechanical liens are covered by title insurance.

“The planes from the airport don’t fly over this house.”
You will probably be able to tell if this is an issue. Just because they say planes don’t fly over this house, doesn’t mean that they don’t fly over your neighbors house.

“There’s never been any flooding.”
Most older homes do have some flooding in the basement when there is excessive rain, so it is quite possible a seller could lie to you about this. One thing you can do to find out if the area is susceptible to flooding is to check the water tables at the town hall.

“Our schools are great!”
This school is great(except for the 40% graduation rate I failed to mention to you). For an objective view, get a free school report from HomeFair.com or GreatSchools.net.

Here’s a list of important things you should do:

Get a professional home inspection.
Many thing are overlooked when just walking around a house. A home inspector will catch problems with plumbing, cooling and heating systems, leaky roofs, and cracked foundations.

Spring for extra inspections.
These include insects, radon, leaky underground tanks and bad well-water.

Get title insurance.
If you’re financing, you can’t close without it. It protects you from forgery, fraud, encumbrances, judgments and permit violations. You pay for insurance once only when you buy and the policy is good forever.

Do a final walk-through inspection.
Revisiting the property before closing ensures that it’s in the condition you required in your offer and that any stipulated repairs have been completed. Make the final walk-through no sooner than five days before you intend to close, and make sure the right to do so is included in your offer to purchase.

Now I know it seems like a lot but these are typical procedures when you’re going to buy a home. This is more important when you’re buying an older home, but you still want to go through this checklist.

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As I was sipping on my coffee this morning, straight black no sugar no creme, I came across an article talking about how two families swapped houses. You’re probably wondering what I’m talking about. Well there’s nothing hidden here, one family that lived in Tennessee and one family that lived in Nevada just swapped homes. Of course, there was a method to their madness. The couple in Nevada wanted to move closer to their grandchildren who lived in Tennessee. They had put their home on the market and were getting no traffic. So this 71 year old man was researching homes selling tips on the internet(amazing that this gentleman was so internet savvy) and ran into this new tactic of “swapping houses.” With a little more research, he found a family in Tennessee that was within walking distance to his grandchildren. That family of course, was looking to move out to Nevada and the rest is history.

Just because this worked out for these families, doesn’t mean it’s as easy as popping popcorn. This concept of trading homes for vacation has been around for a while. This new method to get your house off your hands has come out of the woodwork though. However, in a down market, sellers are trying everything. You may have to make some sacrifices by downgrading in home or having to put on a hard hat and hammer away to make more space. You also have to take into consideration the amount that the other person owes on the house.

OnlineHouseTrading.com, one of at least six swap sites started in the past year. Four have started in just the past seven months, including OnlineHouseTrading.com, GoSwap.org, DaytonaHomeTrader.com and DomuSwap.com. Together the six sites have roughly 16,000 postings. At Craigslist.org, the popular ad site, the number of “home swap” listings — which includes people trading homes temporarily for vacation — jumped 56%, to 7,392 in the 12 months ending in December, the company says, and much of the growth came from people trying to permanently sell each other their homes.

Now I don’t see this becoming a trend because of all the factors that could go wrong. I can only think of one reason this may work and that is in a down market where people are extra nervous about buying a home before selling theirs. However, it’s interesting that people are willing to do just about anything when they want to move.

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Even Oprah Winfrey might have a hard time selling a mansion in this real estate market. Homes in great neighborhoods possessing exceptional architecture and well-landscaped gardens are suffering. During the housing boom, these properties practically sold themselves. Now, it’s not as easy as putting sign in your font yard.

Here are some tips for selling a high-end home in a soft real estate market:

1. Proper Pricing – No matter the size of your home, pricing will determine how long your home sits on the market. Don’t be afraid to drop the listing price to gain more interest. The chances are the money you lose here will be substantially less than if you priced your home high and brought down.

2. Hiring a Realtor – A good Realtor adds enough value to your home (or generates a good offer) to cover the commission you will pay out. An important factor in choosing your Realtor is to make sure they’re familiar with the neighborhood. Knowledge is priceless when it comes to a Realtor selling your home. Also, how do they plan on marketing your home? Hiring a team of agents can assure you will have the proper representation when

3. Quick Fixes – Investing money in a huge remodel is not usually going to pay off. Unless there is a great need for a fix like a leaky roof, stick with easy inexpensive fixes like painting and landscaping.

4. Web Brokers – Using a service like HomeZill.com will reduce your overhead costs and allow you to sell your home paying a reduced commission.  95% of home buyers use the web when searching for homes so unlike in the past, it is important to have a tech-savvy Realtor with a large online market presence.

5. Staging – Hiring a staging company to fill your home with nice furniture and professional decorations will make your home more attractive to potential buyers. The offers that you will receive often will make up for cost of the staging.

6. Incentives – Think about it... The cost of giving away a plasma TV, paying for hardwoods, or a credit for new appliances is worth it. Especially, if your home is going to sit on the market forever. These incentives are not going to get someone to buy your home, but they definitely get people in the door.

There is no ONE secret that will sell your home, but you do have to consider what will work for your home. Some factors will be the quality of your home, the particular market, the neighborhood you’re selling in, and the condition of your home. Remember, price your home to sell in the beginning to avoid the pitfalls of buyers targeting a “desperate seller”.

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