Looking to Sell Your Home?

We’re experiencing some serious pangs here in the Minneapolis real estate market as, of course, are most markets around the country.  As a result, it’s a great time to buy a house, but it’s not such a good time to sell a house.  The market is soft, and people are tightening their belts.  In addition to that, it’s almost winter time in Minnesota, and house sales tend not to be as robust during this season. 

However, if you are thinking of selling your Minneapolis house, you needn’t despair.  Just because it’s not the opportune time to sell doesn’t meant you shouldn’t sell your home. 

If you are looking to sell your home, there is one major factor you have to keep in mind:  In tough times like this, you have to have the best possible priced house in your competitive market.   There are a plethora of houses available with less and less people buying, so your house has to shine. 

Simply put, your house has to be priced competitively with other houses being sold in your neighborhood.  Your heart my tell you that your house is priceless while your mind may tell you that since you paid x amount of dollars for it, it should be worth y amount of dollars this many years later.  Both of these responses are natural, but the truth is, your house is worth as much as the market will bear. 

To that end, you have to decide a timeframe for selling your Minneapolis house.  If you have to sell your home quickly and it’s not in tip-top shape, you will have to lower the asking price accordingly.  If, however, you have a more flexible timeline for selling your house, you can use that time to update your home by buying new appliances, painting faded walls, or, if you’re a bit more ambition, put in a new kitchen.  The more updated your house is, the higher you can price it.

Here are some articles we’ve written to aid people in selling their homes.

 Pep Up My Minneapolis Home!

Smart Renovator Guide

Smart Seller Guide

The bottom line is that you CAN sell your home in a down period; you just have to make sure the price is right.

Pep Up My Minneapolis Home!

Minneapolis House Curb Appeal

This is Minna, blogging about renovations for your Minneapolis home.  If you are trying to sell your house, you’ve no doubt been told to renovate on the inside.  Redo the kitchen, paint the walls, put in new carpeting-these are all mantras of the eager-to-sell set.  These are good ideas that will add value to your house.  They also will increase the attractiveness of your home, thus in turn engaging more potential buyers.

What many sellers forget, however, is that you need to get the potential buyers in the door first.  Too many sellers neglect to spruce the outside of their houses which means many potential buyers aren’t even stepping into the house to see the awesome interior renovations.

Outdoor Sprucing for Your Minneapolis Home

I can hear you thinking (no, really, I can), “I’ve already updated the bathroom and the kitchen and the floors and the walls; I don’t have the time or the money or the will to tackle the outside of my house, too!”  I understand where you are coming from, especially if you’ve already done the inside renovations, but hear me out.  You don’t have to sink a lot of time or money into perking up the exterior of your house so you can catch the prospective buyers’ eyes.  Add a few potted plants around the walk up, for instance.  A little splash of color can go a long way.  You don’t have to re-roof the house or rip up the driveway and install a new one.  You can easily add a fresh coat of paint with minimal time and money.

Your Minneapolis House At Its Best

I know that selling a house is a long, tedious process, and the last thing you want is to think about how else to renovate.  If you follow the few tips I give above, though, then you’ll at least be comforted by the increased number of potential sellers walking through your newly-painted door.

Little Touchups that Mean Alot

Research Before Buying a House

Hi, it’s Minna again, and I am back!  This time, I am blogging about how to sell your house in this tough market.  Many people think they have to totally rehaul their house in order to sell it, but that’s not true.  All it takes is a little bit of ingenuity to make your home stand out from the rest. 

Let me give you a hypothetical.  Let’s pretend that I am a first-time homebuyer looking for a house in the Powderhorn area.  What is the first thing I’m going to do?  Most likely, I am going to go online and research the area.  How?  Why, I’d go to www.StevenHong.com, of course, and use his search engine.  I’d put in the price range and other specs I had in mind (such as year of house built, number of bedrooms/bathrooms, etc.), and I’d see what I came up with.

Once I got my results, I would immediately discard any listing without pictures or a description of the house.  With this being a buyer’s market, I can afford to be even pickier than I normally would be.  Then, I would look through the pics of the remaining houses and see what immediately catches my eye.  Anything that didn’t elicit a, “That’s cute” or, “I like that one” or even an, “Interesting” gets deleted.  I would go from there.

How to Make Your Minneapolis Home More Attractive

This brings me to my point.  When I look at pictures of houses, the first thing I notice is color.  Maybe I’m unique in that, but I don’t want rooms that are all white or all monochromatic.  A maroon room or a sage-green room alone would be enough to get a second look, if not a third.  Empty rooms are not inviting, either.  A little bit of staging with, say, a vase of fresh gladiola immediately perks up an otherwise arid room. 

The changes don’t need to be overarching and on a grand scale.  A few little touches here and there can increase your house’s saleability, and they are a lot easier on your wallet, too.

Green Home Guide

Everybody is talking green, and by green, I don’t mean money. Green is in. It’s the latest thing.

The government has gotten into the act by forming ENERGY STAR, a joint program of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the U.S. Department of Energy.  This program rates different appliances, office equipment, home electronics and more (there are over 50 categories total) to identify the most efficient of them all.  If an item has rated an ENERGY STAR, you can be assured that it has met strict guidelines for energy efficiency. 

For example, an ENERGY STAR dishwater are at least 25% more efficient that contemporary conventional models.  In addition, an ENERGY STAR clothes washer cuts watery and energy consumption by over 40% as well. 

I found these statistics in the RE/MAX-published Green Home Guide which also has useful tips on how to make your home more green, and best of all, it’s free for the asking.  The guide is clear, concise, and full of practical advice that anyone can follow.

This guide includes:

• What is a Green Home?
• 5 Essential Things to Keep in Mind
• Green Return On Investment
• And more….

Just send me an e-mail and I’ll send you a pdf.

Smart Seller Guide

There is a lot of information available for the first-time buyer, but not so much for the first-time seller.  If you’ve never sold a house before, it may seem as if everyone is speaking a different language.  There seems to be a million things that need to be done, and so little time in which to do them.  You may be flummoxed by what needs to be inspected and what doesn’t, how much your home is really worth, and other such important details.

It is easy to feel overwhelmed by the magnitude of the situation and to wonder if you’ve thought of everything.  ith that in mind, RE/MAX has put together the Smart Seller Guide which has plenty of helpful hints for all sellers, but especially for first-time sellers.  It is a great place to start, and it’s free for the asking. I have several hard copies left, as well as a pdf version. Just let me know which you would like to have.

This short guide includes:

• 30 Questions for First-time Sellers
• Smart Seller Dos and Don’ts
• 6 Suggestions for Successful Home Selling
• And more….

Request your copy today.

Staging Your Home to Sell

There are many things a seller can do to facilitate the sale of his/her home, many of which the savvy seller already knows.  In fact, anyone who has sold a home or is thinking of selling a home can probably list ten right off the top of the head.  Make sure the kids pick up the toys; make sure there are no pervasive odors or visible dirt/grime/clutter; put an apple pie in the kitchen to add a homey aroma; add flowers to the kitchen table to brighten up the room; and so on.  However, there is one thing that many sellers don’t consider, or may not know exists.  What is that, you ask? 

 

Home staging.  It sounds like a strange idea at first.  Why would you hire someone else to put furniture that isn’t yours in your house?  When you think about what it takes to sell your home, however, it starts to make sense to have an expert see your house through buyers’ eyes.  You have lived in your house and made it a home.  You may not be able to be objective about its assets and its flaws.  Even if you do have an accurate idea of the strengths and weaknesses of your house, you may not know the ideal way to highlight the former and take attention away from the latter.  In addition, it’s a buyer’s market right now with many houses waiting to be sold.  You need to make your house stand out from all the others with similar specs so buyers will be drawn to your house first and foremost.  Read more