Sell

Why Sell With Us?

No one has more experience or success in Gladwin County and Sugar Springs. Alice Moore is number one in selling homes year after year. Her attention to detail, marketing and sales expertise, and knowledge of the market makes Alice the leader. She will sell your home as quickly as possible and guide you through the process to remove obstacles from the goal of “getting to yes.”

Selling Your Home

Approach Your Home with Fresh Eyes

Your home is comfortable and looks great to you. It looks different to prospective buyers. Try to see it from their eyes. Go for a drive and reapproach your home as if it was the first time. How is the “Curb Appeal?” Take a look and be critical. Whatever you see, a perspective buyer will see.

• Look at the paint, is it clean, is it peeling? Does it need a power wash?

• Does the driveway need repair?

• What is the condition of your landscape? Are your shrubs trimmed and neat? How does the lawn look?

As you enter your home be hyper critical of the interior as if you have never been there before. Take a tour and imagine what your real estate agent might say on a first visit. Checkout the bathroom(s) and kitchen. Are they clean and tidy? Does the toilet tank need cleaning? What do the oven and cooktop say to you about the residents? Try the doors, closets, rooms, and exterior. Look into cabinets. Check out the window treatments.

Make a list of the things you have seen that might discourage potential buyers. Make a second list of things that appealed to you. Keep in mind that a new buyer will see things that you don’t.

Declutter

Become a minimalist. Get rid of every thing in every area of your home that is unnecessary. DECLUTTER! Clear out all the closets, storage, attic, basement, kitchen cabinets, drawers, vanities, and shelves. Clutter is NOT your friend. Serious home buyers are deterred by clutter. If you aren’t using it, lose it. Haven’t worn that shirt in two years? You probably don’t need it.

Look at your furniture. Do you need all of it? In general people put too much into too small of space. The more that is in a room, the smaller it appears. You don’t want perspective buyers to think your home is too small.

Once you have culled out all of the non-essential items, have a moving sale. Use the revenue you generate to pay for required repairs. Have some items that you just can’t sell or donate? Find a place to store them. It could be the attic or another out of the way place, or off premises. Make the buyer see how large your home is, not how full.

Clean It to Sell It

Once you have decluttered your home, it is ready for a thorough cleaning.

• Scour the bathroom(s) and kitchen
• Strip and polish floors
• Scrub out all the cabinets
• Wash windows
• Clean window coverings
• Have carpets and rugs professionally cleaned
• Clean ceiling fans
• •Shine kitchen appliances (including range hood) inside and out
• Remember to make sure your home’s exterior is also clean. Professional power washing can take care of siding, roof algae, window exteriors and decks. It can also clean stained concrete and pavers.

Return on Investment: Repairs

Once your home has been cleaned to just shy of a high tech “clean room,” it’s time to fix things. Make all repairs necessary to make your home appealing to a buyer.

• Paint – touch up or repaint surfaces
• Repair the roof
• Regrout bathroom floor tiles
• Repair drywall/plaster
• Adjust doors and drawers
• Touch up scratches on cabinets and furniture
• Make sure all plumbing is fully operational. Replace shower head if necessary.
• Clean up the porch
• Repair screens and windows
• Tend to your garden beds – remove dead and/or dying plants
• Trim shrubs
• Mow and edge your lawn
• Keep the lawn appropriately watered

All of the above should be completed before the first potential buyer sees your home.

Your option to repairs, either professional or “sweat equity,” is to sell your home “as is.” This is a “heads up” to prospective buyers that there is work to be done here. This comes with a heavy price tag. The assessment will be about twice what you will spend on repairs. This will be deducted from your offer.

Time to Show Off

First make sure your home is always ready to be seen on short notice. This could be an hour or less than five minutes. Be prepared.

When your home is going to be shown, make sure, now that it is all cleaned and polished, that it is seen in its best light. Remove pets and children. They are adorable, but the prospect is there to see the house, not your loved ones. Make sure your pet’s litter container is clean. The house should smell fresh, not smell of pets, or an air freshener concealing something. Ideally you should be gone too. Let your agent, do the work. Let the prospective buyers talk unencumbered. Open all doors. Turn on the lights. Open blinds and drapes, let the sunshine in which will make the rooms feel more spacious.

Do Your Homework

Prior to showing your home, do some market research. Spend a weekend looking at homes with similar prices and in similar neighborhoods. Also look at similar model homes being shown. You don’t need new furniture to look like a new home. You want to create the space that the new home has. You want the same emotional response from the prospective buyer. This will happen if your home appears well maintained. The buyer is looking to move in without having to go to a lot of trouble or incur a lot of expenses.

Call Alice

When you are ready to sell or are in doubt, contact Alice Moore, host of SugarSpringsRealty.com, of RE/MAX River Haven – Sugar Springs to guide you through the pre-sale and sales processes.