Want to get your home sold in this difficult market? Here's 10 steps for moving your home from "for sale" to "SOLD!". I'm here to tell you that homes are selling, some very quickly, even in this market. Most of the Los Angeles homes we stage are selling in less than 30 days, some with multiple offers. Want to know what those home sellers are doing to help their homes get sold?
This Valencia home sold in 14 days with multiple offers after being staged by Moving Mountains Design (September 2008) Click here to read this very happy client's testimonial.
Here are 10 steps you can take to help get your home sold, too:
- Hire the best full service REALTOR or real estate agent you can find. This is no time to be fooling around with less than full service. Do your research on the internet and by asking friends who they've worked with and if they had a good experience. Interview at least 3 REALTORS or real estate agents. Don't hire your best friend, their cousin, your hairstylist who moonlights as a real estate agent, unless you are certain that they know what they are doing and can back up their claims. You are selling what for many is their most valuable asset. Don't be embarrassed into letting your home sit unsold because you didn't want to hurt someone's feelings.
- Don't negotiate the sales commission. A really good, experienced REALTOR or real estate agent will tell probably tell you "no" anyway. Marketing and selling real estate properly is an expensive proposition. All the brochures, flyers, virtual tours, professional photographers, etc. cost money. If you negotiate a lower commission, you are preventing your listing agent from pulling out the "big guns" to get your home sold as quickly as possible. Don't hamstring the sale of your home by limiting the amount of money your listing agent has available for marketing. Also, with the abundant inventory on the market right now, buyer's agents are going to show the homes that pay full commissions first.
- Listen to your Listing Agent regarding pricing.They know what they are doing (assuming your followed step 1). They are on the MLS every day and know what homes are selling for and how quickly they sold. They talk to other REALTORS and real estate agents daily. It doesn't matter how much your dry cleaner thinks you should list your home for. It doesn't matter how much profit (or how little loss) you would like to walk away with. All that matters is how much someone will be willing to pay for your house. A good REALTOR or real estate agent will be able to tell you how much you should list your home for to get it sold quickly.
- Hire a professional building inspector for a pre-sale inspection. You can address any issues that might sink a sale during escrow, or prevent someone from making an offer in the first place. Use the information to get your home into tip-top shape.
- Make any needed repairs. Home buyers want a home that is truly move-in ready. They don't want an allowance for new carpet or a new roof. They want a house that already has new carpet and a new roof so they can move in right away.
- Clean your house from top to bottom. Clean it until it is cleaner than it has ever been before. If you don't have the time or energy, hire a cleaning service. Make sure your house sparkles and smells clean every day it is on the market. If there is an issue you can't address by cleaning, then replace it. For instance, if the linoleum in your kitchen has a big burn mark from the hot skillet you dropped, replace the linoleum.
- Hire a professional home stager. Again, do your research on the Internet and with your listing agent. Make sure you hire an experienced professional and not a hobbyist or (again) your sister-in-law, unless she is a pro with experience and knowledge of your market. Ask to see the stager's portfolio (or view it on-line) and make sure all the photos are of their recent work. If you are a do-it-yourself type, at the very least, hire a professional home stager to do a comprehensive consultation so you know exactly what needs to be done. Most home stagers will also help you choose paint colors and carpet as well.
- Listen to the home stager regarding the condition of your home and what needs to be done tp make it appealing to the greatest number of buyers. If they tell you your favorite floral pattern wallpaper has to go, do it. A home stager's expertise is preparing homes to look their best so it is appealing to the greatest number of buyers and they have done it successfully for numerous home sellers (assuming you followed Step 7). Remember, they are looking at your home through "buyer's eyes".
- Have your home photographed by a professional photographer. Many REALTORs and real estate agents include this as part of their marketing package. Photos taken by a point and shoot camera are not going to show your home at its best. 80% of home buyers are looking at homes on the Internet before going out to see homes they are interested in. If your home doesn't look great in the photos, then most buyers will pass you by.
- Follow all of the above steps before you put your home on the market.Clean it up, fix it up, have it professionally staged and then photographed. Once you have great photos that really showcase you home, give your REALTOR the go-ahead to post them on the MLS. Make sure they post the maximum number of photos allowed. The more photos you have showcasing your home on the MLS, the greater your chances of selling it. If you rush the process, then you will not be putting your home's best face forward from day one. Staging or adding better pictures after you home has been on the market, even for a few days, won't get back potetial buyers who dismissed your home when they saw few pictures, bad pictures, vacant rooms or an unstaged mess.
Read The Benefits of Staging a Home
Read How to Choose the Right Home Stager
Remember: When you put your home on the market, you are entering it in a beauty contest. The best looking homes in the best condition sell first. It's a no brainer.
*Getting Your Home Sold In This Market - 10 Steps To Success* copyright 2008 Michelle Minch and Moving Mountains Design. All rights reserved.
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Please visit our Los Angeles home staging web site for more information about how we can help you get you home sold quickly and for the best price. You can reach Michelle Minch, owner of Moving Mountains Design, directly at (626)441-8975 or via email, Michelle@MovingMountainsDesign.com . Don't settle for second best when selling your Los Angeles area home. Choose Moving Mountains Design Home Staging, the Los Angeles staging company with the track record of rapid sales and the referrals from many happy clients to back up our claims. Featured in the Los Angeles Times, the Chicago Tribune, Sunset Magazine and numerous other national and international publications, we don't sell homes, but we know what makes homes sell!
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2010 RESA Professional Stager of the Year
Michelle has staged hundreds of Los Angeles homes, many of which have sold with multiple offers, above listing price.
She works with home sellers, listing agents and asset managers to prepare homes for sale throughout Los Angeles.
Moving Mountains Design provides vacant home staging, occupied home staging, color consultations, corporate and executive relocations, move organization, redesign, and interior design. We also stage model homes, REOs,foreclosures and auction properties for real estate investors and asset managers.
For more information about our Los Angeles home staging services, contact Michelle at (626)385-8852 or by email.
Click here to see our Los Angeles home staging portfolio
Click here to go to our Los Angeles home staging blog
Click here for more information about home staging in Los Angeles and how we can help sell your home faster and for the best price
Hello Michelle, all very good points. For a while now it seems like #3 was the hardest hurdle for sellers to get over. Of course even the few that get it can't seem to keep up with the falling values. With all of the unfortunate economical news of late I think they are starting to get the message. We are still seeing home sell here in the Indy market but only the ones that are priced appropriately. Really good post.... Thanks
Excellent post Michelle! You did a fabulous job of summing up the necessary factors which will help buyers SELL if they follow your guidelines. Homes will sell in this market if homeowners do their part too! Regards-Kathleen
Hi Michelle, excellent information. Clear, to the point, and you can tell it comes from the heart!
Staging is so important in this market. Not only do you have to be the best priced home... You now have to be the best looking/best priced home in order to get an offer.
Gary: Thank you. I'm glad to hear homes that are staged and priced appropriately are selling in your market.
Kathleen: I'm glad you like my post. I agree with your comments. Home sellers have to be realistic in order to sell their homes. Thank you, Kathleen.
Robyn: My goal, first and foremost, is to help my clients sell their home or listing. I hope this helps. Thanks!
Jared: That is so true. Thank you for commenting. I love Ogden! I used to have a cabin up in Nordic Valley. I miss it.
Great advice, Michelle! These are all very important for consumers to know.
Excellent post, Michelle. If we weren't in the same market with the same readers, I'd re-blog it a hundred times over. (oops - you took off the reblog: but you get the idea =)
Tanya: Thank you!
Connie: Glad you liked the post. As far as I know, the re-blog feature is turned on. FYI, you can't reblog, or see the reblog flag, if you have the reblog feature turned off for your posts.
Oh, go ahead Connie and reblog it:o))
Michelle- Well said! All the steps you provided will help give the seller the upper hand ! And in this market you need to have the upper hand! Excellent post :)
Oh Michelle, #2 & #3 are so important. But, of course, we are the dot that connects it all. Great post.
Michelle, Great post...It is nice to see it featured on the selling tips page!
Jo
Great post Michelle! We get caught up in how important it is to hire a Stager, but forget sometimes about the other key factors in selling a home.
Great article, Michelle...worth passing on to our clients who want to 'cut corners'. I agree, this is not the time!
Wendy Casey - Surrey, BC
Stellar post, Michelle! Having agents and stagers work in conjunction with each other is the best thing a seller could possibly do.
This should be a featured post....well, I think all your post should be, Excellent points!
Thorough, well written post Michelle! Incorporating all of these elements provides the results we are looking for. I agree that it is the seller's best interest to complete them Before going to market whenever possible.
Hi Wendy: Yes, we stagers want home sellers get their homes sold. IMO, the steps above will definitely help.
Terri: Each step is important in its own way, and all together make a winning formula for homeowners to get their homes sold.
Jo: I wasn't aware it had gotten featured. Thanks for the heads up and the comment.
Annie: I think our end goal is to help our clients sell their homes. We can do a lot as stagers to help, but several other factors have to be considered as well. Thanks.
Wendy: Feel free to reblog it. The sooner we get clients to understand these steps, the faster their homes will sell.
Lisa: I'm glad you agree. I always enjoy your posts about how sellers can get their homes sold faster. Thanks.
Cathy: Feel free to click on the little red flag at the bottom of the post and mark it as feature worthy.
Michele: It is in the seller's best interest. Now if we could only get them to believe that. Thanks for your comment.
Michelle, this post has so much good information that I flagged it for a feature and booked marked it as a referral to clients!
Thank you Kristina! I'm glad you find the info useful.
Michelle-I learn something new every day!!! Thank you so much for the information!!!
Cathy: That is one of the wonderful things about AR - the amount of knowledge that is shared. Thank you for commenting.
Your post is being featured on the Sacramento Staging Voice. (sacramentostagingvoice.com) Nice job my friend!
Michelle, what a great article. I am going to link to it from my site so my clients will have the chance to read it as well. All is so true! Kym
Thank you LKP.
Glad to help spread the word, Kym. Thanks.
Michelle this is a Fantastic list - Love it! Could I reblog it? And to think I've missed your blogs until now!
Liz: Yes you may reblog it. Thank you for asking. Hopefully, I'll be seeing more of you:o))
Michelle, very SOLID checklist for selling a home. Wow, I didn't know you could click on the little red flag. Learn something new everyday! Thanks.
Charlie: By clicking on the little red flag, you are "flagging the post". This calls attention to a post for the moderators of AR and can be used for positive or negative attention. So if you really like a post you can "flag it" for a feature. If you think a post is not in the best interest of the AR community or if it is plagiarism, for example, you can flag it as well.
I'm glad you liked my post about selling a home. Thank you for commenting.
This really is a well-thought out post, Michelle. That little tip about getting a home inspection done yourself first might have saved our rental from falling out of escrow last month - and costing us a lot of money since we had already given our renters notice!
Beth: Thank you so much. Yes, the inspection probably would have cost less than $500 but would have save a whole lot of heart ache. One of my first posts was about a client who hadn't hired a professional building inspector to save $350. He has now spent thousands to correct defects that an inspector would have found. Here's the post: Why You Should Always Hire YOUR OWN Professional Building Inspector-A Cautionary Tale
After reading your previous blog about reblogging I had to come visit this post and read up on what all the to-do was about. Well, I can see why you have been ripped off. This is a very well constructed and well thought out blog. It is no wonder people were trying to take it!
WOW Michelle, right on right on girl!! Having that kind of attitude will have the homes sell off the inventory- Sellers should listen to that advice!
Kathy Dyer
Rebecca: I am more than happy to allow people to re-blog this post as long as they reblog it in its entireity, including my contact information and links. Thank you. I'm glad you enjoyed the post.
Kathy: Hopefully sellers will listen. Thank you.
Fabulous list Michelle and the perfect formula for a successful sale!
Karen: Thank you. I'm glad you like it!
Great tips. Thanks so much. I've printed it and will keep these suggestions close at hand.
Susan: You're welcome. I hope it helps you get more clients.
Number 6 seems to be a big one lately for me. My perception of clean and homeowners seem to differ !
Cindy: Part of the reason that home stagers are an important part of the home selling process is that many home owners cannot see their homes with "buyer's eyes". They are used to seeing it look a certain way, and that way may be a little messy or not so clean. A home stager can help home sellers see what needs to be done to make the home more appealing (and cleaner:o))
Great list, Michelle. We're getting our house ready to put on the market, and I'm getting great resistance from my 16-year-old who doesn't want her hot pink room painted!
Beth: Moving is particularly hard on kids. She can paint her new room. I hope the list helps you sell your home. I am sure it will be staged to perfection with you as the stager.
Kathy Neilsen is bringing this blog back up in her most recent post Michelle and rightly so, especially in this market.
If I may encourage you to consider posting this to energized seller (have you set up a blog there yet?) this is exactly what the home sellers need to hear and understand. Hiring the best professionals is key to the success of the home sale.
Have a great weekend!
Thanks to Kathy. And thanks for the reminder Karen. That's a good idea.