Don't Let Cigarette Odors Cause Your Home Sale to Go up in Smoke

If you smoke cigarettes in your home, the odors this habit leaves behind could cause your home sale to go up in smoke. Thankfully, there are three cleaning tips that can help alleviate this issue.

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If you’re a cigarette smoker, you may have become smell-blind to the odors this habit can leave behind in your home. This can pose a big problem when it comes time to sell, because non-smoking buyers are sure to notice this residual aroma.

To make sure cigarette odors don’t cause your home sale to go up in smoke, there are three key tips you should follow when you list:

1. Have a full professional cleaning of your heating and cooling system. Cigarette smoke will get trapped in your home’s HVAC unit itself, so simply changing out the air filter won’t be enough if you hope to rid your house of odors. Having a professional clean the ductwork, and the unit itself, will be your ticket to fresh-smelling air.
   
2. Seal and repaint your walls and ceilings. Your home's walls and ceilings can trap unpleasant smelling nicotine particles, and painting alone won’t be enough to undo this effect. Instead, seal your walls first with a primer (like Kilz) and then add your fresh coat of paint after that.
3. Launder or steam clean cloth items, carpet, and furniture in your home. Your drapes, chairs, couches, carpet, and more will all absorb the smell of cigarette smoke over time. Giving each of these items a thorough, professional cleaning will give a huge boost to your home’s overall freshness.

As a bonus tip: Wipe down flat surfaces, knick-knacks, and light bulbs in your home. You may be surprised to learn that these items can contribute to how your home smells, but the difference that cleaning these things can make will speak for itself.

If you have any other questions or would like more information, feel free to give me a call or send me an email. I look forward to hearing from you soon.

Let's Compare the Benefits and Drawbacks of Furnished and Unfurnished Listings

Is it better to sell your home furnished or unfurnished? Today we will get to the bottom of this key question.

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Today’s question comes from one of our viewers, Kathy O’Shea, who asks: “Should you sell your home furnished or unfurnished?”

Kathy happened to have the option of moving her furniture with her when she transitioned into her new home, but not all of us have this luxury. Therefore, many sellers have no choice but to show their home with their furniture still inside.

But which is the better option, and what are some of the benefits of each?

First of all, leaving your home furnished while it’s on the market can help buyers visualize how they might decorate a room. You can also rearrange your furniture for optimal staging, if removing your furniture is not an option or is something you prefer not to do.

However, sellers who plan to leave their home furnished while selling must be sure to declutter before letting buyers into their property. Furniture that takes up too much room can make spaces look much smaller. And this brings me to the benefits of selling your home unfurnished.

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Leaving your home furnished while it’s on the market can help buyers visualize how they might decorate a room

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One of the main benefits of showing your home without any furniture inside is that it gives buyers the chance to see your home’s true space. Rooms will look very large and open, and people with good imaginations will have no trouble imagining them full of furniture.

That said, statistics show that homes staged with furniture do tend to sell more quickly and for a slightly higher price. But don’t worry if you have to sell unfurnished. You can still sell in good time and for a good price without furniture in your home.

If you have any other questions, would like more information, or are curious how we can help you buy a new home or sell your current one, feel free to give us a call or send us an email. We look forward to hearing from you soon.

What Can You Do to Improve Your Home’s Interior Without Breaking the Bank?

Where can you get the best return on interior home improvements?
Here are a few good options.

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Welcome back to another episode of “Keeping in Tune With the Market,” where we bring you relevant real estate information to help you keep in tune with the market.

We’re on the road again with part two of our series on how to make your home show like a model without breaking the bank. In part one, we talked about how to fix up your home’s exterior. Today we’re going to focus on the interior of the house, and the rooms where you'll get the best return on investment.

According to Angie’s List, kitchens and bathrooms bring the highest return on investment. Whether you’re thinking of selling now or later, it’s a good idea to consider some improvements in these areas. You don’t have to do a full kitchen remodel and spend tens of thousands of dollars. You can spend money without breaking the bank by doing things such as:

• Changing out the countertops
• Changing the cabinet handles
• Updating your lighting
  
  

The second area to consider is the bathroom. Old fixtures, faucets, sinks, toilets, and vanities can be replaced to give the room a whole new look.

If you'd like further information about how you can improve the inside of your home to get the highest return on investment without breaking the bank, give us a call or send us an email. We’d be glad to send you a copy of our free report.

In the meantime, if you have any questions, don’t hesitate to give us a call or send us an email. We look forward to hearing from you.

The Path to Orchestrating Your Own Home Sale

If you’re thinking of selling your home on your own, I have some valuable insider tips to help you accomplish this task.

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So the market’s great and you decide to sell your home by yourself. What happens next?

First, you put a sign up, put some ads on the Internet, and away you go. Soon enough, people start driving by your home, knocking on your door, and calling you—even Realtors. Then perhaps you get a buyer that comes by, and they seem pretty serious...until you find out they don’t have any credit and would like you to hold the mortgage.

Then maybe your neighbor knocks on your door and asks if you’ll sell your home at a discount to their children because they don’t have much money.

These situations can be very frustrating, but should you give up on your dream of selling your home all by yourself? No you shouldn’t, because I have three valuable insider tips to help you pull it off without going crazy:

1. Make sure you market your home effectively. Many Realtors place their homes on Realtor.com, Zillow, and the MLS (multiple listing service) for their best results, but successful Realtors also place their homes on about 46 other websites on average. Statistically, over 92% of people start their home search online. You want to make sure your home is seen by the most number of people, so explore other places on the Internet you can advertise your home. You’d be amazed at the amount of traffic you can garner.

Make sure your home is seen by the most number of people.

2. Make sure your buyer is both pre-qualified and pre-approved for a loan. What’s the difference between the two? When someone’s pre-qualified, they’re only asked a few questions by a mortgage broker and based on that information, they’re told what their chances are for getting a loan. With a pre-approval, the buyer has actually made a full loan application and gone through the entire process—including checking their credit, income, tax returns, etc.

3. Remain objective about your home and the home selling process. If the buyer has a few negative comments, don’t get defensive. Try instead to acknowledge them and use that as a stepping point to highlight the positives of your home and how it benefits them.

If you have any questions or you’d like to see the other seven insider tips to help you sell your home on your own, don’t hesitate to give me a call or send me an email. In the meantime, don’t give up and keep in tune with the market. I look forward to hearing from you.

Who Really Determines a Home’s Value?

A home’s actual value is determined by two people: the appraiser and the buyer. Here’s why this is.

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When you’re getting ready to buy or sell a home, you often wonder who really determines the actual value of a home and what the sales price will eventually be. There are basically two people who determine the value of a home. The first is the appraiser. The appraiser will look at similar sold properties within the last six to 12 months. If you want to get an idea of what the appraiser will consider, all you need to do is go online and look at similar properties that have sold in the area within a mile or so of where you’re looking and what they sold for. In addition to the appraiser, there is one other person who determines what the final sales price of a home will be. Can you guess who it is?

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The appraiser and the buyer are the two people who determine a home’s value.

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It’s the buyer. The buyer will offer a price for the home based on comparables of other homes currently for sale on the market and what they feel the house is worth to them. 

You’ll notice there’s one person I didn’t mention—the seller. While they don’t determine the eventual sales price of the home, they can determine how long the home takes to sell. They do this in two ways. The first is by making sure the condition of the home is optimal. The second is by pricing their home properly in the beginning when they first list it. 

We want to thank Gina for sending in her great question. For that, she will receive a $15 gift certificate to Panera’s. If you submit a question and I cover it in one of my future videos, you can also win a $15 gift certificate. 

If you want to know more about determining the value of a home or you’d like a market snapshot to help you know the value of a home you’re thinking of buying or selling, give me a call or send me an email. Until next time, stay in tune with the market and make it a great day!

Keeping in Tune With the Market: Why Sell This Winter?

You may have heard that spring and summer are the best times to sell a house, but today, I’m discussing why this winter is a fantastic time to sell your house.

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Welcome to my new series, ‘Keeping in Tune With the Market.’ We want to use this series to bring valuable and relevant information to home buyers, sellers, and Realtors alike.

The question we’re answering today comes from Amy Chen who asks, “I thought it was better to sell my house in the spring, but I’ve been told maybe I should consider selling my house in the winter. What do you recommend?’

There are three points I want you to consider about selling your home in the winter:

1. Prices are at or above what we experienced in 2006. The only difference is that we haven’t experienced a housing bubble like then. In fact, we have a very steady market. That’s because of…

2. Lack of inventory. This means as a seller, you’re going to be able to receive a higher price for your house due to greater competition among buyers, multiple offers, and interest rates.

3. Interest rates are very good right now. Even though rates have ticked up just a bit, buyers are still out there looking. They will continue to be out looking until rates really start to climb. At that point, they’ll have less buying ability due to paying more for a mortgage.

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High prices, low inventory, and low rates make now an optimal time to sell.

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As you can see, due to high prices, low inventory, and low interest rates, putting a home on the market this winter is a great idea because you never know what’s around the corner. An additional bonus point is that you can even gear your moving date to coincide with the timing you originally wanted. For example, let's say you found a buyer in the late winter or early spring. You might be able to time your sale in a way that allows you to move in the spring or early summer.

We’d like to thank Amy for the question by sending her a $10 Panera gift card! 

If you have a question for me and I answer it in one of my videos, you’ll receive a gift card, too. Just give me a call or send me an email. I look forward to hearing from you!

What Is a CMA & Why Do You Need One?

What is a CMA? Why do you need one? I’ll go over the entire comparative market analysis process for you today.

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This month I’m answering a question from Evan Resnick, the winner of our $25 gift certificate. Evan asks, “What is a CMA and why do I need one?”

First of all, CMA stands for competitive market analysis or comparative market analysis. If you want to know what your home is worth, you would ask a real estate agent for a CMA. Some owners might want to use online home valuation sites, but that is a mistake.

If you are buying a car or something like that, it’s pretty easy to go online, look at similar products, and set a price. It is not so easy when it comes to setting the value of your home. Those automated home values do not take the many upgrades you have made to your home into account. They also have no way of knowing what features your home has that other homes do not. The other problem is that those automated values only look at sold properties.

When a Realtor does a CMA, they will look at several different kinds of properties. They will look at sold properties because that gives you a history of what homes in your area have sold for. However, they will also look at properties that are currently listed for sale (your competition) and homes that recently went under contract. If a home just went under contract, that tells you that the property was priced competitively.

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Realtors look at many different properties during the CMA.

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Your agent will also look at homes that did not sell, which are called expired listings. If a listing expired, you’ll know that those homeowners were asking for more money than what the market was willing to bear. In short, the market didn’t support the price they wanted for the house, and you don’t want to make that mistake when pricing your own property. 

Once the Realtor takes all of these properties into consideration, they will come up with a proposed asking price for your home. They will also give you a selling price so that you know what you can actually get if you decide to put your home on the market. 

A lot of the time, people might not be able to sell right away but would still like an idea of what their home is worth. That is no problem. A Realtor can still come by, look at your home, ask a few questions, and put together a CMA for you. If you wait for a year to sell, you can look at that CMA and see if it makes sense for you to sell in that market.

If you have any other questions about finding your home value, please let me know. If you have a question you would like answered in our next video (and if you want a chance to win a $25 gift certificate), please submit it to karen@homesbydonovan.com or text your question to 727-517-1751.

As always, if you need any help in the meantime, please don’t hesitate to reach out to us. We would be happy to help you!