Monday, July 14, 2008
Fixing Up Your House When You "Have To Sell It Now"
Yes, that's a Lamborghini parked next to a renovation dumpster...In the Personal Property section of the Wall Street Journal yesterday, we came upon a great article with tips for those who have to sell their houses now.
Among a group of seven ideas, "Fix it Up and Clean it Up" was probably the section most relevant to cityhammer blog readers and most worthy of passing on.
According to writer David Crook:
Buyers are taking your house out on a date. It has to make a good
impression.
Don't spend a lot of money -- absolutely no big-ticket renovations -- but
do see that everything is in good repair. And give the place a new paint job and
a general sprucing up. (Caution: This won't necessarily give you any pricing
advantage over less fixed-up places, but it will attract buyers and keep them
interested.)
As you get closer to the date that the house actually goes up for sale,
start moving out by decluttering the place. No buyer wants to see a house filled
to the rafters with other people's things. They want to imagine their stuff
filling the place. "Stage" the place with only enough furniture to make it look
livable; put the rest in storage.
Once again, we are hearing a clarion call for new paint jobs, home staging services, and of course, organization - subjects we have blogged about extensively.
That being said, it's interesting that while the WSJ is essentially speaking to real estate desperation, Murdoch's other financial bulwark, Barron's, ran a cover story saturday on the botoming of home prices loaded with both empirical and anecdotal evidence.
Whether you believe the housing market improves or declines from here, our message is simply that working with qualified home improvement pro's and home stagers in the New York area, you can distinguish your home from the rest of the "product" for sale in your neighborhood and thus, sell it quicker and at better prices.
For Help:
Read the full WSJ article here: How to Sell a House, When You Have to Sell It Now
Labels: Closet Organization in New York, Home Renovation in New York, New York Painters, Real Estate Staging NY
