Why is it that some homes languish on the market for many months with little to no activity, while other homes sell on the first weekend they’re offered? How can you make your home stand out from the thousands of other homes for sale in Northern Virginia? It all comes down to three often overlooked factors in real estate…Price, Presentation and Marketing. Everyone wants to get the highest possible Price for their home, why wouldn’t you, it’s the single biggest investment you’re likely to ever make? However, if you initially price your home above the perceived “market value”, you’ll miss the opportunity presented by having a new listing. A home that has been on the market for months and hasn’t sold, must have something wrong with it, right? The trick with a home’s Price is that its Presentation affects its perceived value and the Marketing Plan determines how many perspective buys actually get to see the Presentation. It takes experience to see what your home could be worth with the right Presentation and Marketing plan, just ask the JG Team with the backing of Long & Foster for a free, no obligation consultation Contact Us .
Before you even think about the Presentation for your home, you have to get your home ready to present. Remember what it felt like when you first moved into your current home, it seemed huge right? Likely, you were moving up from a smaller location and the furnishing you brought with you barely filled all the new space available. You also likely cleaned out all the junk you accumulated before you moved into your current home. Part of your job now to get your home ready to present is to roll back time to that utopic state of spaciousness and unclutteredness you enjoyed when you first moved in, only with better furnishings and decorating. If you haven’t used something in more than a year and it hasn’t got any sentimental value, maybe it could find a better home with a donation to charity? Many charities will pick things up right from your garage, how convenient is that? If you aren’t willing to pay the expense to pack and move something later on, now would be a good time to part company so you save the trouble while improving the salability of your home. Sometimes the best reality check at this point in the process is to get an estimate for what it would cost to move all your possessions. Most people are shocked by both the thousands of pounds of stuff they possess and the cost to move all that stuff. If you can’t bear to part company with all of your prized possessions, then at least move the things and furnishings that you don’t use every day into some type of temporary storage. Can’t you just feel the spaciousness returning to your home?
The other thing you can do to make your home more presentable is to take make sure it’s clean, neatly landscaped, freshly painted and in good working order. You’ve probably heard the phrase “curb appeal”, it literally means the impression your home creates in the first 15 seconds when someone pulls up to your curb. This is not the time to begin that major renovation project you’ve been putting off for years. Most renovations are poor investments with perhaps the exception of bathrooms and kitchens. Even with a money maker like a kitchen project, it’s easy to overspend what the market will pay in increased resale value. In many cases, offering a credit at the time of sale where the buyer assumes both the decisions of taste and the hassles of working with contractors is a better investment decision. Now is the perfect time to bring in a Realtor from the JG Team for a free consultation. Your JG Team Realtor can help you prioritize what work and expenses make the most sense for the Presentation and resale value of your home Contact Us.
The Presentation for your home that most perspective buyers see first is the MLS Listing. Many agents treat the Listing like it’s a burden to enter the minimum information required by the MLS, rather than an integral part of an actual Marketing Plan. Many homes require a professional photographer with real camera equipment and experience shooting interior spaces to bring out the best in your home’s unique attributes. Sometimes a video of your home conveys a feeling that still pictures will never capture, a feeling that connects with potential buyers and puts your listing at the top of their must see agenda. A well written summary of the home’s features may be the one thing that makes a buyer bookmark a listing rather than continue with glazed eyes trudging through click after click, listing after listing.
A good Marketing Plan includes more than just an obligatory open house, which does more for the agent getting new listings elsewhere in your neighborhood that it does for actually selling your home. A good Marketing Plan includes multiple venues for perspective buyers to see your Listing, including a featured position on this website www.novaproperties4sale.com . It seems obvious, but a good Marketing Plan is an actual plan, put in writing and agreed to with you before you sign up for a listing. What’s not as well known is that almost everything in a Marketing Plan costs money and that comes out of the commission paid to the selling agent. That's why many agents will only print a black & white flyer for the home and put a few $0.25 ballons on an open house sign while they wait for the MLS to do their work for them. Executing a Marketing Plan requires commitment to put you and your home first. Every listing from the JG Team comes with a written Marketing Plan, backed by the marketing clout of Avery-Hess Realtors. Contact the JG Team today for a free, no obligation consultation Contact Us .
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