If you are thinking of putting your house on the market, you will want it to look it’s best in order to attract serious offers. I can’t stress enough to my buyers the need for “staging” the home. This is a must for a vacant house. Prospective buyers have a hard time visualizing their furnishings in a vacant home, or a home that appears too cluttered.

Here are some tips to ramp up your curb appeal.

According to Barb Schwarz, the creator of the Home Staging company you should

Clear all unnecessary objects from furniture throughout the house.

Keep decorative objects on the furniture restricted to groups of 1, 3, or 5 items. In general, a sparsely decorated home helps the buyer mentally ‘move in’ with their own things.

Rearrange or remove some of the furniture in your home, if necessary. Many times home owners have too much furniture in a room. When it comes to selling your home, thin out overcrowded rooms to make the rooms appear larger.

In the bathroom, remove any unnecessary items from the countertops, tub, shower stall and commode top. Keep only the most necessary cosmetics, brushes, perfumes, etc., in one small group on the counter. Coordinate towels in one or two colors only.

Take down, reduce, or rearrange pictures and objects on walls. Patch and paint all walls, if necessary.

Clear all unnecessary objects from the kitchen countertops. If it hasn’t been used for three months, put it away.

Clear your refrigerator doors of any magnets, messages, photos, etc.

Paint any room needing paint

Clean carpet and draperies that need it

Clean windows

Review the house interior, room by room, and if you need room to store extra possessions use the garage or rent a storage unit.

Turn on all lights and lamps.

Leave on certain lights during the day (your agent will show you which ones).

During showings play light FM music every day in the house, for all viewings.

EXTERIOR

Go around the perimeter of the house and move all garbage cans, discarded wood scraps, extra building materials

Check gutters and roof for dry rot and moss. Make sure they are swept & cleaned. Replace an old mailbox and make sure your house number is visible

Keep your lawn clean of any toys, bikes, etc. and mow it regularly during the season

Look at all plants. Plants are like children…they grow so fast. Prune bushes and trees. Keep plants from blocking windows – you can’t sell a house if you can’t see it.

Remove any dead plants, weed all planting areas and put plant some new annuals to give it a pretty look, put down fresh mulching material.

Even if you are not selling your house, these ideas can help you maintain and spruce up your home for your own enjoyment.

Home is where the heart is…  that’s true, but when do you decide whether to transplant your heart to a new home or spend the money remodeling the one you have?

If you are debating whether to update or buy, the following pros and cons may help in your decision-making.

Searching for a new home can be exciting and  fun.  There is so much to think about… location, schools, shopping.  There is also the price to consider.

The most positive aspect when consdiering the price is that there are typically no surprise costs.  Before you make an offer you know the property value and the taxes; you can ask for the owners’ utility costs for the past year; you can see the cost in terms of upfront and long-term.  There are few surprises, but keep in mind other costs that will occur:

•  real estate commissions, closing costs and moving, which could typically be 8% or more of the house you’re selling.
• The cost of the new (most likely bigger) mortgage.
• Any new furniture, window treatments, landscaping or other purchases that will make your new house feel like your home.

Remodeling can be a lot of fun too.  Home design magazines, strolling through design stores, sketching with your spouse or kids over dinner… all of this is so exciting.  Remodeling is a significant investment in your home.  Saving on these costs will undoubtedly give you a good feeling.

It’s important to note that when remodeling, surprise costs are not uncommon.  The Wall Street Journal found that, depending on your proximity to major metropoitan areas, the price of keeping a typical home up to current standards over a 30-year period is almost four times the home’s purchase price.

Remodeling veterans recommend building in a safety net by adding 10-20% to contractor’s estimates.  You should also consider out of pocket costs including financing (generally credit interest erates are higher than mortgage rates), higher utility bills, larger homeowenr’s insurance premiums and greater property taxes on your additional space. 

(CurrentsNJ Vol.II 2009)  http://www.currentsnj.com/