Inexpensive updates to your home can help it sell fast

You don't need a big budget to update your home for a faster sell. There are a number of relatively minor updates you can do yourself that will have a big impact when it comes time to sell your home. Interior designer Carriann Johnson talks about seemingly small (and inexpensive) projects that have a big impact on your home's appeal. Create a strong first impression by painting or replacing your front door. Reface or paint worn kitchen cabinets rather than replacing. Update the hardware on your kitchen cabinets and bathrooms help freshen up and modernize the look. Add a fresh coat of … Continue reading...

Selling your home with sizzle

In the Saturday NewsOK real estate section, there is a great article about preparing your home for sale by making it "sizzle". This article makes great sense and goes right along with our article "Preparing Your Home for Sale". It talks about 5 things you can easily do to show your home in the best light: Buy a Paintbrush - Paint is the most cost effective way to spruce up your house and make it ready to show. Declutter - Either give away or sell superfluous "stuff" so your home is not jam packed with YOUR knicknacks.  Buyers don't want to see your grandma's teacup collection. Place excess … Continue reading...

2012 Home Sales in Edmond Set Record

Wow, what a year. The last quarter of 2012 ended with a big bang, as Edmond home sales soared, breaking all records for not only the number of home sold in a year, but the average price of those homes. Our team was kept spinning for 2012 and we knew that OUR sales were great, but it is nice to also hear the market is booming and other Realtors were doing well also. The previous record year for total home sales in Edmond, Oklahoma was in 2007 right before the economic collapse when 3,739 homes were sold city wide for $875 million. Our lowest year in the past 10 years was in 2010 when we sold … Continue reading...

Photographing Your Home

Stunning, high quality pictures of your home is the first step in creating demand and in turn, showings. Most buyers today begin their home search on the Internet, and buyers often browse dozens or even hundreds of homes on the web prior to visiting them in person. A series of high quality photos that show off your home in it's best light will make it stand out from the crowd and increase the number of potential showings, and hence potential buyers, that see your home in person. You might think "I have a high megapixel digital camera, aren't those good enough for the Internet?" Ask any … Continue reading...

To Pier or Not to Pier – Only a Structural Engineer Knows for Sure

Earlier this week a home inspector looked at our seller's home and and recommended a piering company come out and take a look at the home for the buyer. The piering company comes out and what do you think they recommended? Yep. Twelve new piers at about $1,000 per pier, on a 1,500 square foot home. You would think the house was falling apart and sinking into the ocean! Of course, asking a piering company if a house needs piers is like asking a roofer if a house needs a new roof, or a stockbroker if you should buy stocks. They don't make any money if they tell you "no". Our seller and … Continue reading...

Edmond Home Sales Up 8.2% for 2012

Edmond, Oklahoma home sales are up 8.2% so far through November 2012 versus 2011. According to the OKC Metro MLS, 3,207 homes were closed in Edmond through Dec 7, 2012 versus 2,861 through Dec 7, 2011. This is a very strong market since 2011 was also a good year. Our experience also reflects this. We are seeing homes selling for much closer to asking price than before, and more buyers in the market for fewer homes. Hence, prices are finally starting to rise ever so slightly from the past couple of years. New home starts are also up as builders see increased demand. The market right now … Continue reading...

Easy to Fix Top Ten Items Found on an Oklahoma Home Inspection

As a busy metro area Realtor, we attend a lot of home inspections with our home buyers. During these inspections we invariably see the same repair items over and over. Here are the top ten items we typically see at a home inspection. These are usually quite easy fixes that should be done by the homeowner prior to the inspection. 1) Garage door electronic eye attached too high You know those little electronic eye things on the side of your garage door rails that you have to jump over when you are trying to get out the garage door before it closes? Those are designed to protect kids (even those … Continue reading...

Home Staging Interview

When selling your home, I often recommend that you hire a professional stager to prepare your home for sale. A professional stager will look at your home from the eyes of a potential buyer, and then accentuate the features of your home so that buyers can see themselves in your home rather than you in your home. This often requires decluttering and depersonalizing your home. In this video I interview Kathy Swan, a professional home stager with Two Swans Staging, who has worked with me for several years on a variety of homes. I have seen it time and time again how a well staged home will … Continue reading...

Your Home Is Not Selling?

Now that a home I recently listed has been on the market about six weeks and has not yet gone under contract, I decided to make a visit with the homeowners and discuss options to get it SOLD.  I discovered that some of the de-cluttering suggestions I'd made upon listing the home had not been done.  There is a lot of work and research that goes into determining a home's value in this market.  Even though an appropriate sales price is determined after reviewing the recently sold comparable properties, the local housing market has the final say on the price. If a listed home is being "passed … Continue reading...