Things Ottawa Home Buyers May Notice #35 – Missing Pictures

Everything you read about staging says to take down personal photos and unusual pictures from the walls.  What some advisers fail to say is – take out the hooks, the nails, the thumbtacks and any other type of hanger and fix the wall. 

Buyers and I were looking at a wonderful bungelow.  The layout, while a bit unusual, was appealing.  However, everywhere you looked there were hooks and nails in the walls where the owners had previously hung their ‘art’.   These were owners who hung stuff over the doors, low on the walls (probably for the children) in collages, above cupboards, etc.  When we finally made it to the basement, there was the ‘art’, stacked along the walls ready for packing. 

It would have been advisable to patch the holes and touch up the paint. 

This house became unhooked from the Buyers’ list.

 Photo credit: Uninspired 46/365 @ http://www.flickr.com/photos/skyfire/4359853973/

Things Buyers May Notice #35 – Country Kitsch Gone Mad

A few weeks ago I was out with Buyers looking at homes.  Of course we had done our homework by looking at the listings on the Internet and evaluating the worthiness of viewing the homes based on the pictures.  One set of home pictures stood out for two reasons  It seemed that the Seller was overly fond of dark maroon paint – it was on the walls inside the home and on the exterior bricks.  Rooms were too dark and depressing because the paint was a no-no.  Secondly, it seemed the Seller was running a craft / country store of kitsch from her home.  Every bit of wall space and every horizontal surface was covered in craft-like items.  It was difficult to see the rooms beyond the stuff.  It was on our “not to see” list.  However, the Listing Agent asked us to give it a chance and take a look.

OMG – we were in the house for 1 minute and one of the Buyers wanted out.  Our eyes were spinning.  There was nowhere to look without being attacked by stuff.  The other Buyer recognized that all of the clutter was, in fact, expensive pieces and probably lovingly collected over time.  Sadly, everything was on display but nothing was a focal point.   The house was lost in the stuff.

How would the Agent tell this client to start to pack up a lifetime of collecting and start painting in beige?  Good luck.

Photo credit:  Kitsch-cow @ http://www.flickr.com/photos/itnomad/11340853/

Zingers #102 – Less is more

Do you have the most wonderful Christmas / Easter/ Hannuka /Valentine’s Day / Halloween collection of decorations?  I bet your friends comment on your collections every time they visit.  Now your house is for sale and your best bet is to keep your decoration collection to a minimum. 

Collect Buyers not knick knacks.

Look what I found – Home Staging Eye Candy

I was looking for some nice examples of small and inexpensive changes that someone could do (likely with the help of a Home Stager) and found a wonderful site of before and after photos at Home Harmony  .  This is a Montreal company that makes miracles with very little money and uses mostly the home owners things.  Take a look and see if you agree.  The best thing is the ease of making the before and after comparisons plus everything is available in Canada and the home owners are very obviously real people. 

Hope you enjoy the site as much as I do.

 

Why these 5 Decorating Mistakes Turn Buyers Away

There was a television special about the 25 biggest decorating mistakes people make in their homes.  Everyone has made a few of these and some are more obvious to home Buyers than others.  Of the 25 here are 5 of my favourites when it comes to selling / show casing your home: 

  1. Toilet rugs – for the family who want to keep their feet warm – good on you BUT for the Buyer this is just a trap for bodily bits and fluids.  This one has a high yuk factor.
  2. Packed Foyer – for the family this is the first catch all station of book bags, boots, shoes, garbage going out, groceries coming in and dropped outerwear.  For the Buyer – this is about getting inside the house and part of the first impression of the house.  Let the Buyers have room to navigate getting their own shoes off and stepping into the living space.
  3. Lack of traffic pattern for furniture placement – for the family where the furniture sits becomes known and members can navigate in the dark around all the pieces.  For the Buyer – clear room to walk in and around the space is needed.  Keep big things away from doorways.  Less is more when you remove furniture to make room for Buyer traffic.
  4. The room purchased in a box (where everything matches).  For the family this is a simple way to decorate – get the bedding, wallpaper, border, pillows, lamps and rug all in the same pattern (the same would go in bathrooms with towels, shower curtain, paper, border, vanity accessories).  For the Buyer this is a nightmare.  
  5. Floating area rugs – For the family, the small rug under the coffee table is perfect.  For the Buyer, the eye sees this as making the room smaller and chopped up.  The solution is to get a bigger rug and anchor it with the legs of the couch, armoirs, etc.  

These are five of my favourites.   There will be others in later blogs.  Remember, if you are not selling, who cares how you live.  When you are selling, you are selling a product – an image – a lifestyle.  Stage your home to show off its best.

Photo credit:“The important thing is not to stop questioning. Curiosity has its own reason for existing.” Albert Einstein @ http://www.flickr.com/photos/katerha/4526272937/

Chestnuts roasting on an open fire

 

Did you ever light a wood fire and have black soot billowing everywhere?  Do you have black greasy soot building up on the fireplace bricks?  Not all soot stains are permanent.  Clean off as much as you can before selling your house.  Do you want the Buyer to think the fireplace is a hazard?

Don’t let soot put a damper on your sale.

Zinger 101

Selling and Decluttering – The Deck and Patio

Even if you never go outside, declutter and stage your deck and patio. Think simple.  Think clean.  

 

If you are thinking of selling sometime in the future and it is summer, get your camera out and take as many pictures of the decluttered deck and patio as you can.  You may have to sell in winter and these pictures will be invaluable to have on your listing or to leave for Buyers to see when they are looking at your house. 

 

You are selling a package – the house and the yard.

 

Photo credit:  Patio @ http://www.flickr.com/photos/dailyinvention/33941672/

Zingers #99 – More about abundance

No one wants to appear cheap.  Buyers don’t want to buy a house where the owner may have made the wrong economies. When showing your home, make sure that there are full rolls of toilet paper, kleenex in the boxes and the jars visible on the kitchen and bathroom counters are full.  You want the Buyers to refer to your house as:

House Bountiful

Selling and Decluttering – “But it won’t be my house”

When agents ask their Sellers to declutter and take out personal items they often hear the Seller say “But it won’t be my house.” and the response (inside the Sales Representative’s head) is “And that is the point.”  I have been asked to visit Sellers’ homes to give them an opinion of what they have to do before they put their homes on the market.  I often say that the house is perfect for them while they are living in it but…..  things will need to be done to make it a marketable product.

When a house goes on the market for sale, it should no longer be treated like your home.  Think of it as an object to be sold at its best price.  It is commerce.  It is the same concept when you clean up your car and shovel out the trash in the back seat before trading it in at the dealer’s.  If you are selling it yourself, you may even have it detailed.  So why would you not do the same for your house?  Take down personal pictures, remove clutter, clean like there is no tomorrow and make the place shine.  You get the best price for a car in good condition and the same will apply to your house. 

Don’t think HOME, think PRODUCT. 

Photo credit:  @ http://www.flickr.com/photos/pheezy/3749597538/

Things Ottawa Home Buyers May Notice #34 – Open up and let the sun shine in

   At a recent showing of a home, the Buyers noticed that every window blind and curtain was completely closed and drawn.  Although it was a beautiful spring day with plenty of sunshine, the house was dark and cool.  One of the home owners was still in the house.  After I had opened a couple of blinds, the owner came behind me and closed them.  I asked why everything was closed and the owner said it was so that there would be no sun damage on the cupboards and wood floors.  Okay.  I admit that the floors looked brand new as they were so well maintained but……

If you are selling your home – a product – then you need to display it in the best manner possible.  When it comes to homes – open the drapes and, if warm enough, open the windows.  Let light into the home.  Almost all home owners see themselves in a light bright home with sun shining in and a sense of peace and contentment.  Stage your home to provide this feeling.

 Photo credit:  Chair in front of open window @ http://www.flickr.com/photos/72955502@N00/2243422737/

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