Zingers #11 - Lay down your weary head
Buy some toss cushions. Winners/ Homesense stores have a great pillow selection and some are dirt cheap. These will freshen up the living, family and bedrooms. If your dog sleeps on the sofa, you might want to put out the pillows only when there is a scheduled showing of your home.
Feather your nest.
Selling or Buying in Ottawa - How to avoid unwanted advice.
Ask for advice only if you want to hear other people’s opinions.
- Not everyone is an expert but everyone has bought or sold or is contemplating buying or selling a house. They all have something to say. Valuable? You will have to determine the value.
- Listen to your real estate sales representative. Listen to the building inspector. Listen to the mortgage lender and to the insurance company. Listen to your mother and dad, if they are coughing up the cash. Try not to listen to the barista at Starbucks or the guys at your lunch table.
- Listen to those people you respect and who you consider to have some expertise. For everyone else, be polite but ignore them.
- At the very end of the day, it is you who will be living in the house and paying for it. If you can hear your heart and head use that information to help you with your decision.
Trust yourself.
Photo credit: Advice @ Flickr http://flickr.com/photos/wurzle/659315/
Valerie Zinger ~ Ottawa, Canada ~ Phone 613-723-5300 ~ Email vzinger@royallepage.ca
Things Ottawa Buyers Will Notice #16 - Items For Sale in the House
THINGS FOR SALE IN THE HOUSE
As I go out with Buyers looking at houses and host Open Houses on Sundays, there are things buyers seem to repeatedly notice. This series looks at the good and the not-so-good things that buyers have noticed.
Several years ago I was a buyer looking for a new home. At one location, the huge basement had been converted into an artist’s studio. It was a home in Alta Vista, a rambling bungalow with a basement the same size as the ground floor. After touring the first floor (a disappointment as no renovations had been made to keep the home current), we 
descended to the basement. Not only was there studio space but each and every wall was hung with paintings with price tags attached. There must have been six or seven rooms with paintings on the walls. I can only assume that 1) the owner was running a full time gallery from the basement; or 2) having the house for sale meant visitors so the owner hung the pictures with prices to market the paintings to visiting home buyers. In any case, it was confusing, distracting and almost all of our time in the house was spent evaluating the painter’s skills. (The photo is from the 2008 Ottawa annual Art in the Park event. This is a fantastic opportunity to see the work of local artists and not in their homes.)
Years later, I was hosting an Open House. Strategically situated by the front door was a price list of all of the furniture available for sale in the home. One piece was spectacular and, almost without fail, visitors were drawn to look at, touch and discuss this piece of furniture. I am sure that, like the paintings, buyers were unable to focus purely on the house.
If you are selling your home and need to sell some of the contents, make sure that you separate the one sale from the other. Buyers can be easily distracted. It is easier to make decisions on items under a couple of hundred dollars than a home for several hundred thousand dollars.
Photo credit: Arts in the Park 2008 @ http://www.flickr.com/photos/ming2046/2562180598/
Valerie Zinger ~ Ottawa, Ontario ~ Ph. 613-723-5300 ~ Email vzinger@royallepage.ca
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Welcome
My name is Valerie Zinger. I am a Realtor in Ottawa. I look forward to listing your property or helping you find your home.
Phone: 613-723-5300 Click here to contact Valerie by Email at:
vzinger@royallepage.ca -
