Look what I found - A very good song about being Canadian

Posted on June 29, 2010 
Filed Under Ottawa Today / Interesting People, Places and Things | Leave a Comment

A couple of young Canadians in London, Ontario did this.  They are adorable (and likely would hate to hear that adjective used on them).  Okay, so how about smart, talented and with a great future?   

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mWQf13B8epw&feature=player_embedded

The Glebe Housing Market Today - MLS® Listings

Posted on June 28, 2010 
Filed Under Comparable Properties Sales Statistics, Ottawa Neighbourhoods, Valerie Zinger | 1 Comment

As of this morning,  18 residential units are for sale in the Glebe (MLS® areas 4401 and 4402).  The prices range from $369,900 to $1,839,000.   There are 6 semi detached units and 12 detached homes.

In the past 90 days, 27 homes sold at an average sold price of $619,960 with an average DOM of 16 days ranging from 2 to 79 days. 

These statistics do not include condos and private sales.

Things Ottawa Home Buyers May Notice #35 - Missing Pictures

Posted on June 25, 2010 
Filed Under Listing and Selling Your Home, Staging Your Home | Leave a Comment

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/

Zingers #103 - Wow

Posted on June 23, 2010 
Filed Under Listing and Selling Your Home, Valerie Zinger, Zingers | Leave a Comment

Try to have at least one “wow factor” in your home. When Buyers have viewed your house you want them to remember that your house was “the one with the wonderful kitchen”, “the one with the great view”, “the one with the fantastic bath tub”, “the one with the great yard”.  Whatever it is, look for and feature the most impressive thing about your house.

Watch Out World

Barrhaven Housing Market Today - MLS® Listings

Posted on June 21, 2010 
Filed Under Comparable Properties Sales Statistics, Ottawa Neighbourhoods, Valerie Zinger | Leave a Comment

As of this morning,  132 residential units are for sale in Barrhaven (MLS® area 7701 through 7706).  The prices range from $229,000 to $819,000.   The average price is $385,373.  There are 89 detached homes, 10 semi-detached and 33 row units available.

In the past 90 days, 242 homes sold at an average sold price of $339,225 with an average DOM of 13 days.  One home was on the market for 95 days while others went as fast as one or two days.

These statistics do not include condos and private sales.

Things Buyers May Notice #35 - Country Kitsch Gone Mad

Posted on June 18, 2010 
Filed Under Staging Your Home, Things Buyers May Notice, Valerie Zinger | Leave a Comment

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

Posted on June 16, 2010 
Filed Under Staging Your Home, Valerie Zinger, Zingers | Leave a Comment

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

Posted on June 15, 2010 
Filed Under Staging Your Home, Valerie Zinger | Leave a Comment

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.

 

Centrepoint Housing Market Today - MLS® Listings

Posted on June 14, 2010 
Filed Under Comparable Properties Sales Statistics, Ottawa Neighbourhoods, Valerie Zinger | Leave a Comment

As of this morning,  18 residential units are for sale in Centrepointe (MLS® area 7607).  The prices range from $335,000 to $1,125,000.   There are 7 row units (all under $400,000) and 11 detached homes (all over $400,000).

In the past 90 days, 17 homes sold at an average sold price of $539,916 with an average DOM of 17 days.  One home was on the market for 85 days while others went as fast as one or two days.

These statistics do not include condos and private sales.

Why these 5 Decorating Mistakes Turn Buyers Away

Posted on June 11, 2010 
Filed Under Listing and Selling Your Home, Staging Your Home, Valerie Zinger | Leave a Comment

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/

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