Community Housing Works

Studies typically list buying or selling a home as one of the 10 most stressful things a person can do. And whether you’ve done it once or a dozen times, selling a home is messy, emotional, and fraught with legal and economic landmines. That’s where the CHW Realty team comes in. Because whether your move is around the corner or across the country, we have resources we can plug you into to ensure you don’t leave memories behind and that you’re talking to the right folks in your new hometown. Today’s marketplace is far too dynamic to rely on fast, online tools to value your home. If you are considering selling your home and would like to better understand it’s value, simply contact us and we can give you a qualified broker price opinion of your home’s value. Preparing Your Home for Sale

• Preparing yourself. Selling your home can be a very emotional experience.  You’ve built up memories in this place.  Maybe someone was born or died there.  However, our job is to sell it and to help others see it as their potential home.  So while you may see it as your home, we must view it as a house.  You’ll need to be unemotional about the process, or you may accidentally set up a situation where it takes longer to sell than you originally intended.
• Remove your personality. To help buyers view your house as their home, they must be able to envision their own photos on the wall.  Before anyone comes into the house, remove family photos, trophies, collectibles, travel souvenirs, religious icons or other personal items.  You’ll want to leave these items outside the house until the transaction has been completed.
• Eliminate clutter. Most people are attached to everything in their house and don’t realize how much clutter they have.  We recommend these steps to help prepare your home for sale.
• Rent a storage unit for things you want to keep but shouldn’t stay in the house.  Start by storing the personal items you’ve removed.
• Go through the house with our agent, viewing it as if you were the buyer.  Remove piles of “stuff” that hurt the image of a home someone would want to live in.
• Go through every room individually, and don’t be defensive when the agent suggests something you love may not help your goal of selling the house.  Remember – we’re on your side.
• Don’t just take your personal things and toss them into a cabinet, closet or garage.  Potential buyers look into every nook and cranny, envisioning how their own stuff might work there.  Your things will just destroy their illusions.  Those illusions will help fuel their passion when they decide to make their purchase.

Be ruthless in what you remove. With everything in the house, take an attitude where you do one of the following:

• Toss it
• Donate it
• Sell it (think “Garage Sale”)
• Store it

Your Realtor will also help guide you on what types of items should be kept in the house to stage it for sale. There may be work that needs to be done, inside and out, to convince a buyer your house is a great investment.  After all, you’re asking someone to make what may be the single largest purchase of their lives.  Here are a few things you should look at prior to putting the house on the market:

• Plumbing – Clean and, if necessary, replace fixtures.  Knobs should turn easily and nothing should leak.
• Walls and ceilings – Check for water stains and dirt.  Clean as appropriate. Plan to paint rooms white or off–white to make everything look bigger.
• Carpet – Rent a carpet cleaner for nasty stains.  If carpet is severely worn, replace it.
• Windows and Doors – Should all open/close easily (WD40 will work wonders).  Replace cracked panes and polish doorknobs.
• Odor – Don’t smoke indoors during the sales process.  Try ozone spray to remove odors.  Empty kitty litter daily, keep the dog outside as much as possible, and regularly use carpet freshener.
• Landscaping – If your landscaping is below average for the neighborhood, plant a few bushes (not trees).  It may also be worthwhile to plant a few mature flowers for color.  Lawns should be raked and evenly cut, cleanly edged, and well watered. Re-sod brown spots.
• Façade – If your house looks tired, painting it may be a good investment.  Go with a neutral color that fits into the neighborhood.
• Roof – If your roof is old and leaky, replace it or plan to disclose it to the buyer.  If it doesn’t leak, see what the inspector turns up, if anything.
• Front yard – Polish door fixtures and refinish/paint doors.  Remove plaques with your family’s name (even on the mailbox).  Get a plush new door mat.  Check that the lock works easily and keys fit well.
• Back yard – Keep it tidy.  Clean up after pets and kids.  A child’s swing set takes up a lot of room, and may be better off removed from the property during the sales process.
• Pools or spas – Should be freshly maintained and regularly cleaned.
• What NOT to do – Don’t go into debt fixing up the house for sale.  This could hurt your efforts to buy your new home.

Setting Your Price Your house price needs to be in line with comparable sales in the neighborhood over the past six months.  The mortgage company will appraise your home.  If it isn’t in line with other houses in the area, your deal will fall apart.  Which means even if you’re convinced your home is worth more – and a realtor tells you it’s worth significantly more than the house down the street with the same footprint – if it doesn’t appraise for this higher figure, you won’t be able to sell it.  Since the greatest excitement is generated about a property when it first comes onto the market, it’s always best to set the right price initially, rather than lowering the price later when the house has been on the market for a while and is considered “old news.”  Knowing all this, CHW Realty will provide recommendations with recent sales data of similar homes, and guide you towards the best price possible to help your house sell quickly, regardless of market conditions. The Commission CHW Realty earns a commission of six percent of the final selling price of your house.  However, no matter how much work we need to invest in helping your family and marketing your home, CHW Realty won’t get paid a dime until the deal has closed and your house has been sold. The Listing Agent Most realtors tend to specialize in one area of the market, and CHW Realty is no different. Our agents focus primarily on the needs of low  and moderate income buyers and sellers, and have adjusted our full range of services to suit the full range of special needs our clients develop before, during and after a home is purchased or sold. Marketing Your Home CHW Realty provides substantial marketing services for your property in an effort to sell it, including:

• For Sale signs
• Fliers
• Brochure boxes
• Presence in the Multiple Listing Service (MLS)
• Presentation to other brokers
• Advertising (print and online)
• Neighborhood announcements
• Open houses
• Presentations to prospective buyers when it’s convenient for them

Showing Your House A few final considerations to bear in mind:

• It’s inconvenient – CHW Realtors will show your home when it’s convenient for the buyer, and will call you as far in advance as possible to alert you that we’re coming to the house.  By providing us with a key and, when appropriate, your alarm code, you’ll be able to minimize disturbances to you and your family.
• You shouldn’t be there – Buyers don’t want to feel like they’re intruding on your home life.  When we arrive with a buyer, take the kids for a walk in the park or visit a neighbor.  If you can’t leave, find an out-of-the-way corner of the house and stay there.
• Lighting – Turn on all indoor and outdoor lights when a buyer comes over – even during the day.  It makes the house look more cheerful.
• Smells – Make your house smell more “homey” with potpourri, baking cookies, or turning on the stove burner for a moment and putting a drop of vanilla extract on it.  Don’t use scented sprays.
• Pets – When we list your home we’ll put a notice that you have pets.  This will alert other agents and minimize the chances that your dog or cat will run out the door and get lost.  Keep pets in one room if possible, with a sign on the door noting their presence.  Better still, when expecting a potential buyer, take your pets with you.
• Trash – Empty the kitchen trash and recycling every time a potential buyer comes to see the house.  Even if the trash is in the kitchen cabinet, buyers will be looking in those cabinets.
• Be tidy – Make all beds every day.  Pick up newspapers and mail.  Don’t leave dirty plates in the family room.  Dust. Vacuum.

And Finally… Don’t assume the realtor will do all the work – we’re your partner in selling the house, but we need your active participation to make this happen as quickly and painlessly as possible.  Contact us today to learn more about how we can help you sell your home. DRE License 01791343