Preparing Your Home For Sale
First impressions make a significant impact on a buyer’s decision-making process! Once your home goes on the market, it becomes a product. Home Styling or Staging simply allows you to highlight the best of your home and de-emphasize its flaws. It’s not about decorating, but actually turning your home into a model, to appeal to the broadest range of prospective buyers. The goal is to make people feel like they could live there, and the best way to do this is to “neutralize” the surroundings. Try out these helpful styling tips taken from Setting the Stage – REALTOR® Magazine Online. They’ve compiled the best tips from stagers and real estate pros—things you can do for little or no expense—to put a home in prime showing shape. Clear out closets and clutter—sellers can give away or pack up toys, linens, and small kitchen appliances to store offsite. Buyers are also forgiving of storage boxes neatly tucked away in a garage or basement. Focus most on the most visible areas—the foyer, kitchen, living room, master bedroom, and family room. De-personalize the home by removing photos, mementos, and dated items. Use plants in colorful pots or inexpensive wicker baskets to fill in empty spaces. Look to home catalogs for little details on beautifying the home. For instance, group books, pictures, and objets d’art appealingly on bookcases. Try angling one or two pieces of furniture slightly and move furniture 4 inches to 6 inches from the wall to create more interesting room spaces. Put away large collections— porcelains, plates, and so on. Remove valuables, prescription medicine, collectibles, and breakables. Trim trees, prune shrubs, and make sure the lawn is mowed and watered regularly. In summer, turn on the sprinklers for five minutes, 30 minutes before the open house. It makes the lawn and driveway sparkle. Refrain from cooking anything that leaves a distinctive odor, such as fish, garlic, or cabbage. Hire a professional service to clean the home, including the carpets and the windows. Set the dining room table with attractive linens, dishes, and stemware. Arrange fresh or silk flowers throughout the home. Light a fire in the fireplace in fall and winter. A mirror in a pretty frame can make a small room feel more open. Use as much natural light as possible. Add extra lamps in dark rooms or corners. Make functional repairs—fix dripping faucets, sticking doors, and broken fences. Bring in another pair of eyes—even if it’s not a professional stylist. The person may see problems you and have missed.
Tax Benefits of Homeownership
The tax deductions you’re eligible to take for mortgage interest and property taxes greatly increase the financial benefits of homeownership. Here’s how it works. Assume: $9,877 = Mortgage interest paid (a loan of $150,000 for 30 years, at 7 percent, using year-five interest) $2,700 = Property taxes (at 1.5 percent on $180,000 assessed value) ______ $12,577 = Total deduction Then, multiply your total deduction by your tax rate. For example, at a 28 percent tax rate: 12,577 x 0.28 = $3,521.56 $3,521.56 = Amount you have lowered your federal income tax (at 28 percent tax rate) Note: Mortgage interest may not be deductible on loans over $1.1 million. In addition, deductions are decreased when total income reaches a certain level. West Atlanta Real Estate Experts List! Buy! Sell! This is not your ordinary Brokerage. Unlike most real estate companies that force you to do things one way or their way, we believe you should have choices to pick and choose what best fits your individual needs.We are always looking for new ways to make and West Atlanta real estate more efficient AND without sacrificing quality or service. If you’re looking to buy a home in West Atlanta or sell your existing West Atlanta property, we will be happy to take care of your real estate needs. Our mission is to provide outstanding customer service while utilizing the best practices and systems available.For more information about List! Buy! Save! real estate services and how we can best serve you, please fill out the online contact form or give us call today!Chip Hurst Maximum One Realty Greater Atlanta 770.294.9976 Mobile Hurstch@bellsouth.net www.WestAtlantaRealEstate.com
Should you renovate your home
I get a lot of questions on what to fix or repair before listing a home. Here is some great insight on what is important when selling in 2021. To Renovate or Not To Renovate Before You Sell When thinking about selling, homeowners often feel they need to get their house ready with some remodeling to make it more appealing to buyers. However, with so many buyers competing for available homes right now, renovations may not be as vital as they would be in a more normal market. Here are two things to keep in mind if you’re thinking of selling this season. 1. There aren’t enough homes for sale right now. A normal market has a 6-month supply of houses for sale, but today’s housing inventory sits far below that benchmark. According to the National Association of Realtors (NAR), there’s only a 1.9-month supply of homes available today. As a result, buyer competition is high and homes are only on the market for about 21 days, during which time many receive multiple offers from hopeful buyers. In a competitive market that’s moving so quickly, it makes sense to sell your house when buyers are scooping homes up as fast as they’re being listed. Spending costly time and money on renovations before you sell might just mean you’ll miss your key window of opportunity. While certain repairs on your house may be important, your best move right now is to work with a real estate advisor to determine which improvements are truly necessary, and which ones are not likely to be deal-breakers for buyers. Today, many buyers are more willing to take on home improvement projects themselves in order to get the home they’re after, even if it means putting in a little extra work. Home Advisor explains: “When it comes to the number of home improvement projects completed, Gen Z homeowners are leading the pack, completing an average of 3.5 projects. Millennials closely follow Gen Z, taking on an average of 3.3 projects, followed by Gen X at 2.8 projects. Boomers completed an average of 2 projects, and the Silent Generation completed the fewest projects, on average, at 1.8 per household. Compared to 2019, millennials are spending 60% more on home improvement and doing on average 30% more projects.” In this market, it may be wise to let future homeowners remodel the bathroom or the kitchen to make design decisions that are best for their specific taste and lifestyle. As a seller, your dollars and time might be better spent working on small cosmetic updates, like refreshing some paint and power washing the exterior. Instead of over-investing in your home with upgrades that the buyers may change anyway, work with a real estate professional to determine the key projects that will maximize your listing, without overdoing it. 2. Focus on getting a good return on your investment. When planning any bigger projects to tackle, you and your real estate agent will want to discuss the potential return on your investment and if those projects are worth the cost. Some homes do need a kitchen or bathroom renovation, roof repairs, or other major work, but definitely not all of them. You might be surprised by how well your house could fair in today’s sellers’ market. Hanley Wood states: “The 2020 Cost vs. Value report shows a predictable increase in costs for all 22 remodeling projects but a consistent dip in the perceived value of those projects at the time of home sale, as estimated by real-estate professionals in more than 100 metro areas across the U.S. This results in a slight downturn on the return on investment for nearly all projects relative to the trends we saw in last year’s report.” Ideally, homeowners getting ready to move should try to avoid over-investing in big renovations if they won’t make that money back when they sell their house. According to the 2020 State of Home Spending report from Home Advisor: “The average household spending on home services rose to $13,138, an increase over last year’s survey results, where homeowners who did projects spent $9,081 on average in 2019.” Before you renovate, contact a local real estate professional to see if it’s the best course of action. You may find out that putting your house on the market as-is will help you sell quickly, and it may result in the best return on your investment. Every home is different, but a conversation with your agent is mission-critical to make sure you make the right moves when selling this season. Bottom Line We’re in a strong sellers’ market, and that means you have the leverage to sell your house on your terms. Let’s connect today to determine if renovating is really the best way to spend your time and money before you sell.