Thinking about selling your home? Check out this video! Bart Olszewski, one of the top agents in Queens gives you useful tips on how to make your home stand out. Secrets will be revealed… And if you live in any of the terrific Queens neighborhoods like: Forest Hills, Middle Village, Rego Park, Glendale, Maspeth, Kew Gardens and the list goes on, contact Bart with any questions regarding real estate.
Preparing your Home for Sale
Video Transcript:
Hi, it’s Bart Olszewski. Thank you for choosing to watch this video. Today I want to talk about a subject that I think is important to homeowners who are thinking about selling, and that’s staging – making your home look as nice as it can without spending a ton of money. So let’s get right into it.
Number one thing that I think homeowners need to remember when they’re thinking about fixing up their home and putting it on the market, is to appeal to masses. Meaning what you want to do is make sure your home will appeal to most people, most buyers. So if your going to repaint don’t go crazy with colors, stay neutral.
Another thing that i think is really key is not to go crazy with the finances. Keep it to the cosmetic basically. Don’t spend a whole lot of money on renovations, your not going to get that money back, especially in this market.
One thing that most agents won’t have the balls to talk to you about, is to keep your home clean. Having your home clean is critical. Ok so any shiny surfaces like walls, like mirrors, like windows obviously need to be cleaned. Also smells; getting rid of pet smells. If you have pets, ask somebody who doesn’t stay with you, who doesn’t live in the house to give you their opinion whether these smells are something that could turn off potential buyers. Smokers same thing, make sure you don’t smoke in the house if you’re thinking about selling.
So the next thing is you want to kind of create warm lived in spaces, depersonalize a little bit, it’s your home I know, you still have to be comfortable and you have to live there but depersonalize a little bit. If you have hundreds of pictures of your grand-kids, get rid of most of them; keep one for yourself and pack all the rest- if you listed with me you’ll be moving soon anyway. What you want to do is create an illusion of space, so everything in your home must earn it’s place. Get rid of things that are old, if anything is older than 10 years and you don’t absolutely need it, think about updating – modernizing – it will make your life that easier and it will make your home look more modern without spending a lot of money; I’m talking about things you will take with you.
The next thing I like to do is create a focal point in your home. So if you can find one place that kinda stands out whatever it is about your home that you think is the best, that you love the most. It could be the backyard it could be the garage it could be the basement, could be your living room (maybe you have a fireplace?) and work on that; make that really really stand out. Make buyers fall in love with that, with the idea of spending time there.
Next is balance. Balance is really important and I’m talking about furniture. If you have a dining room for example, and you have a small table in a big dining room, you know it’s not going to look right. Similarly if you have a big table in a small dining room you know it’s going to look silly and it’s going to make that room look even smaller. So right size, right positioning, right placement is key. One thing that a lot of sellers neglect is turning the lights on, even if it’s daytime and you know buyers are going to come to your home, turn all your lights on. It’s going to make your home look at lot more appealing, warmer, more inviting. If you have lights outside turn those on before the buyers walk in; that first impression is key. Give them that curb appeal and warmth. There are different types of lighting, you have natural light like daytime – definitely open up the curtains. Then you have general lighting, which is your regular lights overhead, you have spotlights maybe over a painting or a picture, task light underneath a microwave; if you have a light turn that on.
It’s those little things that will make a really nice impression on buyers. And that is one thing I definitely want to mention to you is a little bit of a secret most buyers and most agents won’t tell you this- but when a buyer walks into your home, they’re actually looking for excuses NOT to buy your house. So don’t give them any excuses not to buy, make your home as good as it could me. If you are thinking about selling your home in Middle Village, Forest Hills, Rego Park, Maspeth, Glendale, Kew Gardens or anywhere else in Queens or if you have any questions please email me at [email protected] or give me a call at 9174494101. I’d love to help, looking forward to hearing from you. Have a great day!
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