sjrealestateblog.com

I know you have seen the signs around your town, on tv and all over the internet!  So who are these guys and how do they do it?

I ran a Google search for "Ugly Homes" to see what I would pull up, I was surprised to see how many sites have these key words:

Wow!  521,000

So my question to you is have you or anyone you know used a company like this and, 

 if so what was your experience?

Did they give you your price?

Did they make arrangments for closing, getting payoffs etc?

Did they complete and inspections (termite, radon, well, septic, home inspections?

How quick did they close?

I look forward to your responses!

So you want to sell your home, but you are not sure if you can do it yourself.

Here are a few questions that you need to ask yourself, then you be the judge:

1. Am I educated about the inventory of homes in my neighborhood, so that I can price my home correctly?
2. Can I properly advertise my home to over 32,000 Realtors and 100,000's of potential buyers?
3. Do I know a sign maker, what should I put on my sign?
4. When can I be available for showing my property?  How many calls should I expect a day, week, month? 
5. When someone comes through my house, how do I know they are qualified to buy it?  Do they have a pre-qualification letter?
6. If they want to buy it and we can agree on a price (my price) I will need to have them sign a contract.  Where will I get it?  Should I use a lawyer? What is the going rate for that?
7. When should I expect them to be able to settle on the home, 1 month, 3 months?
8. Ok, so they signed the contract, now what do I do (besides pack)?
9. They want to have a home inspection, what does that mean?  What am I expected to do if they find any deficiencies?  How much is that going to cost?
10. What is a Certificate of Occupancy, ad why do I need it?
11. How do I get the money to my mortgage company after we settle to pay off my mortgage?
12. Do I prepare the Deed or do they?
13. Do I know where I am going once my house is sold?

Ok, so if you were not sure how to answer even 1 of these questions, YOU NEED A REALTOR!

These, very basic, 13+ questions have simply touched on the many steps that are taken to get a property sold in today's market or any other for that matter. 

With the abundance of homes on the market today, you need as much exposure as possible.  Unless you have an extra large budget for marketing your home, in newspapers, online, to each individual Real Estate office, each Realtor, and every person who is searching for a home not to mention spend hours and hours doing it, YOU NEED A REALTOR!

BUT, if you would like to try it on your own first, I would love to help you out!  Invite me in to give you some tips on how we do it.  After all it's free of charge!

Need a Comparative Market Analysis of your home?  Call me!

Need an Open House sign in sheet?  (You will be holding open houses, right?) Call me!

I would love to help you out, keep in mind though that homes sold by a Realtor, sell at an average of 16% more than homes sold by owner!

So, when you are ready to make a move, I am ready to help!

You may or may not have noticed that there are a lot less balloons blowing in the wind on any given Saturday or Sunday between 1 and 4 pm. 

Don't fear - the Open Houses are STILL HERE!

I passed by an open house this weekend that had a flag on the sign that read "OPEN".  Very smart, very economical, very environmentally conscious!

I personally have purchased one of the newest (I think) forms of advertising my open houses.  It's called Simuloon.  They enable me to reuse them and aslo put them out a few days before the open house for additional advertising!

So the next time you see these balloons stuck to my open house sign, stop in and say hello!

Intersted in purchasing these for your business?  Check out their website by clicking on the picture above!

or follow this link http://www.simuloon.com/gogreen.htm

Enjoy!

Bridget Cella

Weichert Realtors, Washington Twp

609-352-1667 cell

www.sjrealestateonline.com

Has your home been on the market for longer than expected?

Have you had a lot of showings but no offers?

Maybe your home is in need of a face lift!  There must be a reason that someone viewed your home but didn't make an offer. 

First, your home must be priced in the market for the size and location of the home for an agent to have teken the time to show the listing.  Unfortunately, with so many homes on the market today, your home must be as close to perfection as your budget will allow. 

Consider making some little changes or some BIG changes, if that's what's needed.

Start by:

1. Reducing the clutter - give things to good will, it will make you feel good!
2. Depersonalize - take down all of those family photos.  Some buyers have a difficult time visualizing their family in the space when they can't get away from yours.
3. Clean - make sure that the floors are spic and span and the toilets are shiny.  Make the kids keep their rooms straightened.  Keep your countertops clean.
4. Open the shades - allow as mych natural light into the home as possible. PS - thi smay mean that you need to clean those windows too!
5. Neutralize - if you have bright orange walls - paint them a beige or white.  This can be very distracting the the buyer.
6. Detatch yourself - once you decide to sell your home it becomes a "house" you have to start to look at it from a buyers point of view!

If that doesn't work, it may be time to bring in the big dogs:

1. Curb Appeal - although this may easily be done on your own, hiring a professional landscaper to add some hardscaping to the home will be well worth the money.  If you can't get them through the front door you can't expect them to make an offer.
2. Is your house turning green - if you have plenty of green mold or dirt they potential buyers are going to think that you don't keep the inside clean either.  Do yourself a fovor get the house power washed.  (PS - my husband owns his own company www.chrispressurewash.com if you are interested in a FREE estimate.
3. Home Stagers - this may be the best idea yet.  These professionals can come in and give you their unbiased opinion of what you need to do to sell your home.  This can sometimes be expensive if you do implement the plan but I van almost guarantee that you will recoup the money at settlment, yeah you will most likely sell your home!  Can you believe it? 

If you have questions or concerns, call your agent!  If you don't have an agent call me and I will find you one!

Contact me at bridget@sjrealestateonline.com or 609-352-1667

Good luck!

Bridget Cella