Brooke Rhodes SELLS
REMAX A-1 Realty Inc
Office: 717-432-1436 Direct: 717-443-4500
I'll Help You Relocate - Buy & Sell Your Home or Investment Property

Featured Listings 274 Acres Perry County $1,816,000.00 3.00 Bed/ 2.00 Bath Hunt, Develop or just get away? $496,000.00 Olde Uptown!!! $156,900.00 5.00 Bed/ 2.00 Bath Brooke Rhodes REMAX A-1 Realty, Inc PaHotListings.com 126 W. Harrisburg St Dillsburg, PA 17019 Office: (717) 432-1436 Cell: (717) 443-4500 Pager: (717) 443-4500 IM / Text Me! (717) 443-4500 Upcoming Events Description When: Jun 29, 2008 Where: Harrisburg Harrisburg, PA OPEN HOUSE Price: $164,750.00 SUNDAY 1-3 PM - ALL WELCOME! More Details | Register

Here are some of the reasons homes do not sell:

1.  Clutter and Clean up - Market statistics in Pennsylvania have shown that homes that are clean and decluttered will sell an average of 30% faster.  With so many houses on the market (a high inventory) there are too many choices and a clean, decluttered home will show much better and allow buyers to dream about how they could live in the home.

• Remove all pictures and magnets from your refrigerator. 
• Remove everything you can from kitchen countertops except a bowl of fresh fruit and a couple other items.
• Go through your house and remove clutter from mantel pieces, book shelves, dressers, and other flat surfaces.
• Take down your family pictures. 

These steps will make your home look more spacious and allow buyers to see how they could live in the house and not feel like they are intruding on someone else's house.  If you need help hire a designer or work with an agent who will bring a designer into the house for you.

2. Updating - 90% of buyers want to buy a house that they can move into without having to do a thing.  You may have ideas since you've lived in the house about upgrades that could make the house much better.  Most buyers do not have the ability to look past what is in the house.  Think about what you will be looking for in a new home (granite, wood or tile flooring, new appliances).  Spending a couple thousand dollars could net you 10-15 thousand after its all said and done.
 

What does this mean for you?  First off, fix all those little items that need to be fixed and you've been putting off for years.  These small items will glare out to your buyers and their agents.  If you've got a blue tub and pink tile or linoleum in your bathroom it could be time for an upgrade.  For a few thousand dollars you could make that bathroom a stand out room and increase the price you can get for your home. 

Talk to your Realtor because you don't want to overimprove for your neighborhood.  Some key words in advertising have been proven to sell and it shows what people want.  Granite, Corian, Maple, and state-of-the-art.  PA stats show that the kitchen and master bath are usually the most important rooms in the house, so if you are working with a limited budget, start with improving these rooms.

3.  Marketing your home - Statistics in Pennsylvania show the 82% of buyers are looking on the Internet before they talk to a Realtor, mortgage broker, or anyone else about buying a home.  They also show that 76% of those looking on the Internet start with Realtor.com.  Our stats show a growing popularity in other sites like Trulia.com, yahoorealestate.com, and craigslist.  In our research we have also seen the importance of photos.  Homes with 6 or more photos online will be viewed 20 times more than those with less than 6.  Virtual tours give even more visibility and then your listing being a showcase or featured listing adds significant value for you.  Make sure your Realtor does all those things. 

Real estate sales is a numbers game -- the more people you get to look at your home the higher chance you have of your home being sold.  That means showing to every possible person no matter how inconvenient to you. 
   

Make sure you also have great flyers in your home.  If a buyer looks at 8 homes in a day and is going back through all the flyers late that night, you want yours to stand out from the crowd.  Do bullet points instead of paragraphs.  We all know that info that is short, sweet, and to the point is what keeps people's attention.

4. Pricing - If you've de-cluttered your homes, updated it, and your broker's done everything he or she could to market your home, and it still stay on the market, then the only remaining reason is the price is too high. Lower the price will help your home sell faster.

These few but very important things will make a big difference to you as you put your home up for sale.  Just remember this is a business transaction, and you are packaging a product for someone to buy.  Keep your emotions out of it.  You need to realize this is a slow market, but if priced right, your home will sell. Also, if you have to sell for a lower price than you would like, just remember that the house you are going to buy is probably priced lower, too.