Four Ways You Can Enhance Your Home's Value Before You List It for Sale

Whether you've decided it's time for an upgrade or you're moving on to a new city, if you're selling your home you may be wondering how you can boost its value before listing it up for sale.

In today's blog post we'll share four ways that you can spend a bit of time and money upgrading your home before it hits the local real estate market.

Spruce Up Your Landscaping

You'll want your home to make a great first impression, and as such a great place to start is by sprucing up your lawn, gardens and other landscape features. Your grass should be a healthy green, free of weeds and freshly trimmed.

If you can, look to add seasonal flowers in your front gardens as this can add a bit of color to your home. Keep any shrubs or trees trimmed away from the home so that buyers can get a good look.

Apply A Fresh Coat Of Paint

Another excellent way to increase your home's "curb appeal" is by applying a fresh coat of paint to the house, the trim around the windows and the front door.

Of course, painting a house is a big job so this might be one that is best left to a team of professionals. For added effect, replace the fixtures on the front door and pick up new house numbers.

Upgrade Your Kitchen Appliances

Many buyers will focus intently on your kitchen and the condition of everything from your flooring to your cupboards. If you have an older refrigerator or stove you'll want to replace those with newer stainless-steel models.

You'll also want to ensure that you have quality countertops - if you're replacing them, consider going with granite as it's popular with younger buyers.

Install A New Set Of Bathroom Fixtures

Finally, if you haven't renovated your bathroom recently you'll want to invest in modernizing your faucets, mirrors and other fixtures. The decor of your bathroom should match that in the rest of your home, but also stand out in its own unique way.

If you have an old bathtub with stained porcelain, consider replacing it with a glass-enclosed waterfall shower. Don't forget about your light fixtures; if you find the bathroom is a bit dark, replace these with something that adds brightness.

For more information about the home staging and selling process, contact a local real estate professional today. Real estate agents are your best source for expert advice when selling a home, so don't hesitate to pick up the phone and call if you have questions.

Autumn Home Staging: How to Set Your Home Up to Match the Warm, Rich Colors of Autumn

Can you believe that autumn is already here? Autumn is not only a great time to enjoy some cooler weather, but it is also a perfect time to sell a home. If you want to sell your house this autumn, these home staging tips will have buyers pounding down your door.

Improve Your Curb Appeal

Curb appeal is easily the most important factor when it comes to selling a home, and it is even more important in the autumn. Maintaining great curb appeal can be difficult in autumn because of all the falling leaves.

Raking the leaves and planting some autumn flowers will make your home inviting to buyers. You can even add some pumpkins around the porch, if you desire.

Brighten Up The House

The shorter days of autumn make lighting more important when staging a home, because nobody wants to walk into a dark and depressing house. The best way to brighten up any house is by opening the blinds and turning on every light.

While it may not be great for the electric bill, the extra lighting will help the home sell quicker. You can even place some spotlights on the floor behind furniture to brighten up the darker rooms.

Make It Feel Comfortable

There is something about the cooling weather of autumn that makes people want to stay inside. Showing off how comfortable your home is will definitely pique buyers' interest. A great way to make your home more cozy during a showing is by playing seasonal music and handing out some fresh baked cookies - it adds a personal touch and a subtle sense of coziness.

Accent The Home With Autumn Colors

While it is impossible to change the color scheme of your home to fit the season, you can add some accent colors throughout the house. If you have a neutral colored couch, then you can easily throw some red or orange pillows on it to make it really stand out. Adding some autumn decorations to each room is also a great way to accent your home with autumn colors.

Autumn is an extremely popular time to buy or sell a house, and for good reason. Taking advantage of autumn's vibrant colors when you stage your home will give your house an irresistible appeal. For more information about how to sell your home in the autumn, or if you'd like to list your home for sale, contact an experienced real estate professional today.

Feng Shui 101: How This Ancient Art Can Help Improve Your Home Staging

It's a buyer's market, making home selling a challenge that can range from relatively simple to downright frustrating. Boosting ones' chances of selling their home can be done in a number of ways. One simple way is to utilize the art of Feng Shui - an ancient Chinese practice, used to manipulate the flow of energy in your home.

Feng Shui can be as inexpensive or as costly as you would like. Using what is already on hand is one way to keep it free, but sometimes a simple coating of paint on the front door or a few decorative pieces can make a big difference in the room.

The Entry Way

First impressions are everything, so one of the most important rooms in the home is the one that potential buyers see first. If the entryway is followed by a hallway, making the hallway look as wide as possible is important, as open, spacious rooms have better energy flows. Using a long runner rug is one way to achieve this look, as well as brighter paint colors on the walls.

The Main Living Area

The living area will be one of the main draws to potential buyers. They should be able to envision themselves spending time there, reading a good book or entertaining guests. Upon entering the room, buyers should not be looking at the backside of furniture. The furniture should be outward facing, in an inviting way. A simple table in the middle of the furniture arrangement keeps the flow going, while also allowing for utility and style. A few simple art pieces on the walls or on shelves are a nice addition, as long as the space does not look cluttered or ill-kept.

The Bedrooms

Electronics have a negative effect on energy flows, so keeping electronics out of the bedroom during the staging process is important. The bed should be in full view of the door, but the headboard should not be against the wall that is directly in front of the door. Allow as much natural light into the room as possible.

The Bathroom

In Feng Shui, drains are seen as energetically negative, so toilet seats and shower curtains or doors should remain closed. Again, natural light is important, as well as uncluttered counters. Mirrors should be easily accessible and have a good source of light, preferably natural.

The Kitchen

Many counters and tables are magnets for junk - keeping these spaces clear and free of clutter is essential to a nice energy flow, as well as successful staging. Fresh flowers add a nice touch to the room, and make it seem more open. Yellow is considered good for digestion, so painting the room a nice shade of yellow, or adding touches of yellow here and there can be beneficial.

Home staging is a vital, but sometimes overlooked aspect of house selling. Feng Shui can be a great way to interest more buyers, and sell a home quicker. Energy flow is the basis of Feng Shui, and both natural lighting and arrangement of furniture make a difference in the energy levels of a home. For more information about buying or selling a home, be sure to contact your real estate agent.

Three Easy Ways to Make Your Home More Inviting

Many home owners putting up their home for sale on the market don't have a lot of available cash to spruce it up. While staging houses is a definite plus, it can cost a fair amount of money, as do many of the other suggested "to-dos." Here are a few inexpensive and easy ways to make your home look more inviting to buyers.

Put Up Your Personal Stuff

Not every buyer looking at a home for sale appreciates the fact that someone still lives there. Putting away the your personal things can help the buyers' see themselves in the home.

You will want to put your pet's things (toys, litter box, bowls) away and out of sight. The same goes for your medications, toothbrushes and toilet accessories.

Clean up your kids' rooms and put away any toys around the house. Minimize or put away knick-knacks and personal pictures. Remember that you want the buyer to imagine themselves in the home.

Create More Space

Small, closed-in spaces are major turnoffs for buyers. Create the illusion of more space by putting up out-of-season clothes or clothes you don't wear very often to make your closets look bigger. A good way to make your bedrooms look bigger is by taking one piece of furniture out of each bedroom.

Packing up the small appliances in your kitchen is a great way to make your countertops seem larger. You can also take out all but four chairs in your dining room, as well as extra table leaves to give that illusion of space.

Touch On The Trends

Chances are that some of the buyers are paying attention to celebrity trends. Feng shui is a big one, and you can do your part with just a few touches like adding a fresh bowl of fruit to the kitchen. Put a comfortable couch or chair on the east side of your living room or den. Place a green welcome mat on your porch to symbolize opportunity. Go through your house and get rid of reds.

Whether you see or feel a difference doesn't matter. Keep in mind that you're trying to appeal to potential buyers of your home, not make the home more livable for you. If it helps, pretend that you're the buyer, seeing the house for the first time.

If you're trying to get your home ready to sell, I can help. Get in touch with me for more information.

Staging Your Home For Sale? Follow This Easy Guide And Find Success!

If you are going to be staging your home for sale in the near future, you will most likely want to do it as professionally and successfully as possible to get the best sale price.

Many owners have to put a lot of money into their home before they can sell it, and some even invest in a staging expert to come to their home and do an assessment before they put it on the market.

You don't have to spend too much on getting your home ready, though, and you can do a lot of it yourself. Consider these basic staging tips when you are going to stage your home.

Clean Your Home From Top To Bottom

While you would most likely clean your home before you attempt to sell it, if you really want your sale to be successful, clean every single thing in the home. This includes steam cleaning the carpets, washing and waxing the floors, getting the grout and grunge out of the tiles and more.

If you don't have the time or energy to do it yourself, you might want to pay for a professional home cleaning service so you can guarantee cleanliness.

Give Your Home One Basic Hue

If you are going to be selling your home, there are some colors that may put off potential buyers. If you have rooms in colors like fire engine red or bright mint green, the buyer may be put off with just one glance.

Choose one soft color and paint the whole home. You may require a professional painter's advice and help in this area if you have no eye for design or if you do not possess any color coordination techniques.

Say No To Clutter

This is a very important step. Get rid of the clutter in your home.

If you have loads of newspapers, magazines, mini statues and miscellaneous junk sitting around your home and on coffee tables, clear it off. Put it away in storage boxes so you can take it when you move - or do some spring cleaning and get rid of everything you don't need.

Show as much counter space as you possibly can, as this will better represent the space.

Potential buyers can quickly change their yes to a no when they enter the home that they first adored from the outside, only to see clutter everywhere. Logically, everyone knows a home will be emptied before selling, but the clutter can ruin the whole feeling of purchasing a new home.

Perform Some Minor Repairs

If you notice scratches, rips, blotches or any broken items in the home, try to fix them yourself or hire a professional handyman service. Repairing your home before a sale will definitely improve your home's appearance and value, making it more appealing to the buyer.

Selling a home is often a challenge, but with a little bit of hard work, you can turn your home into a move-in ready paradise for potential buyers.

You'd be surprised what a thorough cleaning and a new coat of paint can do for a space. For expert assistance with home staging, contact a knowledgeable real estate professional near you.

7 Tips To Make Your Living Room More Appealing To Home Buyers

Everyone knows that first impressions are important. By carefully staging your home, you can positively influence the feelings your potential buyers have when they are viewing the property.

Staging is the art of decorating and arranging the spaces within your house to make it more appealing to buyers. If you can adapt the rooms to create an attractive and welcoming zone that home buyers can see themselves in, they will be more likely to buy your property.

One of the most important rooms to stage is the living room, because it is such a central part of the house. This is where a lot of the social activity occurs, so it should appear comfortable and welcoming.

Here are some tips to keep in mind when staging your living room before the next showing of your home:

• Clear out the clutter. The most important step is to de-clutter, because a mess will turn off potential buyers. Clear away any papers, toys and other items to make your living room as clean and minimalist as possible.

• Go zen. The main purpose of a living room is for relaxation, so make the space look as comfortable as possible. Try a soft throw on the sofa, plush cushions and a big chair that is just begging you to come curl up with a book.

• Strategically place furniture. Arrange the living room furniture to create areas of conversation, such as two sofas facing each other with a low coffee table in the middle.

• Depersonalize. Remove your personal items. If you have too many family photos and personal effects in the room, it can make it difficult for your potential buyers to imagine their own family living there.

• Remove the bulk. If your living room feels small, you can remove some of the furniture to give it the illusion of being bigger.

• Channel your green thumb. You might want to consider bringing in some plants to make the space feel fresh.

• Brighten it up. If your living room has dark corners, invest in upright lamps that will help illuminate the space and provide an aura of intimacy.

With these seven tips, the living room in your Burlingame home will be much more appealing to potential buyers.

If you are ready to get your home sold, call your trusted real estate agent for a personal consultation to get the best return on your real estate investment.

7 Tips To Get Your Home In Tip Top Selling Condition

A clean, uncluttered home is very likely the single most important thing to get your home sold quickly and for top dollar.

In fact, a recent survey by HomeGain showed a whopping 568% return on investment for money put toward cleaning and organizing a home for sale!

And other experts say that a well-put-together home can shorten the time on market drastically as well.

Before your real estate agent lists your San Mateo home, it's essential for it to look its best.

7 Tips To Get Your Home In Tip Top Selling Condition

Examine your living space and see it as a buyer would — then double check this list of staging tips to make sure you haven't overlooked these important details.

• Clear out the clutter. Tidy up counter tops, bookcases, garages and closets.

• Pack up your sentimental items. Personal photos and knick-knacks should be boxed up for moving day.

• Get a storage unit. Open up space by moving furniture and boxes into storage -- it will make the rooms appear bigger.

• Remove appliances and fixtures that you want to keep. If you are taking the dining room chandelier or the built-in microwave, remove them before the house goes on the market.

• Make minor repairs. Check that faucets don't leak, doors close properly and holes in the walls are patched.

• Make it pretty! Windows, floors and bathrooms should be sparkling. Dust every surface, hang up fresh towels in the bathroom and make sure there are no lingering odors.

• Don't forget the yard. Curb appeal starts at the curb -- go figure -- so mow the yard, wash down walkways and add some bright flowers near the front door to trigger the emotion to buy.

There are so many different ways to give your home an advantage over the competition in the spring buying market.

Plus, nice looking properties are more appealing for real estate agents to show their clients, so your well-taken-care-of home may get a lot more exposure.

In the end, the better your property looks, the faster it's going to sell...and get you the most for it.

Great Staging Tips To Set A Buyer's Mood At Your Home For Sale

Staging is the art of preparing your Burlingame home for sale before showing it to prospective buyers.

The point of staging is to highlight the house's strengths, downplay its weaknesses and make it more appealing.

With the right decorating techniques, you can win buyers over the moment they step through the door.

Below are a few staging tips to help make your house irresistible to potential buyers.

Put Everything Away

The first step is to put away anything that is not essential. This will open up the house so that it appears more spacious.

Even if you have to rent a storage unit, finding a new home for all of your family's projects and collections should clear some space and help buyers imagine their own belongings in your home for sale.

Pay special attention to entryways and narrow hallways to improve your prospective buyer's sense of spaciousness.

Get Rid Of Clutter

Be sure to clear off the things that gather on kitchen counters and surfaces, such as old magazines and stacks of mail.

Also, emptying out your closets of half of the things inside them will make them look much roomier.

Use this time as an opportunity to thin the number of largely unused items that your family has collected over the years.

And look on the bright side; moving into a new house will be much easier after you have donated your unneeded items to a charity.

Fresh Scents Make Sense

You would be surprised by how much the sense of smell comes into play when buyers are viewing a house.

To avoid turning buyers off with pet or smoke odors, make sure you give each room a deep clean, including the air vents and carpeting.

Just covering up stale odors with air fresheners won't do the job.

Let In The Light

Buyers are looking for spacious rooms with a lot of natural light, so make sure you open the blinds and turn on all the lights.

If you have rooms that are a bit dark, you can add floor lamps to make them brighter or flowers to suggest sunlight.

Home staging can make a big difference in how potential buyers see your home for sale, so make sure you set the mood to make it as attractive as possible.

Simple, Inexpensive Ways To Prep Your Home For Sale

When San Francisco homeowners get ready to list, advice will often come from all corners of their personal and social network -- what within the home to upgrade; what to repair; what to replace.

And, although some advice remains valuable, much of it can be ignored.

The costs of an expensive upgrade are rarely recouped at the time of sale and studies show that smaller, simpler actions can yield a bigger return on your investment of time and money.

Here are four inexpensive, yet highly effective, ways to prepare your home for sale.

Improve the curb appeal
It's not just the inside of your home which should be inviting to buyers -- the outside of your home should be, too. Trim hedges, maintain the lawn, power wash the walls and try to inject some color, where possible. Your yard is your home's first impression on buyers. Make it a great one.

Lighten up the place
Extra sunlight lends an airy feeling to your home, and interior lights provide cozy glow. Therefore, wash your windows, pullback your drapes, replace burnt-out bulbs, and add outdoor lighting to your landscaping, if possible. Also, keep your home lit in the evenings in the event that potential buyers drive by after-hours. With the lights on, your home will look cheery instead of dark and gloomy.

Store unnecessary furniture and personal objects
Less can be more when it comes to showing your home so put your knick-knacks, your stacks of books and your fridge-covering artwork in storage. Be sure to avoid stashing personal items in closets because buyers expect closets to be clutter-free as well.

Paint a pretty home
A new coat of paint will freshen up any room so paint where needed. However, stick to neutrals such as grays and tans. Also, consider repainting rooms bathed in bright, fun colors -- this can divert a buyer's attention away from the home and toward money-costing "projects" that would come with buying the home.

With the help of your REALTOR® and a little hard work, these tips should help you increase your home's appeal to a wide variety of buyers without breaking the bank. It may even help you sell your home more quickly.

How Choosing Kitchen Colors Can Affect Your Eating Habits

Have you ever walked into your kitchen and instantly felt hungry?

Rarely do people think about the colors that they choose to paint their kitchens. They are often too busy worrying about whether the kitchen will match the rest of the home, or whether the colors will be satisfactory to the rest of the household.

However, when painting and decorating your kitchen, you may want to think about the process in a way many people do not -- how the colors you choose will affect the way in which you eat. As behavioral psychologists have documented, the presence of specific colors your the kitchen can change your eating habits and your cravings for food.

Here are some examples :

• The color red increases your appetite. This is why so many restaurants paint their walls red. Although associated with romance and passion, red is also a color which promotes hunger. Furthermore, it has been noted that the color red in your kitchen can influence high blood pressure.
• The color blue is calming, which can slow your eating speed, and prevent you from over-eating. When decorating your kitchen and dining room, therefore, using blue wallpaper or blue paint; and blue placemats, for example, can result in "slower" eating and fewer feelings of fullness.
• The color orange is a "stimulating" color; increasing oxygen supply to the brain and providing a mental boost. An orange-themed kitchen may stimulate your appetite, therefore, and make over-eating more likely.

Then, there is gray. Gray can be an ideal appetite-suppressing color for your kitchen. This is because, psychologically, gray is calming and relaxing, and it neutralizes anxiety. Gray can arrest binge eating and impulsive snacking. It's also a color which home stagers recommend for its neutrality.

Whether you're a home buyer in San Francisco , a home seller, or just getting ready to remodel, consider the influence of colors in your home. They do more than just "match the next room" -- they affect your food and drink cravings as well.