THE MARKET WILL TELL YOU WHAT YOUR HOME IS WORTH

Pricing is critical to selling anything. Simple, right? The market, the intersection of home buyers and sellers, is a reality check.  It considers a multitude of factors beyond the size, location, condition and age of the house to include local economic conditions, the price for which distressed properties are selling and the average value of seller concessions taking place.A lack of buyer traffic through your home may signal that regardless of what the assessor or a now dated appraisal say,  regardless of "special nails" or type of insulation, and regardless of the price for which a similar house across town sold, the value of your home is not what your asking. This is not July 2005, when the market peaked. We are in a buyers market, where interest rates are at a historic low and supply outweighs demand, and just as gravity is a law of physics, the laws of supply and demand will require that you lower your price if you really want to sell. Ask your agent to research the list price to closed sale ratio in your subdivision or within a reasonable radius over the past year and compare your house to those that sold by square footage, tax assessment, features and location. In the current market, correct pricing when the house is first listed is critical because your house will never recapture the attention it gets in the first thirty days on the market.The real estate agents with the Stallings and Smith Group at Russell & Jeffcoat employ the most current tools to correctly price your home and place their listings in view of prospective buyers through internet marketing and social media, as well as traditional signs and print media. We bring buyer and seller together. For more information about real estate in Columbia, Forest Acres, the Northeast and Lake Murray, visit www.stallingsandsmithgroup.com, and please share this post and forward.

CURB APPEAL. THINK OF IT AS OUTDOOR STAGING

You took great care of your house, performed all of the regular maintenance, updated the kitchen and bathrooms with granite and new hardware, refinished the hardwood floors, pulled down tired and dated wallpaper and painted throughout the interior in fresh designer recommended colors. You’ve been keeping up with the real estate market in Columbia, and Forest Acres is a preferred part of town, but, with your home on the market, you’re just not getting the traffic you expected through the house. Step one in preparing your house for sale, getting the Bill and Betty Buyer out of the car and in to the house. It’s called curb appeal. It is the Buyers first impression of your house. Stand out on the street. What do Bill and Betty see? What does the outside say about the inside?

Start with a plan to accent the landscaping and architectural details of your home and know what your budget and your body can handle. Accessorizing for curb appeal should be done as carefully as accessorizing your living room or that hot little cocktail dress.  Get some ideas. Buy a magazine. Home design software can help with planning and can be purchased inexpensively, allowing you to try several new looks for your yard. Simply take a digital picture of your yard, upload it to your computer and explore your options virtually and without the heavy lifting. Map it on paper, then, take a trip to the garden center. They receive shipments of plants according to the season and the climate of your area, and every season offers something with color. Think about window boxes or painting the shutters. Consider yard art, like a sundial, a bird bath, an urn, a chimnea, but don’t buy it if you don’t know where you will put it. The lady with two dozen gnomes in her yard has a dozen cats inside.

The objective is to draw Bill and Betty to the front door, which you may want to repaint, refinish or replace. An elevated mound of dirt, known as a berm, about a foot higher than the grass, filled with seasonal plants and bordered with stone, can be placed and shaped to lead them up the front steps. Borders of stone or other materials add definition to your yard. Berms also are useful in climates where it rains a lot, routing water to benefit other plants and the grass and to avoid drowning parts of the yard where it tends to puddle.

The Buyers may first see your house at night and decide to return during the day. Consider strategically placed lighting. Lighting the canopy of your trees adds intrigue and is simple to do. Walkway lighting can be hardwired or powered with solar panel lights that are much improved over the early models and can be simply stuck in the ground.

Creating curb appeal does not need to be complicated or expensive, and if it gets the Buyers through the front door it will be a sound investment. Now, just hope they can qualify for a mortgage.

Thanks for reading this. Please share and forward it, and visit us at www.StallingsandSmith.com.