Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hey everybody.
This is Michelle and this isJulie.
Welcome to a blonde, a brunetteand a mic podcast.
What is our podcast all about,you ask?
Speaker 2 (00:11):
Well, we're 250
something, women with life
experience and oh, plenty to saywhich is exactly what we're
going to do right now.
Hey, today we are going to talkabout a very appropriate topic
(00:46):
for this time of the year.
Speaker 1 (00:47):
Jules is actually
really I like to call her a guru
in.
She doesn't really probablytake that title on, but she
knows her stuff when it comes toreal estate and, as you all
know, it's been such afluctuating market over the last
couple of years.
I've watched her go up and godown and she has been on a ride,
(01:09):
so we get to have her expertiseright now in regard to the real
estate market and what some ofthe things are that should be
done by the seller, and Isuppose I don't even know.
It's kind of foreign to me,julie, is it?
I always hear these terms.
Let me enlighten you.
Yeah, is it a buyer's marketright now?
(01:32):
Is it a seller's market?
What is it right now?
Speaker 2 (01:34):
It's very much a
seller's market.
Seller's market, very much aseller's market.
Speaker 1 (01:37):
So what we're going
to talk about today, then, is
going to be very helpful forthose looking to put their homes
on the market.
Correct.
Speaker 2 (01:50):
Yes, that's correct.
So just to give you guys alittle background, we don't
really talk about real estate onthis podcast because that's not
really what it was designed for.
That is my area of expertise,that's what I do for a living
and I love it, and I just wouldlove to impart some knowledge to
all of you as we go into thespring season, because it
doesn't matter really where youlive anywhere in the country.
If you have a home that you'repreparing to sell and you're
(02:11):
going into this spring market,there's definitely things that
you want to consider so you canactually present your home in
the best possible light and getthe maximum amount of revenue or
return on your investment.
And so, of course, plenty ofyou probably have realtors out
there that can go through someof these things with you.
But, as I always say, it'swonderful to be very well
(02:33):
prepared and know what you'retalking about when you walk into
something that's kind offoreign to you.
So the research, listening tothis podcast, those sorts of
things will help you to be asprepared as possible as a seller
Love that.
One thing that I, you know, onething I've definitely noticed is
when, especially when, peopleare just entering that market or
just starting to think aboutmaybe downsizing or wanting to
(02:55):
move to a different climate orthings like that.
They haven't been in thehousing market for a long time,
and so things have changed sodramatically.
Probably you know from whenthey maybe had purchased their
house 20 years ago, and so theeducation process is different
today than it would have beenthen, because, after the
meltdown that took place back in2008, 2007 timeframe, which was
(03:19):
predominantly related to thehousing market people were
losing their homes and they werereally not understanding the
ramifications of some of thelarger issues that were taking
place in our country at the time, and so they've been building
their equity back up in theirhome and in different parts of
the country.
(03:39):
This has happened on a doubledigit increase level year over
year for quite some time now.
We are one of those markets inthe Northwest, and specifically
in Seattle, which is kind ofdirectly related to, in my
opinion, the tech boom that hastaken place here, because the
plethora of individuals who havemoved over to this side of the
(04:02):
country have done so for jobsand has.
This has dramatically affectedour not our interest rates, but
it's affected our housingability in terms of the amount
of inventory that's available,the need for more housing, more
density in the city, because weare kind of waterlocked and so
(04:25):
people are now starting to moveway further north or way further
south or way further east ofthe city because that's what
they can afford.
So when you're looking at ahome in the Seattle area, for
example, you know a little twobedroom, one bath home can be.
You know and need work can belisted six $700,000.
Speaker 1 (04:46):
Oh, I was going to
say 1.5 million, or 1.5 million,
yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2 (04:53):
I have a.
I have a listing right now inSeattle.
It's two homes on one lot andlittle homes 700 square feet and
another little one that's 300square feet.
And they have.
They are listed at 635 forthese two pieces of property
that were built in 1927.
And they are in the city andthat's part of the issue.
They're right by a lake andeverything.
(05:14):
But I did just receive an offerthat was well above asking on
this, so it just goes to showyou how much a need there is.
So, if you are planning to sellyour home, the timing is pretty
amazing and we're going to justtalk about a few tips that you
can take on in order to prepareyourself for your home sale, to
get the best possible bang foryour buck, love it.
(05:36):
So let's start.
Yeah, let's start with.
Let's say, you've got a homethat you've been living in for a
long time and you've got familypictures up.
And you've got a home thatyou've been living in for a long
time and you've got familypictures up, and you've got
furniture and the walls haven'tbeen painted in a while.
And there's a lot of differentthings that could potentially be
done to draw interest to yourproperty from potential buyers.
(05:57):
One thing that is reallyimportant to do is to remove a
lot of your personal effectsfrom the home, and when we talk
to clients about this, we sayyou know, kind of prepare for
museum quality, you know apresentation, because your home
isn't probably going to feel alot like your personal home when
(06:19):
we are putting it on the market, and there's a lot of reasons
for this, but most specifically,when you have someone walking
into your home.
You really want them toenvision themselves there.
So you want to prevent orprovide more of a neutral
palette in terms of thefurnishings and you know,
lighting and things of thatnature.
So when they walk in they canactually visualize themselves
(06:42):
there, they can visualize theirkids, they can visualize their
furniture.
It's neutral enough to where itdoesn't have your stamp on it
to the same degree as it wouldif we just put it on the market.
Speaker 1 (06:52):
Do you get pushback
from clients?
Do you get pushback on that?
Because I'm sitting herethinking, oh, my home is so
homey, everybody's going to feelcomfortable, they're going to
love it here.
So I would imagine, to acertain degree, you might get a
little pushback on.
Is this really?
Speaker 2 (07:07):
necessary, yeah, and
I think that as over the years
I've learned to kind of takethose cues a little bit better.
There's definitely homes whereto us really it's easier to get
a home prepared if people aren'tliving there.
So, ideally, having your homeon the market when you're living
(07:32):
there is not the best situationbecause you're having to
constantly keep it up, you'reinterrupted constantly, you've
got people in and out of yourhome.
It's not the best scenario, butit's the reality of what people
have to do if they can'tpurchase another home until they
sell a home.
And in this market, a contingentoffer meaning you put an offer
in on a property with thecontingency of selling your home
(07:54):
those types of offers reallyare few and far between, because
there is such a buyer pool andthe interest rates now have, as
everyone knows, gone up over thelast year and a half two years
exponentially.
They've gone up ridiculouslyhigh and the Fed had raised them
several times in a very shortperiod of time, which pretty
(08:15):
much put the housing market to ahalt.
And a lot of folks that hadpurchased their homes prior to
that are sitting on a two and ahalf, two and a quarter three
percent interest rate andthey're like why the heck would
I move?
You know why would I move?
Because I'm going to be payingseven, eight percent somewhere
else.
So I'm not going to really beable to afford the house that I
want because interest is goingto be taking up that increase.
(08:38):
So anyway, yes, pushbackdefinitely, but I think the
explanation of these things kindof helps people understand that
it's not.
It's nothing personal.
It's just presenting a home inthe way that it's going to be a
viable option for other peopleTotally makes sense.
Speaker 1 (08:54):
Neutral palette I
like that term that you used
because when people do come in,they are going to want to
envision their things there andwhat that's going to look and
feel like.
Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2 (09:05):
Yeah, less is more
for sure you know, like things
on the walls.
Just having your home be freshon the inside is really
important.
So when we're talking aboutremoving items, it's not just
photographs or personal effects,things of that nature, it's
also declutteringuttering.
And when we say decluttering,it's not that you have junk in
(09:27):
your house, it's not that youhave an overabundance of things
that, um, you have to walkaround truly tells me that all
the time it's, she's.
She's a little bit of aclutterer.
If we had to, if we had to puther place on the market, she'd
be having a little conversation,you know.
But she knows me so she wouldn.
So she wouldn't get mad.
But yeah, it's taking like toomany things on the shelves.
(09:49):
No-transcript, but it's justkeeping in mind that there's a
(10:16):
lot of different things toremove from your home or to pack
, and I always kind of look atit like you're going to pack
anyway.
Speaker 1 (10:22):
So why not just start
now?
I'd be afraid I'd want to stayafter y'all come in and you make
all these you know, fancycomfortable updates and color
coordinating matching.
I'd be like, huh, maybe I,maybe I don't want to move.
Well, you'll want to moveunless you want to put your
stuff back.
Speaker 2 (10:41):
Yeah, yeah, it
doesn't feel.
That's the thing is.
It really doesn't feel likehome.
So it's.
It's, you know, there's such anemotional connection to our
home and in order to be able tosell it objectively, to get the
most money you can for yourproperty and your investment,
you really have to kind of beable to separate yourself and
have a more objectiveperspective.
(11:02):
And that's really what arealtor does, because we don't
have the same level of you know,we don't have all the memories
there.
We don't have those things.
We know that your home is avery special place and of course
treat everything with respect,but we're able to see things
through a different lens andthat's, you know, kind of what
you hire us for.
So removing clutter is reallyimportant, and that's in every
(11:25):
room that you're able to.
Now people say, well, whatabout my closets?
What about my garage?
What about things like that?
Of course, ideally, all thosethings would be organized right,
but that's not necessarily theway it always is.
And so again, going back to lifeexperiences that people are
having, they might be in themiddle of something that's
really awful.
(11:46):
They might not have thecapacity to deal with things.
You know, you have to kind ofwork around all of that with
people because these are humanbeings trying to do something
that is a really big, big lifedecision, and so I'm not as big
on those sorts of things likethe closets, for example.
It's like if you get to it great, but everybody can open a
(12:06):
closet and see that there'stowels and mine are all shoved
in my closet right now because Idon't probably have enough
space.
So it's the same kind of thing.
So really taking a moreobjective approach to the
decluttering and taking thatguidance is really wonderful
when we have clients that arejust like just tell me what I
need to do it works out great.
(12:29):
So decluttering the interior ofyour home?
I always have been, especiallywhen people haven't done this in
a while.
When you're talking aboutdecluttering, you're talking
about getting rid of thingsYou're like do I need that?
So it's really looking at whatam I keeping, what am I donating
and what am I getting rid of,what's something that doesn't
(12:52):
even have value, that I can getrid of or put on a buy nothing
site or what have you.
So those three categories arethe ones that are good to have
in your mind as you're goingthrough decluttering your home.
And some of this also dependson the amount of time that you
have to get something on themarket.
Speaker 1 (13:06):
I was just going to
say I suppose, if you're in a
bit of a time crunch, I see thatrenting a storage facility that
would be a great option forjust a temporary.
If you're not in the mindset tomake decisions on if you're
keeping something or need to getrid of it and donate it, just
rent a storage facility.
Speaker 2 (13:27):
Yeah, that's a great
alternative and they actually
the ones I love.
You know how like Kleenex is abrand, but it's we say, oh can.
Speaker 1 (13:35):
I get a.
Speaker 2 (13:35):
Kleenex.
Well, I say the same thing withPod, like Pod is a brand, it's
actually a company.
But there's a ton of differentportable storage units,
companies that are out therethat are very competitive in
pricing, that literally deliverthe pod to your door and you
load it up and then they take itand they store it in a secure
(13:57):
place until you're ready to usethat stuff again, which is sweet
, because if you're traveling ormoving to a different area, you
just tell them where to deliverit and it works out great.
That way you can keep a lot ofthe things out of your garage or
you don't have to storeeverything in your garage, you
know, which a lot of people willdo, which is totally fine as
long as things are stackedneatly and you can see that
(14:19):
there's some sense of order toit.
I know people don't want toopen the door to the garage and
see this massive pile of stuffthat was thrown in there, so you
have to really think about thatthrough the lens of a potential
buyer.
So that's how I have done thatbefore myself personally and
it's worked out, I think, reallywell, because I think it just
(14:41):
lowered the stress.
Storage.
The other.
The fourth item is neutralizingthe interior of your home, and
when I say neutralizing, I thinkagain this goes back to the
(15:02):
amount of time and resourcesthat an individual has available
to them.
You know, to fix things up, gotrooms that are painted fuchsia
or painted blue or just thingsthat are not.
They're your taste and they'relovely for you, but they would
really be a turnoff to someoneelse being able to identify if
(15:23):
that area worked well for them.
I'd really encourage you toneutralize the space.
I don't know why, I don't knowwhere fuchsia really came from,
but at times it's fine becauseyou can see where someone has
done something with a, like amedia room for example, that
(15:45):
they watch movies in there.
So the walls are painted blackand they've got big, thick
curtains because you know theydon't want to let the light in.
That's totally appropriate ifyou've got a little girl's room
that is painted with herfavorite stuff.
you know, there's some thingsyou're probably going to leave
and I think it's case by case,but as a general rule, I would
(16:05):
say that you would want to tryto neutralize your space, so
it's hiring a painter or doingit yourself.
You know something like that.
Uh, organizing the closets,pantries, cupboards.
That's another one that we justtalked about a moment ago.
Again, the priority is thespaces that are going to be
immediately visible.
(16:26):
So, depending on time andresources, those are the spaces
I would focus on first, and ifyou are already planning to move
or you already have a placelike, say, you're in new
construction and you know yourhome's going to be closing in
three months, kind of a thingyou can pull a lot of that stuff
out that you don't need andjust store it, because you can
keep the basics you know forwhat you need and then leave the
(16:46):
rest you know for when you move.
So again, time is sometimes anissue with that.
There are resources too, peoplecould use that are they're
helping them to organize, orthere are companies out there
that come in and they do thisfor people who are disabled, or
maybe they're elderly and in awheelchair or really can't reach
(17:09):
high spaces.
You know things like that.
There's totally companies outthere that can help with those
sorts of things.
Speaker 1 (17:17):
I was just going to
say so far you know about a
little more than half of theseand what I'm getting from it.
I've never been a homeowner,I've never sold a home, so I'm
not in the mix of that orhaven't experienced it.
But as I'm listening to thesethings, I totally can see the
correlation with putting thetime and effort into something
(17:39):
to ensure, you know, a bettersuccess rate.
Obviously you know.
Speaker 2 (17:45):
The presentation in
my, in my opinion is is pretty
critical, I think you'll.
any realtor you run into you'regoing to hear the same thing,
unless they're working withproperties that are, you know,
sold as is or they are, you know, not intended to be set up.
There's a lot of properties outthere like that and you'll see
that they're taking pictureswith their iPhones or they're
(18:06):
posting them that way.
It's really more maybe forinvestors, things of that nature
.
So, yeah, putting the time in,I think, makes a big difference,
especially when you've investedso much in your home, even over
the last few years.
If you've invested a lot inyour home, you want to make it
show in the best possible light.
So another thing that is reallyimportant to do is to have
(18:30):
everything clean inside.
So let's say, you have carpetin your home.
Speaker 1 (18:35):
Isn't that kind of a
no-brainer?
Speaker 2 (18:36):
I just went on a
listing appointment.
Yes and no.
I mean people don't wear shoesin the house, People do wear
shoes in the house.
Speaker 1 (18:45):
So it depends, on how
old the carpet is.
Yeah, what people allow, yeah,okay.
Speaker 2 (18:50):
And that might be
something that might be helpful
to invest in prior to listing,because if you have your tired
carpet in there that's been inthere since 1996 or something
yeah, maybe you didn't wear yourshoes in the house, but it
still has wear patterns andthere's probably stains.
If you have pets, that could bean issue.
It could also leave a scent.
There's just a ton of differentreasons why you either have
(19:12):
your carpets cleaned or youreplace the carpet.
So I was telling you I went ona listing appointment this house
.
They've obviously taken reallygood care of their home, but the
carpet is the same carpetthat's been in there for 18
years.
And when you and you look at theprice point that we are going
to try to achieve, which isgoing to be pretty easy, given
(19:32):
the location you want to haveyour home and and move in,
move-in ready condition, readyfor market day one, and one of
those things is having freshcarpet If someone's paying that
much money for a home.
They're not going to want tocome in and replace the carpet,
so it needs to be something kindof neutral, obviously, in color
.
But a lot of people they talkabout what they need to do to
(19:56):
prepare their home and thingsare optional.
There's definitely things thatare optional.
I had someone ask me the otherday.
It's like do I need to updatethe bathrooms and update the
kitchen?
Because those are the areaswhere you're going to get the
biggest bang for your buck interms of return.
I think it's a good idea.
(20:18):
I think it depends on theresources again someone might
have available and how or whatcondition their bathroom is in
how outdated it is, if there'sany leaks that have taken place
that have affected the trim.
you know all those sorts ofthings and I would encourage
people to get them fixed if theycan.
Now updating and putting inthese big fancy you know
backsplashes and all this stuffyou got to be really mindful of
(20:39):
the fact that your taste mightnot be the same as someone
else's.
So that's something to thinkabout when you are making those
adjustments.
If you do and you decide to goall out and make some
adjustments to the kitchen or tothe bathroom, just make sure
anything that you do is veryneutral.
The materials are qualitymaterials and the installation
(21:01):
or the work that's completed isquality work, because there's a
lot of people that can walk inand just throw in some cabinets
and throw in a countertop and itlooks like crap.
Question.
Speaker 1 (21:12):
Do people ever and
this just has to do with what
we're talking about Do peopleever and this just has to do
with what we're talking about dopeople ever opt to take off of
the price, knowing that updatesneed to be made?
Because I'm just sitting herethinking, gosh, I would hate if
I made all these updates andthen somebody just comes in and
(21:32):
you know what I mean destroysthem to your point.
That's a great question Of howtheir tastes are.
Yeah, they have a differentvision.
Speaker 2 (21:42):
So I think when
you're looking at a home and
preparing it to sell, you arewanting to make it, like I said,
market ready day one, but thatdoesn't necessarily mean that
everything is up to date.
You know, it means that it'sclean.
It means that things areorganized and you're pricing a
home at right around that marketvalue.
(22:02):
So you're not going tooverprice it with the hope that
someone will give you an offerthat's lower, or overprice it
with the intention of loweringthe price if you don't get any
offers.
That's like, that's like deathto a listing.
You don't want to do that.
So you know, right now it'slike, you see, that the market,
(22:23):
the the market, has homes goingwithin the first seven days and
when you start factoring in onesthat have been sitting on the
market a little bit longer,which is usually because of
price or you know the marketingof it or there's a lot of
different factors but ultimatelyit ends because of price.
Or you know the marketing of it.
Or there's a lot of differentfactors but ultimately it ends
up being price.
Or there's some funky floorplan.
You know it's under 30 daysthat these homes are getting
(22:45):
under contract.
So I mean, there's something tobe said for just making sure
that you yeah, you're, you'redoing everything that you can to
have it prepared and ready andthat someone can walk, they can
truly move in and be able toactually live there, so your
pipes are in
Speaker 1 (23:02):
good shape and your
furnace is working, which it
wouldn't pass an appraisal if itwasn't working probably anyway
that there's no rats in theattic and that there's no this
happens.
Speaker 2 (23:13):
I mean, it's really,
really, really common.
You know that we have in theNorthwest, that we have organic
growth or mold that's in thecrawl space or the attic,
because the ventilation hasn'tbeen good.
These aren't surprises to me atall.
It happens all the time, but itfreaks people out because they
don't go up in their attic ordown in their call space.
They're not going tonecessarily know until you have
(23:34):
an inspection, which is alwayswhat I recommend doing in
advance of listing, and so youknow what those?
surprises are you know whatyou're dealing with.
There's different schools ofthought on that.
Some people don't think thatthey want to have an inspection
in advance of going on themarket because they are
responsible for disclosinganything that is on that
(23:55):
inspection.
I'm of the school of thoughtthat if you go into your home
sale knowing what the issues are, you can address those issues
in advance and be able tobasically knock them off the
table and then people canutilize that inspection that
seller procured inspection tomake their offer and your offer
(24:17):
goes directly to pending.
You're not put into a pendinginspection status and pulling
yourself off the market.
So I think that's reallyimportant to do so freshly
cleaned carpets and sparklyclean windows.
Yes, yeah, clean windows is abig deal, is a big deal, and
carpets, flooring you knowhaving your flooring done.
(24:39):
Realtors are different all overthe place.
Some provide more resourcesthan others.
There's discount brokerages, ofcourse, that you do more like,
I would say, a la mode but a lacarte.
They might help you withstaging, but it's going to cost
you more.
They might help you withdifferent things, but it's going
to cost you more, that sort ofthing.
I would always talk to yourrealtor about what they feel
(25:02):
needs to be done and you makethat ultimate decision as the
seller.
They're giving you guidancebased on what the market is,
based on what their experienceis, and you know, frankly, it's
like here where we're at.
Some of the things that youwould normally guide somebody to
do you don't necessarily haveto do, Because there's a lot of
homes that are in really goodshape.
(25:23):
They just need updating andthey're still going to fetch the
market value and then some, ifmarketed correctly.
Speaker 1 (25:33):
What about how it
looks from afar?
Is there a term for that inreal estate?
Curb appeal.
Oh curb appeal Okay, tell meabout that.
Speaker 2 (25:43):
I'm huge on curb
appeal.
Well, think about it.
It's like people are wanderingaround, you know, in
neighborhoods, or your neighborsare seeing your home, and how
it's presented from the veryonset, from the outside, is so
critical because someone canmake a judgment on that house
based on what they see on theoutside.
(26:04):
If you see that the trim isn'tpainted or it's chipping, or you
know there's dead flowers onyour porch, you know your grass
has got a bunch of weeds in itand hasn't been cared for.
What's the impression that it'sgoing to be left with them about
how you take care of your house?
True, true.
We're not going to use me as anexample right here, because my
backyard needs some love, butthat's beside the point.
Speaker 1 (26:25):
I use bathrooms in
restaurants.
I do like it tells me whatthey're doing in the kitchen if
the bathroom is neglected.
So I guess and there's thatterm that came to mind as you
were explaining this you neverget a second chance to make a
first impression.
Speaker 2 (26:40):
Right.
So very, very true, just likemeeting someone and how you
present yourself.
Speaker 1 (26:43):
So same thing Makes
sense.
Speaker 2 (26:45):
Yeah, so where
someone walks up to your porch,
is the paint in good shape?
Do you have loose boards?
If you've got, maybe cedar deckor cedar, front porch it's like
is it in good shape.
You want all of those things tobe in really good shape.
Is the screen door?
Is the screen broken?
Are the door handles?
All know the paint's all wornoff of them and they look
(27:10):
terrible those kinds of things.
And then landscaping there's alot you can do with a little bit
of money with landscaping, youknow, with the beds, you know,
having some mulch put down orhaving bark put down in those
beds, having flowers planted, itdoesn't even have to be a lot,
but just bringing color to thefront yard is really critical.
(27:31):
And having your gutters cleanedand everything so pressure
washed, just how your home ispresented on the outside is
really really important, I think.
Yeah, and so some people like togarden.
They can get out there and do alot of that gardening, or you
can just you can hire someone tocome in and say I want to spend
$1,000 and this is what I wantto have done.
(27:52):
Maybe you only do the frontyard, so you've got that curb
appeal in the front, but youknow people can see the backyard
and see what potential it mighthave as long as the grass is
cut you know that sort of thing.
So the ad mentioned about aninspection report and using that
inspection report to create apunch list of items that need to
(28:12):
be addressed on the house.
So that's actually the best way, in my opinion, to go about
doing it.
Like I'll go into a home and Ican uh give feedback and
guidance on specific things withdifferent rooms, but having an
inspector come in and look atthe nuts and bolts of the home,
I think, makes a big difference.
So, as an example, this listingwhere we had an inspector come
(28:35):
in and this lady takes very goodcare of her home as a general
rule she takes very good care ofher home, but she's again not
in the attic, she's not in thecrawl space you know places like
that and so we were able toidentify issues in the attic
area that had to do with thevents in the bathrooms never
having been connected.
Speaker 1 (28:56):
Oh, wow.
Speaker 2 (28:58):
So there's warm air
blowing up into there, and then
thank goodness this place hadbetter ventilation.
But if they didn't haveventilation, we'd be dealing
with mold, but if they didn'thave ventilation, we'd be
dealing with mold, or wediscovered that there was a wet
area on the lower level, kind ofby where the sliding glass
doors were, and so having toinvestigate that before someone
(29:19):
is putting an offer in andfixing that problem is really
important.
Now you still disclose whatthese issues are, of course, but
you disclose them on yourseller disclosure form and
identify that they've been fixedand that's fine.
But you should always be honestand forthcoming with the
information that you find outabout your home that makes sense
.
(29:39):
So yeah, so, completing thosesmall repairs maybe you're handy
and you can do it, or you canhire someone to come in and
punch that list out for you.
But getting all as many ofthose things fixed as possible
and addressing them as fixed onthe inspection report is a
really wonderful way to show abuyer that you've actually gone
(30:01):
in and done the work you know tomake that home ready and
prepared to sell Makes for lessworries, I would imagine.
Speaker 1 (30:06):
I mean, you know,
just taking care of all the
things that we just went over,we should probably recap what
they are right.
Yeah, sure we can recap Innumeric order.
Speaker 2 (30:24):
Yeah that she says In
numeric order yeah, so the
basics for a homeowner.
Again, you'll get a lot ofguidance from your realtor, but
these are just the basics foryou as a homeowner.
So, removing your personaleffects, decluttering the
interior and making it asneutral as you possibly can,
(30:48):
getting those items out of yourhome and either storing them
properly, giving them away tocharity or getting rid of them
all together, you have to kindof be in the right frame of mind
to do that too, I know.
when I have to clean out mycloset, it's like I have to be
in the place where I'm ready topurge things.
Otherwise I'll wear that.
I'll wear that Same thing.
It's the same thing.
It might be with tools, itmight be with boxes.
(31:09):
Who knows Neutralizing theinterior of your home so that
might be paint colors, thatmight be removing some of the
furniture that's in there, andhaving a more neutral view when
you walk in the door.
You walk in the door organizingspaces that are hidden like
closets and pantries, cupboards,things of that nature.
(31:32):
If you have time, I wouldprobably put that far below the
curb appeal.
That would not be the priorityfor me.
I would do curb appeal before.
I would probably do that.
Speaker 1 (31:49):
But again it goes
back to how much time you have
available, Because that willdraw them in.
Totally agree with that Curb apill first.
Speaker 2 (31:53):
You can just when a
house looks fresh and it's on
the market, you're just likeit's just exciting to see.
Maybe that's because of what Ido, I don't know.
I get excited about it Cleaningyour carpets, replacing them
potentially, and cleaning yourwindows and window tracks.
Again, a lot of realtorsprovide that service.
They hire somebody to come inand do that we do that.
(32:14):
So we either do a move out cleanor a list clean for our clients
.
So list clean would be ifthey're still in the home, we
can have someone come in and dowhat I'm talking about here.
It's a little bit morechallenging to do because all of
the personal items are there.
If it were me, I would do amove out clean, and what that is
is, once the folks have movedout of the house, we get it
(32:37):
ready for the next people andhave it presented in a way to
where they're excited to bethere.
We don't leave the dogs lickson the windows.
We don't.
We make it we that home's goingto look good and be presented
well for the next person, whichis a direct reflection on that
homeowner and, frankly, on ustoo.
So it's that's very importantthing to do.
(32:58):
Curb appeal, as we mentioned,big and going into spring there
are so many opportunities to putout pretty flowers, yeah, yeah,
and don't worry about the grassso much.
I mean parts of the country.
The grass is dead.
You know, I've seen realtorslike paint the grass and things
yeah.
For picture.
Sure, yeah, there's actuallylike a service out there that
(33:18):
does that in some of theclimates that are really hot.
Speaker 1 (33:21):
I don't know how I'd
feel about that.
Speaker 2 (33:23):
Yeah, no-transcript.
(33:54):
Or you know, you identify thatyour furnace needs to be
serviced, or your AC unit needsto be serviced, or there's a
leak in a pipe somewhere youwant to fix all that stuff you
know, or, if you don't fix itall, you're going to be able to
show clearly to someone thatthese are issues that still need
to be addressed, right, youknow so it's out there and
(34:17):
someone knows kind of whatthey're getting into.
And I like the idea of goingstraight to pending and not
being in a pending inspectionstatus because every day that
listing is out there and you arenot sold the listing gets stale
.
And when the market moves asquickly as our market moves,
your listing is stale.
(34:37):
In 10 days, 20 days, it doesn'ttake long and then everybody
goes oh my gosh, what's wrongwith that house?
Usually it has to do withpricing.
I don't ever look at, oh,what's wrong with that house, I
just look at, oh, they're wayoverpriced.
Speaker 1 (34:49):
You can tell when
something's way overpriced.
Speaker 2 (34:52):
So so those are
nutshell items people to prepare
yourself and and get your homeready to sell and get the most
return on your investment.
I encourage you to take a lookat all this stuff and, if you're
getting ready to do that, youknow, get in there and see what
you can do to get your homeprepared.
Of course, we're alwaysavailable.
(35:14):
I'm available if you have anyquestions, but that's really not
what this was about, and Ireally wish everybody all the
best, super helpful.
Speaker 1 (35:21):
Thanks for sharing
that, julie, yeah my pleasure,
my pleasure.
For many folks out there, I amsure.
Speaker 2 (35:30):
So, yes, when you get
ready to buy and sell your home
, michelle.
I'll be here to help you.
You'll be my realtor, you knowit.
Speaker 1 (35:37):
Yes, I'm sure I will.
Speaker 2 (35:39):
Well, on that note,
everyone, thank you so much for
tuning in.
We hope you learned somethingtoday and that you're able to
take some of this informationand apply it to your situation.
Speaker 1 (35:49):
And make sure to
download the episode for
reference.
It's a great way to do it, yeah, so yep, until next time.
Download and follow like shareand follow.
Share it with your friends Ifyou know, somebody that's
getting ready to sell.
Uh, this is great informationto share, so do that too,
definitely.
Speaker 2 (36:07):
All right, until next
week.
Peace out, peace out.
Speaker 1 (36:11):
Bye everybody, Bye
everyone, Bye.