Where to Begin when Selling your Home
So you’re ready to sell? Maybe the house is too small, large or just not what you want. The problem is not with your home, but it just doesn’t fit your family anymore. Something attracted you to it initially, and that something could be just what another family is looking for. But you need to look at your home new as if you were buying it all over again.
Sprucing up the house will leave a great impression on potential buyers. You need to grab attention and create excitement about finding a house that looks and feels well-cared for. Buyers know they’ll encounter fewer problems if they buy a cared for home, which will make it more appealing and stand out from the rest of the market. Preparing your home correctly will save you time on the market!
Looks are not the only thing that will draw potential buyers, but a good first impression makes an impact on a number of levels. A buyer considers how a home feels and smells, how their friends and family will react and how they imagine it would be to live there.
Simple improvements through your house can grab the attention of potential buyers. We’ll help you show them why your house is right for them.
Preparing your Home for Sale
First impressions make all the difference on a buyer’s decision-making process!
Home Styling or Staging is not about decorating, but turning your home into a model to de-emphasize its flaws and appeal to the broadest range of prospective buyers. When your home is on the market it becomes a product. You need to highlight the positives and make people feel like they could live there. The best way is to “neutralize” the surroundings.
REALTOR® Magazine Online has provided these helpful styling tips in their article “Setting the Stage” comprised of the best kept secrets from real estate pros and stagers for things you can do at little to no expense to put a home in prime showing shape.
- Clear out closets and clutter—sellers can give away or pack up toys, linens, and small kitchen appliances to store offsite. Buyers are also forgiving of storage boxes neatly tucked away in a garage or basement.
- Focus most on the most visible areas—the foyer, kitchen, living room, master bedroom, and family room.
- De-personalize the home by removing photos, mementos, and dated items.
- Use plants in colorful pots or inexpensive wicker baskets to fill in empty spaces.
- Look to home catalogs for little details on beautifying the home. For instance, group books, pictures, and objects d’art appealingly on bookcases.
- Try angling one or two pieces of furniture slightly and move furniture 4 inches to 6 inches from the wall to create more interesting room spaces.
- Put away large collections— porcelains, plates, and so on.
- Remove valuables, prescription medicine, collectibles, and breakables.
- Trim trees, prune shrubs, and make sure the lawn is mowed and watered regularly.
- In summer, turn on the sprinklers for five minutes, 30 minutes before the open house. It makes the lawn and driveway sparkle.
- Refrain from cooking anything that leaves a distinctive odor, such as fish, garlic, or cabbage.
- Hire a professional service to clean the home, including the carpets and the windows.
- Set the dining room table with attractive linens, dishes, and stemware.
- Arrange fresh or silk flowers throughout the home.
- Light a fire in the fireplace in fall and winter.
- A mirror in a pretty frame can make a small room feel more open.
- Use as much natural light as possible. Add extra lamps in dark rooms or corners.
- Make functional repairs—fix dripping faucets, sticking doors, and broken fences.
- Bring in another pair of eyes—even if it’s not a professional stylist. The person may see problems you and have missed.
To talk about your real estate goals, call or email us today!
helen@helenoliveri.com
847.967.0022
Testimonials
We were so very pleased to have Helen as our selling agent. We were especially impressed by her personal touch and concern for our interest, market in-puts and follow-up, quick turnaround time, and knowledge of the field. You should be proud of what you do as you definitely stand out as a highly qualified real estate agent. We never felt you ever let us down and were always looking out for our best interest.
I feel the weight off my shoulders since this afternoon.It obviously was the right time to leave our home as we have no regrets, only fond memories. You and your team were fabulous and helped me through a challenging time. I would be more than happy to give a referral by phone to prospective clients. Thank you for everything and I wish you continued success as you certainly deserve it.
5 stars across the board. If your looking for a realistate agent that would walk through fire to sell or find your next house The Helen Oliveri Team is the place for you! And they’ll let you use there moving truck for FREE!
We had made the mistake of first signing with another team…..their claims being much the same as yours. What we learned was claims are one thing, but living up to them is another thing altogether. That experience made us even more “gun shy” of your claims of service and attention. You lived up to and went beyond every claim. Your work ethics and attention to detail inspired us to ask if we could put this letter together.
My experience with Helen was excellent and she was very in tune with the market. She is a real professional. Helen’s marketing was tremendous! My overall experience with Helen and her team was just amazing. I have been building for 15 years and without a doubt she and her team is the best. It truly feels like she is on my team. When dealing with Helen you feel like she is only working for you. I would recommend The Helen Oliveri Team to anyone with 100% confidence.
Helen was very service oriented. We enjoyed working with Helen. Helen did her best to sell the house and did. Helen is the expert in the Hawthorn Woods Country Club and we would recommend her to anybody in the neighborhood to sell their home.
I can’t say enough about Helen and her team! We had a full price offer on our home within 4 days of listing and her team spent hours with us searching to find a new home that we loved in short order. We had delays on our sale and very difficult (this may be the understatement of the century) sellers for our new home and she and her team were fabulous. From dealing with low appraisals, to difficult negotiations, to following up hourly (literally) with our buyers’ lender when they had delays, her …
My sale was not your average sale. I had a number of extenuating circumstances that made my deal difficult. Helen dealt with those circumstances and brought the deal to a successful close. I locked myself out of my house on two occasions and Helen’s team was able to “beam” a code to the lock box and on a real time basis get me access. My overall experience with Helen Oliveri and the Helen Oliveri Team was excellent. We sold at 94% of the asking price.
I really did not know Helen and her team too well, because Helen sold my house in a week! The first thing that Helen impressed me is her punctuality. Before I selected Helen as my realtor, I interviewed several others. One of them was 30 minutes late and did not even bother to call me. Helen’s follow-up is excellent. She kept me informed during the whole process and always returned my calls promptly. I would absolutely refer anyone to Helen for her real estate service.
Helen knows the real estate marketplace for our area and priced our home at a competitive price for the home to sell quickly. Any questions that I had during the sales process were answered in a timely manner. We had a number of showings on the property due to signs, and the internet postings that Helen provided. From start to completion of the sale of the home, all of the guesswork was handled by Helen and her team, making the process very easy.