6 things to do before putting your home up for sale (Part 4) - by JENNIFER V.
Here is the last part of the 6 things to do before putting your home up for sale:
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Pre-inspect your home
Everyone knows that the buyer will bring in an inspector to take a thorough look at the home, but many sellers are also doing it themselves. The idea behind a seller's inspection is not to hide anything but to head off potential deal killers.
"You want to correct and address any major issues so they don't create a problem," said Craig Sharf, owner of HomeTeam Inspection Service in Closter. He said he has been seeing more preinspection work, "but not enough."
"It's funny because it's like getting the answers to a test beforehand," he said. "It's finding out what to do to make your buyer happy from the beginning."
Sharf said a preinspection can cost $375 to $500. Not long ago he said he did a job in Tenafly where the sellers were shocked to find water in the crawl space of the home they had lived in for 25 years.
"They had no idea it was there," Sharf said. "I'm sure it would have frightened away some buyers."
Instead, the sellers had a new drainage system and pump installed.
Sharf said a preinspection can also head off other problems. Say you know you have some problems with your deck. With a preinspection you can get repair estimates.
"That way you know it's a $700 repair and if a prospective buyer says, 'Oh we need $10,000 to fix that deck,' you can say that you have an estimate already," he said. "Knowledge is always power."
Hire another professional
In addition to a real estate agent, today's seller should also consider what other professionals to hire. Whether you pay for it directly, or whether it's considered part of the services provided by your agent, a stager is a must for many sellers.
Karen Parziale, owner of The Real Estate Staging Studio, said that beyond staging, she is getting more requests for organizing and decluttering.
"People say, 'I want you to help me stage, but first I need help to figure out what is going to stay and what is going to go,' " she said. "It helps the seller to prepare to move for sale energetically."
Parziale said that for about $400 she can do a five-hour walk through of the home to give tips on what needs to be done to get the home to sell.
Other options are a housekeeping service, a landscaper or a handyman to make small repairs.
Work the Web
Susan Laskin, a sales associate at Coldwell Banker in Hillsdale, said one of the keys that sellers should focus on is how the agent plans to market the property on the Internet.
She uploads videos to YouTube and on her blog and to other general real estate blogs and websites.
"You want to get as much Internet exposure as you can," she said.
Many real estate companies have their own YouTube channel or Facebook page. Search "Bergen Countyreal estate for sale," on YouTube and you can come up with more than 500 hits. Facebook has more than a dozen hits for real estate in Passaic and Bergen counties.
"You never know where the buyers are looking," she said, "but you know they are looking on the Web."
You can read the entire article here and don't hesitate to let us know how we can help you.
-Daniel Barli, Esq.
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