Home Preparation Tips for Sellers

To start with, you need to begin separating yourself emotionally from any personal feelings you have about the house. It is no longer your home, it is a commodity that you want to sell. Evaluate your home. Try to see it as if you were seeing it for the first time. If you were considering buying a home, consider what you might think of when seeing this house. What are the home’s best features? How can you make these features stand out? What improvements or changes would be needed immediately? This brainstorming session will help you know where to start in order to prepare your home for sale.

Make it Spacious

Consider what you can do to make the house seem more spacious. You can start by finding a temporary storage unit or an out of the way location to store any items. Then begin moving excess furniture to make the rooms seem bigger. Clean and organize your closets, getting rid of anything possible to help make the closet size appear large. Do your best to get rid of clutter in every part of the house. Study the house and brainstorm with friends or family members to come up with ideas.

Pack It Up

Pack up as much as you can of large, personal items or collections… otherwise the buyer will become more interested in looking at those and forget to look at the house. Also, pack away family photos or anything not on the walls. The buyers should be able to imagine their own possessions in your home. If the buyers start discussing how their furniture might fit into your home, then you may be on your way to a contract!

Find and Emphasize Features

Every home has specific features that make it special. Find the features in your home and emphasize them. Try moving heavy drapes if they block your great view. Those hardwood floors are excellent, but you may want to remove the rugs to give a better view. Clear off the tops of your kitchen cabinets so the vaulted ceilings appear higher, and remember to dust as well.

Add Some Life

Living plants, not artificial, make any home come to life. Consider staging plants throughout the house.

Updating

How about fresh paint. Are walls in the house dingy? Are the colors dated? Should you clean curtains or other window ornaments? Look around and see if everything is up to date, especially if your home is older. Try washing walls, or even painting them. Pick new, neutral colors. If anything else needs to be cleaned, like curtains or blinds, do that as well.

Create a Mood

It’s possible to create a mood, even if you’re not going to be there for the showing. Bake some bread and place a fresh loaf in a basket on the table. It will not only look inviting, the house will smell like freshly baked bread! Depending on where you live, you might want a little music playing softly in the background. If you live near the beach, play something calming. If you live in the mountains, consider some folk music. Whatever you pick, be sure it’s something many people might enjoy as your taste in music might be very different than the buyers.

Curb Appeal is Essential

We mentioned keeping the lawn nicely trimmed, but how about adding other elements to grab a buyer’s attention before they walk in the door? Try to think of any other elements that might grab a buyers attention as they approach your home. Sweep your driveway, especially after mowing the lawn. Wash the outside of the home or sidewalks if needed. Enhance landscaping if it might help the appeal. Find an attractive set of fixtures for the outside lighting, or line the driveway with solar lights. This makes the home especially attractive for buyers doing evening drive-bys. Although every house is different, if you take the time to prepare your house to look it’s best, you may be setting your house apart from others. You might sell faster and for a better price then you’d even hoped. Overall, if buyers have a great impression of the home, they may be more willing to let minor repairs slip by without concern. They’ll feel better about the overall maintenance of the home, and may even fall in love with the house as soon as they see it. Although every house is different, if you take the time to prepare the house to its best look, potential buyers will be pleased with the results

A home is the most expensive thing that most of us will ever buy and we all want to be certain that we've purchased the right one. You loved your future home when you signed the contract to purchase it, but a few days have passed and now you are wondering if you made the right decision. You can't help thinking maybe you acted too quickly, or a better house might come along. You're wondering if you've agreed to pay too much for the house or questioning how you'll make your house payments if you run into financial troubles. Dozens of questions start running through your mind. The bad news is these questions probably won't be answered until you have actually become the owner of the home. However, unless there is a real reason for your concern, you are probably just suffering from home buyer's remorse. Here are some suggestions on how to get through the rough spots:

Find Your Wants and Needs List

Hopefully you created some sort of list of your wants or needs before purchasing the home. Find it, review your notes, and remind yourself that this really is what you were looking for. Ask yourself:

• Are the important things from my list included in the home?
• Think of other houses you walked through. What was it that made this house different than the others? There was a reason you picked this house to bid on.
• Were this particular house a rarity or were there several other houses that met your needs? Why did you pick this one?
• If you found a way to back out of the contract, do you realistically think you will find a better house?
• There was something about this house just a few days ago that made it different, made it special. Have any of those things changed? If so, what changed and how?

Once you work through the facts, as well as sort out your feelings, you may find that you would be nervous moving forward on any house. However it is possible that you've made a poor choice and you can talk to your agent, your lender or sometimes even the seller in order to work through those concerns or find a way out, if necessary. Keep in mind that sometimes we start talking to others about the new house and it is only then that we start feeling remorseful. Below are some scenarios that bring on buyer's remorse, and maybe knowing them and being aware of them can help you avoid this happening to you.

Discussions with family and friends

Families mean well, but often family and friends tend to question our choices and even what we paid for, especially if this is a first home purchase and they think they are old pros. Think about though, it may have been years since they were in the market, bought a home themselves or even considered current prices. It's likely they are out of touch. And what if they live in a totally different area than you, an area where housing might cost quite a bit different than what is expected in your location. Also keep in mind that many parents don't think anything is good enough for their offspring. Although families mean well, don't let their ideas, thoughts or suggestions sway you. Trust your own decision.

Continuing to Look

Stop. Once you've found a house you like, stop looking at others. Even if you feel the contract has a good change of falling through, try to have some patience. Once you've found a home you like enough to offer a contract on, don't let yourself fall into the trap of always looking for something a tiny bit better. Trust your decision.

Unguided by Agents

If you are working with an agent, then their job is to help you. Contact your agent and anyone else involved in closing whenever you have doubts or questions. Some agents only guide their buyers to closing, rather than through closing. If your agent isn't around to answer questions or assure you that what you are feeling is normal, doubts and questions begin to arise. Doubts can lead to panic and panic can lead to buyer's remorse. Be sure your agent is helping you with what you need or find another agent. Click Here to contact your agent.

Doubting Yourself

Because there are no certainties in life, sometimes we think about the negative rather than looking at the positive. Every time you find yourself starting to dwell on what could go wrong, allow yourself to think of the reasons that prompted you in the first place. Trust yourself.

When Your Concerns are Valid

There are times that purchases should come to a halt. Be sure that the conditions of your contract allow you to back out with no penalties if:

• You cannot get financing.
• The house does not appraise at a price at or above the contract sales price.
• The home inspections uncover more repair issues than you are willing to take on.
• The property boundary lines are not as represented by the seller.
• A title search uncovers undisclosed easements that give someone else the right to use the property.
• The title search uncovers undisclosed liens that won't be satisfied at closing.
• There are problems with the property's deed. For instance, the wife of a former owner never released her rights to the property.

Time-Shares and Condos

Many states give buyers the right to cancel a contract if they have a change of heart after signing a purchase contract with the original developer-these same laws don't usually cover resale units. Check your states laws to see what options you have. Prepare Yourself in Advance Possibly the best thing you can do is to realize that home buyer's remorse is common. Understanding how and why buyer's remorse occurs can help you work through it if it happens to you.

It might surprise a first time home buyer that they aren't the only ones who feel confused about the whole home buying process. Almost all home buyers feel the same way, even those who have purchased a home before. It's easy to forget some or all of the home buying steps you've followed in the past. Here are some tips on how to begin:

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Educate Yourself

You may have relatives or friends who live in another state or area. They might have some good advice for you, but chances are that the home buying process varies greatly in different areas, so do not make the mistake of relying solely on their advice. Educate yourself about the home buying customs where you want to live. You can talk to realtors, mortgage brokers, loan officers, or even friends who've recently moved into your area. Also the public library might be a good resource.

How to Get Educated

Approach a real estate agent by explaining that you do not want to enter into an agreement for representation at the current time. However, find out if they will talk to you about a typical home buying scenario. Any agent that won't take a few moments of time to help you understand home buying, probably, isn't an agent that you want to work with. If you have to make several calls to find someone willing to help you, it will be worth the effort. If you aren't comfortable talking to a real estate agent, you can always try a mortgage broker or a loan officer. Everyone will have a different perspective of the process but all should be able to give you a basic overview or understanding of the home buying process.

Questions to Ask An Agent

Once you find answers to these questions, you'll have a much better idea of the basic home buying customs in your area.

• If I decide to work with an agent, once I've decided to purchase a home, will the agent help me compose my offer? If not, who would be willing to help? (Lawyer, Broker, etc.)
  Some agents use fill-in-the-blank forms and if so, ask for a sample to take home and study and possibly use for ideas to create your own.
• Will an agent give me a sample copy of typical disclosures? What kind of disclosures are sellers required to give to their buyers? Does it differ by city or area?
• Is a home inspection standard in the area? Are there other types of inspections recommended? How much does an inspection usually cost, and who pays the cost, buyer or seller? When is the inspection usually done, before or after an offer or closing?
• Is a survey of the property required, and if so, who pays for it, the buyer or the seller?
• If I want to be sure the deed to the title is problem free, do I need to contact a title company? Does someone else do this for me? What is the average cost for this service?
• Who acts as settlement agent, the person who puts together final paperwork for you to sign? (attorney, title company personnel, real estate broker, other)? Who will put together final paperwork for signing (otherwise known as settlement agent)? Several options could include title company, real estate broker, attorney, etc.
• Other than loan costs, what's the average total cost for other closing fees? What is the average total cost of closing fees, other than the cost of the loan? What is included in these fees, such as taxes, agency fees, etc.?
• Once my offer has been accepted, how long does it normally take to close on a home? What might hold closing up or make it difficult?
• What can I, as the buyer, do to ensure things go smoothly?

Stay Calm

It is very likely that you will hit a few snags on the way to closing - most people do. However, if you keep your head clear, you will be able to work with the right people to resolve any issues that pop up and the transaction will end up smoothly. There are many details to keep track of, so remember not to over react if something goes wrong, and every problem has a solution.

Now Begin

Now that you've reviewed this section, your next steps are the same as they would be for every home buyer. Relax, take a few deep breaths and then begin! Dig into the details and simply start the home buying process. If you allow yourself to enjoy it, the whole experience can be fun!