Selling Your Home

Here are the top 10 things that you might not think about (but should) before you get ready to put your house on the market. Make sure that you've cleaned and tidied up before you leave the house in the morning. If you've got showings (or potentially might have showings) getting those crumbs off the counter, making sure all the toilets are flushed, etc. Those little things go a long way into making your home go from really appealing to "ew, you wouldn't believe the house that we saw today". Make sure that you have something to do with your pets when your home is being shown. Don't leave your dog or cat in a space and then expect the buyers to either not be afraid of them or do something with them (don't let the dog out, don't let the cat out, etc). When you ask people to do chores, it becomes less appealing and then they're very distracted thinking "Oh my gosh, am I gonna let the cat out? Did I let the cat out? Where's the cat?" They're not looking at your house, they're looking for your cat because you've told them that that's what they need to do. You don't always have to have your closets impeccably clean, but 110% people will open your closets. So make sure you're getting stuff off the floor, and that the closets are at least well organized and not packed full of stuff. When people see your home packed full of stuff, they immediately think, "Gosh, I have this much stuff and they are bursting at the seams. Where am I going to put my stuff?". That's not what you want buyers thinking when they're looking at your home. Put all your cleaning materials away. When you leave things like sponges, sprays, etc. out it just looks unfinished. Put all your medicines and valuables away, or better yet, take them with you. You don't know who's coming into your house and while nobody's going to be able to come in and tour without having an agent, you don't know who the people are. Your refrigerator. Maybe you're going to take it with you, maybe you want to leave it but people are still going to open it. So if it looks filthy, it's going to give an impression of your whole house. So make sure your fridge is clean and that it doesn't smell because that sort of thing does leave an impression. People are probably going to use your bathroom. It would be great if they didn't, but often they will. If people are looking at four or five houses in a day, they might have to go and if you're trying to sell your house, you don't want them saying "I can't look at this, I have to go to the McDonald's to use the bathroom". You want them to keep looking at your house. Make sure that your front door/entrance area is neat and tidy on the outside.  Have a fresh doormat, make sure there are no cobwebs, etc. Trust me, in the Richmond area, if you walk away after cleaning cobwebs, there's already a spider doing a new cobweb before you come back. So that's something you need to do all the time. It's not a do it before you put your house on the market and then leave it alone. Give it a look every day as long as your home is on the market and make sure that it's swept off and it looks neat. As we always say, you want people to visualize themselves coming into their (future) home, not yours. The more clues that it's yours, the less they're getting attached and engaged with your home and the idea of it being theirs. Keep your grass mowed and lawn care, neat and tidy. It doesn't have to be a fancy European garden-style situation. It just needs to be mowed, trimmed, neat, clean. If you've got a lot of leaves, get them up because nobody wants to look at a house and all they see is work. Because it's all they see is work, they are not buying your house. Get a friend, your realtor, or somebody to come through before you go on the market, as well as periodically while you're on the market, and give it a once over to tell you if you have weird smells. Do you need to freshen something up, clean it up, or straighten it up? Get somebody that has a more objective vision and viewpoint that can give you an honest assessment of how your home shows to people, and make sure that your agent is getting feedback from the people who come to take a look at your house because that's going to make a big difference. The overall impression and the overall way your home appears is what's going to sell or not sell it. If you have any questions about ways to get your particular home ready, or maybe you are just starting to think about getting your home on the market and you want to know what you need to do, give me a call. I'd love to talk to you and help you make that little checklist that's unique to your home and where you want to be.

Did you know that out of all of the agents that are out there licensed, 49% of them have sold one home or none? That's kind of crazy to think about. So if you're thinking about buying or selling a home, and you're thinking about who you want to help you in this process, here are some tips on hiring a realtor. It would be really easy for me to say, if you're there in the metro Richmond area call me, done. But maybe you're in another market. Maybe you want to buy a home in another state. Maybe you live in this area, and you want to move to Oklahoma or somewhere else. What are the things that you want to look for when you're hiring an agent? Number one, see what they've done and what their experience is (which isn't necessarily that they are the top producer, standing in the ad in the magazine saying I've sold over 150 homes this year). Usually those people aren't doing that all themselves and there's a bandwidth situation where you're probably not going to get the attention that you need if an individual is selling 150 homes in a year. Another thing to consider is what you want to look at is communication. How do you want to be communicated with? How do you want to communicate with your agent? How accessible do you want/need them to be? So on and so forth. So make sure that you have somebody that you feel comfortable with and can communicate well with. So if they love texting, and you are a phone call kind of person, make sure that you're on the same page, and that you're going to be able to communicate well with that person throughout the whole process. Buying a home or selling a home can be a very emotional, and very complex, logistically, sort of experience. So you want to make sure you have good open lines of communication. Looking at other things that might be important to you. In an ideal world, how do you build out that perfect agent? Make a list of questions to ask them, like, how many houses have you sold, that are getting multiple offers? How do you handle those multiple offer situations? When you're hiring an agent, picture yourself as really hiring somebody who's going to help you and be on your team. So make sure that the things that are important to you are the questions that you're asking them so that you end up having a great experience. Not to say new or old or whatever the agent's experience is, everybody has a different case and a different scenario that will look perfect for them but don't just hit the first agent you trip over. Because this is an emotional and complex experience, you want to make sure that you have the best one. So if you're looking to buy in the Richmond metro area, I would love to help. Reach out to me and if you want to buy somewhere else, I have great connections with agents all over the country and I'd love to put you in touch with somebody who can get you where you want to be.

"I think I want to sell my house, but I don't feel like doing anything to it. Can I just put a sign in the yard, get it on the market, and be done with this whole thing?" Sometimes when you're a seller, those are the things that come to mind. That's what you really would like to do, right? It's kind of a pain to get your home ready for market. And we're in a seller's market, right? This ought to be easy, your house is pretty nice, just throw a sign in the yard, and let's just get it gone. Before you do that, let's think about the ramifications of putting your home on as is and why you may or may not want to do that. First off, think about the reasons why you might want to put your home on as is. So yeah, that's kind of a pain. But often, people think "I want to go as is", and really, their home doesn't need anything except maybe some paint, some caulk, a little touch-up here and there, it's not that big of a deal. If you don't have time to do some of those things that in a lot of cases can be done by the homeowner, I have a great bunch of resources, handy people and contractors, painters, etc., that can come in and knock those things out in just a couple of days. But let's say it's a financial thing and everything is just a little bit of a bigger deal than the paint, the caulk, and so on. The kitchen is older or whatever. Usually, when you say as is, buyers, especially in this climate of higher interest rates, where buyers are being a little more picky, they're being a little more particular with how they spend their money. When you say as-is people immediately think what's wrong, something's wrong. And it's going to be very expensive for me, and it's going to make them not even come to look at your house. So in most cases, you're going to be better off by just letting it letting it roll. So if you know that you've got some plumbing issues, probably they're going to be, you know, maybe no major, big deal, but it's going to have to be done, you're almost always going to be better off getting someone to do those things before putting your home on the market. Even if you are short on money, and you need to find somebody who's going to let you pay for those things out of the proceeds when you actually sell. But if you do those things ahead of time, then you're going to have a better experience overall. The buyer is going to feel more comfortable purchasing the home and it's going to be a smoother transaction, smoother process, and get it sold faster and usually for more money. So as soon as you say as-is, people immediately think there might be something wrong. But if you just let people have an inspection, remember to disclose if there are actually major issues with your home. If the panel box is sparking, you need to let people know that we are a buyer-beware state, but we do have to disclose material defects or major issues to the home. So if you're aware of them, you have to let people know. And better than letting people know, getting them fixed beforehand. Even if it takes a little bit of money, a little bit of time, a little bit of hassle. Trust me, it'll be worth it in the end. There are certainly cases where selling your home as-is is the way to go. But that's a case-by-case situation. And pricing has a big effect on that too. So if you've just inherited grandma's house, you don't know anything about it. You don't have the time, the bandwidth, the money, the energy to get those things done, as is maybe the way to go, but we're then going to price accordingly. So case by case situation, give me a call, send me a message. Let's set up a time to take a look, talk through it, and see what your options are. If you're in the Richmond metro area, I'd love to help give me a call, and let's get started.

So you're thinking of selling your home, but you don't quite understand how all of this commission conversation, agency conversation that's been in the news is going to affect you when you go to sell your home. Do you still pay a buyer's agent? Do you not pay a buyer's agent? What's the difference? Why should you do one and not the other? What's the benefit? What's the downside, and what the heck does all of it mean? I want to break down some of these conversations that you might be seeing in the news. There is a lot of misinformation out there and I want to make it a little easier for you to understand exactly how it's going to affect you. So if you are getting ready to sell your home, and you are trying to find an agent to help you list your home, get it sold, and get it to closing, you should do all of the same things that you would have ever done, right? You want to make sure that you're comfortable and that you're confident with the person that you're hiring and despite the fact that it is a seller's market, you want to make sure that, that agent is going to not only market your property but make sure it's not one of the 20% of deals that falls apart before it gets to closing. You want to get it to the finish line, right? So you want to make sure that you understand what your agent is going to do and how they're going to do it. Keep in mind that now, as has always been the case, you can negotiate the commission for the listing agent when you hire them. That doesn't mean that every agent is going to work for the price that you want, but you should make sure that whatever price you are paying, you are comfortable that you are getting a great value for that price. And great value does not always mean the cheapest. Great value can often mean I'm paying a little bit more, but I'm getting so much more. It is totally worth it. I saw an agent the other day say working with her was like ordering a 10-piece nugget and getting 11 and that's always my goal, to provide a level of service that goes beyond what you expect. But keep in mind that commission is always negotiable. You can choose whether or not you want to pay a buyer's agent, but if you call me to list your home, I'm going to explain the reasons why you probably do want to pay a buyer's agent. It's just gonna give you that many more buyers. Lots of buyers do not have the cash on hand to pay their agent and you don't want to dismiss them out of hand before they even get in the door of your house. If you have questions about listing your home, you have questions about what it's going to take to get it ready, or you have questions about the commission and how all that is going to break down and how those changes will affect you. Reach out to me give me a call send me an email, shoot me a DM, and let's talk about it and see what's right for you.

If you've been thinking about getting into the real estate market, whether you're thinking of buying or selling, you have probably heard a lot about all of the changes that are coming primarily regarding commissions in the real estate industry. If I talk to five people a day, I get five different opinions on how they perceive those changes to be coming and how they will affect them. So stay tuned here, subscribe to my YouTube channel, sign up for my newsletter, and stay abreast of all of those changes and how they're going to affect you possibly, whether you're buying or selling. As things change, and continue to develop, we're going to get more information and as I have that more information, I'm going to pass it on to you, because I do think agency is one of the most confusing things in this industry. Certainly right now because everybody has a different opinion. There is lots and lots of misinformation out there, unfortunately, so it is super confusing. My goal is to decode a lot of that for you and make it a little easier for you to wrap your brain around whatever side you're on, buying or selling. So if you have any questions about agency and all of what that entails, shoot me a message, send me an email, or give me a call. I'd love to help you unpack all of the information and get to the bottom of how it will affect you.

There are a few reasons why your home might not be selling as quickly as you thought it would or wanted it to. Here are a few of them. Your home isn't easy to show. It doesn't show well. PRICE!! Check out the video above for a deeper explanation of the reasons your home might not be selling. If you have any questions about pricing or getting your home ready to sell, making sure that it moves at the rate that the market is moving, give me a call. I'd love to talk to you walk through and give you some tips on how we can get your home sold for the most amount in the least amount of time with the least hassle for you. Let's talk.

We talk a lot about things that you want to make sure you take away, if you don't want the buyers to have that item, whether it's a chandelier, or a piece of shrubbery, or the tree you planted when your child was born. You want to get those things out of the picture out of the equation before buyers look at it so that they don't get tempted and want those things and it feels like a negative when you remove them. But what we don't talk about as much is what do you leave for the buyers? What are the things that are okay to leave? And what are the things that you really need to move on out of the house. Check out the video above to find out what you should do with the things you don't want to keep before you move out.

If you're selling a home in the state of Virginia, what do you need to disclose? If you have ever sold a home in another state, bought a home in another state, you may be familiar with the copious amounts of paperwork that require you to disclose every little detail about your house, and if you've ever had a problem, if you've never had a problem, or if you don't know. In the state of Virginia, we have a one page document called the residential property disclosure, and it really is just a disclaimer, saying as far as I know, everything's good. But hold on just a second, because if you know of material defects to your home, before you sell it, you do need to disclose those to the buyer. And I know it sounds kind of like a gray area, like what is the material defect anyway, but think about the things that would matter to you if you were buying a home. You don't want to buy a home, only to discover that the basement fills up with water every time it rains. That is something you need to disclose. You don't want to buy a home and find out that every time you turn the lights on in the family room, the electrical panel arcs. Those are major issues. They are material defects that need to be fixed or repaired. So you do need to disclose those or better yet, just fix them before you go on the market. Remember, whether you're buying or selling in the state of Virginia, inspections are the buyers responsibility and I always use this as a as a good example of why this rule works. The little old couple that has lived in the house for 40 years, they may never take a bath. They each take one shower a day they sell the home, they think everything is fine. The family moves in with four kids back to back to back to back baths and the bathtub leaks. Well, the little old couple had no idea because they never used the house in that way. So this is why I like our rules better than the rules in some other states. But being aware of what you're purchasing, being aware of what you're selling goes a long way to making a successful transaction. If you have questions about what's a material defect? What do I need to disclose when I'm selling my house, give me a call. Let's talk and walk you through whether you should fix it, disclose it, repair it, or sell it as is with that disclosure in place. Give me a call send, me an email, shoot me a message and let's talk.

If you're thinking about selling your home and you have things, especially in your yard, you might be thinking, they're not going to care if I take my great grandmother's prized hydrangea that I moved to my house 10 years ago, think again. Anything, and that goes from the chandelier in your dining room to the shrubs that you brought from the old home, anything that you don't want to convey, it is always better for you to get that out of the house before it goes to market. If you get it out before you go to market, you erase any possibility that the buyer is going to want that item that you have decided you want to take with you where you are going. So make sure that before you go, putting a sign in your yard, you've done a thorough walkthrough of yeah, both the yard and the inside of the house to ensure that anything you want to take is removed and not tempting to the buyer. Once upon a time, I had sellers sell a home, didn't tell them this, they dug up all of the shrubs out front because they had just bought them and filled all of the holes with dead leaves. What happens in that instance? Closing can be delayed. It obviously causes some strife between buyer and seller, and was it worth the price of those little tiny boxwoods? I'm not so sure. So, better to be safe than sorry and make sure that you have covered everything you want to go with you and clear it with the buyer if it's something they saw beforehand. So if you want to know what can stay, what should leave, what you need to notify your purchaser of and you're thinking of selling your home this spring and summer, give me a call and we can walk through all of those circumstances to make sure that you not only get a contract but you get it to closing and you close on time.

As we head into the busiest season for real estate, the spring and summer market, one of the questions I get asked all the time is how long it takes to sell a home from start to finish. And I usually have a question back when someone asks me that, and that is, what are your plans? What are your goals, let's take a look at your house, because it depends. In the video above I talk about a general timeline that you might experience, as well as some things that may change a "standard" timeline.