Looking to sell your Rock Hill SC or Fort Mill SC area home quickly? Keep these 10 critical ‘sell your home fast’ tips in mind as you prepare to put your house on the real estate market:
- Price it right. This one can’t be emphasised enough. Especially in today’s tough real estate market, pricing your home correctly is the #1 most important thing you can do to guarnatee a quick sale.
- De-clutter your closets. Storage is an important feature of any house so if your closets are stuffed to the gills, it could be HUGE turn-off for potential buyers. Take out at least 1/2 the stuff to show off the storage space your home offers.
- Maximize the lighting in your home. No one wants to live in a dungeon so you want to maximize your home’s lighting. Don’t be afraid to turn on all the lights when you have showings as this will help highlight all the great benefits your home has to offer.
- Choose the right agent. If you want your home to sell quickly, it’s important that you find the right agent for the job. Don’t be afraid to interview several agents to find the one that fits you best. Also, don’t be afraid to ask for references and go ahead and check with them.
- Hide the pets. Sorry, but not everyone’s a pet lover so be sure to hide as much of their stuff as you can. Food bowls, toys, beds, and anything else that might tip off a potential buyer to the fact you have pets should be hidden as much as possible because even though it may not be true, it might give buyers the impression your house isn’t clean!
- Don’t overdue the upgrades. Doing some quick fixes before putting your home on the market are certainly advisable, but there’s no need to sink thousands of dollars into serious upgrades if you’re only going to put the house on the market. If you have problems areas, go ahead and spend a little bit of money to minimize the problem as much as possible, but chances are you’ll never get your investment back if you go overboard
- De-personalize your home. You want potential buyers to envision themselves living in your home, but it’s difficult to do if you have too many personal items lying around or if the decor is too individualized for your tastes. It’s okay to reflect your personality, but the more neutral you can make everything, the easier it will be for people to see themselves enjoying your house as much as you do.
- The kitchen is the one room where you can break the rules. Lets face it, a great kitchen can sell a house, just as quickly as a bad kitchen can keep it on the market longer than it should. So if you’re going to spend a little money upgrading your home, the kitchen is the one room you can do it in. Spending a little more in the kitchen may guarantee a full-price offer, or at the very least will help ensure potential buyers don’t ask for a serious discount because they think the house is ‘dated’.
- Be ‘show-ready’ at all times. Yes, having your house on the market can be a chore, but if you want it to sell quickly you really do need to keep it in tip-top shape at all times. You never know when the ideal buyers might be minutes away from stopping by for a ‘surprise’ visit and you certainly wouldn’t want them to see it in any state other than it’s best.
- First impressions are really the lasting impression. If you want potential buyers to remember your home in a positive light, then it’s imperative that they’re first impression is a good one. Invest a little money and sweat equity into making sure the outside of your home is inviting, otherwise it may not matter what potential buyers see on the inside because they can’t get the horrendous image of the outside out of their heads!
If you’re thinking about selling your Rock Hill SC, Fort Mill SC, or surrounding area home, I’d love an opportunity to share with you the various ways I work to ensure you get top dollar for your home!
Filed under Capital Improvements, Decorating Ideas, Fort Mill SC, Hiring An Agent, Home Sellers, Rock Hill SC, Sharon's Top 10 Lists by 
Okay, I’ve been debating something for the past few weeks now and I’ve decided that the only way to make a decision is to ask you, my valued clients, blog readers, and partners.
You probably already know that over 85% of all real estate searches begin online these days. And of those searches, studies suggest that websites or MLS home listings that offer a video walk-through have higher numbers of views AND those that visit the listing or site tend to stay longer.
So, I’ve debated the last few weeks as to how best to utilize this to help market my client’s home listings here in the Rock Hill SC and Fort Mill SC area. What I’d like to know from you is do you think having a video walk-through is helpful? Do you look at listings online longer if there’s a nice video walk-through that accompanies all the home’s specifics and standard pictures?
If you will, do me a favor and leave a quick comment below and let me know what you think about all of this.
Also, here’s a video from ABC News talking about video home tours that’s makes some great points I’m already taking into consideration to help YOU sell your Rock Hill SC or Fort Mill SC home faster!
[media:http://www.sharonsellscarolina.com/media/videos/ABC_news_videohomeshows.flv]
Filed under Hiring An Agent, Home Sellers, Market Trends, Marketing, Videos, Virtual Tours & Photos by
The following question was posed recently on a very popular real estate website:
“How do you select a real estate agent to work with? What do you base your criteria on? Referrals from friends or family members? Do you call the first name you see on a flyer? How do you decide which real estate agent to work with?”
While my response didn’t go into all the details of selecting the right agent for you, I did touch on one important element to consider for both buyer’s and seller’s of real estate. This was my response to the question:
“Fortunately for either buyers or sellers, there are LOTS of choices. Even in today’s tough market.
While there are plenty of criteria one could use to select the real estate agent they choose to work with, here is one idea for both buyers and sellers to consider when trying to find a good real estate agent:
Buyer’s Agent – A good buyer’s agent will NEVER take you see a house that doesn’t fit your criteria. They should do their homework ahead of time so as to not waster yours. Sure, every once in a while you’ll just end up driving around looking at houses randomly, but that should be the exception and not the rule.
Seller’s Agent – A good seller’s agent will understand the power of the Internet. Since roughly 80+% of all real estate searches begin online, it’s critical to getting your home sold quickly and for top dollar that you work with someone that knows how to harness the power of the Internet in order to get your home the maximum exposure possible.”
So, what criteria do you use to select the real estate agent you’ll work with?
Filed under Buy Your Dream House, Hiring An Agent, Home Buyers, Home Sellers by
In a trend that has been happening for some time now, people looking to either buy or sell real estate (and not just in the Rock Hill SC or Fort Mill SC areas) continue to go online to conduct much of their research before making any decisions. With the increased usage by most of the Internet, it should not really come as a suprise that so many people go online to check out neighborhoods, find and research real estate agents, and even ‘hunt for houses’ before actually going out to ‘hunt for houses’.
The Internet makes it so convenient to pinpoint an area, look for homes that meet a specified criteria, and then get all the nitty-gritty details on the homes. Of course that same can be said for getting information on a real estate agent, or a school district, or any other of the countless reasons why people buy a particular home.
And to help your job of finding information about the real estate markets in Rock Hill SC, Fort Mill SC, Tega Cay SC, Lancaster County SC, or even Charlotte NC easier, I’ve got several tools on my website to help you with your real estate searches.
- FREE Guide to Buying or Selling Your Home in the Rock Hill SC, Fort Mill SC, or Charlotte NC areas – you can sign up at anytime
- Search For Homes Online – this link will take you to the MLS website where you can enter your specific criteria for the home you seek
- Hot NEW Listings – this lists some of the new listings either I have or my associates have on the market
- Hiring A Real Estate Agent – It used to be we were a dime a dozen, but even though market conditions have forced many out of the business you still need to be careful when selecting a real estate agent. The right real estate agent will save you countless headaches and thousands of dollars on a bad transaction. Grab my FREE guide to selecting the right real estate agent for you.
And if you ever can’t find what you’re looking for on my website or someone elses, please feel free to CONTACT ME directly and I’ll do everything possible to resolve you concern immediately.
Thinking about moving to an area you’re not familiar with? In this situation, it’s not uncommon to choose an agent your familiar with even though they may not be very familiar with the particular area or neighborhood you’re moving to.
While there could be advantadges to working with someone you’re personally familiar with, there are also disadvantages to working with someone that doesn’t know the area you’re moving to.
Courtesy of Elizabeth Weintraub from About.com, here are 12 crucial tidbits of information a neighborhood specialist will know that you’re ‘out of town’ agent most likely won’t:
- History of neighborhood homes, who owned them and when
- Which homes were previously on the market outside of MLS data
- What makes some homes on a street worth more than others
- Which streets are considered desirable and which are not
- Neighborhood nuisances and their influence on value
- Special retrofits exclusive to the community
- How to accurately price homes and determine specific values
- Which agents take listings at market and who takes overpriced listings
- Listing agent’s reputations and how to negotiate with certain agents
- Pending legislation or neighborhood enforcement of regulations
- How to get inside information from listing agents, because they know each other
- New inventory that is not yet on the market but coming
If you’re thinking about buying a home in the Rock Hill SC or Fort Mill SC area, then I’d love an opportunity to show you around. Let my experience help you find, price, and purchase the home of your dreams WITHOUT any of the unneeded stress, frustration, and worry that often accompanies the process of buying a home!
Filed under Buy Your Dream House, Fort Mill SC, Hiring An Agent, Home Buyers, Rock Hill SC by
