All About Delray Beach and Boca Raton Real Estate

                         

              Why Stage a Vacant Home?

Staging a Vacant Home in Boca Raton, Delray Beach, or Boynton Beach  is no different than anywhere else.  The market is difficult at best now and to sell your home, whether it is an investment property or your own home, you'll need to place it in a competitive position.  That means it's important to understand WHY a vacant property needs to be Staged, either minimally as in vignette, or fully as in a builder's model home.

Why Stage a Vacant Home?                              
   
  1. A Vacant property can come across as cold and uninviting. It is especially true in Florida where tile floors are in many of the Living Areas. Buyers will hear the echoing of their footsteps as they walk through your house.  You want your Buyers to feel that "I'm Home" moment.  It's hard to do that in a vacant property.
  2. Vacant rooms actually appear smaller without furniture.  Adding furniture is NOT trying to deceive a Buyer; you're trying to show how their furniture and lifestyle will fit into this space.  This is especially important when you have a room with an unusual shape.
  3. Lighting is important to create the warmth and "homeiness" of a house.  Without lamps and tables, the only lighting available will be the overhead light fixtures.  
 4.  A vacant home may signal to the buyer that the Seller may be more willing to accept a lower offer because you are already out of the house.  

Take a look at a few examples of what Staging a Vacant Home can do:


              

Without furniture, a buyer will wonder where to place their own furniture, or if their furniture will fit.  By showing the room with furniture and accessories, it provides a buyer with a point of reference.

        
  With just a few towels, a picture and some greenery, you can take a blah bathroom and make it more appealing.

                   

 This is a large family area that needed furniture to show the Buyer how their own pieces might fit.
 

More Tips:
*  If you have extra furniture, lamps, and accessories, you could use these to Stage the rooms.  Or, you can beg and borrow from your friends and relatives.  
*  You don't have to Stage every room.  Stage your major living areas, the kitchen, Master Bedroom and Bath and be sure to Stage any rooms that may be unusual in shape or purpose.  
*  Remember, IF  you are doing this yourself, don't just toss in a hodge podge of furniture and accessories that you have sitting in the attic or basement.  

HOWEVER  You, can always contact a Staging Professional, who'll be able to determine what you need; work with your budget and provide the inventory for you!!

 

Room Service! Home Staging
561-914-6224

Kathy@MrsHomeStaging.com
http://www.MrsHomeStaging.com

 

 

          

Three main steps in preparing your home for sale is 1 - Clean, 2 - Repair 3 - Replace, these three things will help assist in selling your home. Kathy Streib of Room Service Home Staging in Delray Beach wrote a great series of blogs on this subject. For all your Real Estate needs please feel free to contact me at 561-859-9926.

 

                                                                    CLEAN, REPAIR AND REPLACE

Whether you live in Boca Raton, Delray Beach, Palm Beach, or anywhere else getting your house ready to sell and STAGING it are NOT just about painting and moving furniture around.  In Part 1 of this Home Staging Series I suggested that as soon as you decide to place your home on the market you have to look at it in a different light.  You'll need to begin to think of your house as a product to be marketed in a very competitive field.  Part 2 provided two exercises to help you see your house as buyers will see it: taking pictures of your house and downloading them to the computer and asking friends for their honest opinion.  

In Step 3 the really hard work begins.  This is when you'll :
          1. Clean your house inside and out
          2.  Repair any items in your house that you've neglected
          3.  Replace what isn't working
          4.  Finish house projects.  

Think about this: Buyers will view a dirty house with broken or missing items as a NEGLECTED house.  If the items they can see aren't taken care of, what about the items that they can't see?

 Remember the Spring Cleaning you've been putting off since you moved in?  Multiply that by TEN! Vacuum in places you forgot existed.  Move and lift everything.  "Leave no stone unturned".   Scrub as if you were trying to reach a gold mine.  If you have carpet, have it cleaned.  Same thing goes for upholstered furniture.  These hold not only dust and pet hair but odors as well.  In sunny South Florida, we pay a high price for our beautiful view of golf courses, canals, lakes, and palm trees.  Your buyer will be looking for this as well so windows that give them only a hazy view need to be cleaned and cleaned often.  

If you're not familiar with a pressure washer or know someone who is, then rent and/or hire someone.  Take a good look at the walkway to your house.  Is this how you want to "greet" Buyers as they approach?   There may be stains from lawn chemicals and fertilizers, oil from your car, chemicals in your sprinkler system, whatever they are the stains will detract from the "welcome" you want to project to a buyer.  Some homes in South Florida use well water with a high mineral content which leave a rusty stain.  Check with your home improvement store to see how these are best removed.  


As your are going from room to room cleaning in every corner, you'll want to make notes of what needs fixing.  Unrepaired items are a signal to your buyer that this house has been neglected.  Some items on your list are easy and take just a little time and tools.  If you are not handy, consider hiring a service to go through and suggest and/or make the repairs necessary.  
       
                        Notice the missing switch plate to the left of the closet door! 

 

         

                                                                               

 



OUTSIDE:  When you stand in the street and look at your house, can you see it?  What do you see?  It's easy to forget about the trees and bushes that line our driveways and sidewalks but make sure your house isn't being overshadowed by a bush that is covering your front door; or whose palm trees are in bad need of trimming.  


The Bougainvillea plant to the left offers beautiful shade for this patio area but has become overgrown.  Instead of enhancing this outdoor living area, it is detracting from it.    

You'll want to replace plants that have become too leggy or have seen better days.  Trim bushes, de-weed sidewalks and flowerbeds.  Put fresh mulch in your flower beds.


FLOORING:  Worn or stained carpeting, chipped or cracked tile, or faded hardwood floor boards all need to be addressed.  Your buyer will be running a calculator in their heads trying to determine just how much replacing these will cost.  Besides this figure, they will factor in the time and inconvenience of the project and before you know it, they've put a big NEGATIVE by your property. Offering the buyer a credit is almost a thing of the past.  Present day buyers want a property in move-in condition.  

PAINT:  At the very least you will probably want to paint your house especially if you have not done so since you moved in and/or if you have colors that might not be in eveyone's color palette!   When in doubt, go NEUTRAL!  This does not mean bland white!  Remember, what you're trying to do is appeal to as wide a range of Buyers as possible.  One in 20 buyers may love a purple wall but what about the other 19!                                                                                        

AS A REVIEW: 1. START TO THINK OF YOUR HOUSE AS A PRODUCT FOR SALE
                         2. LEARN TO SEE YOUR HOUSE THROUGH THE EYES OF A BUYER
                         3. CLEAN, REPAIR OR REPLACE

 

 

Room Service! Home Staging
561-914-6224

Kathy@MrsHomeStaging.com
http://www.MrsHomeStaging.com

 

 

          

                                                   
                               #2  Get Ready to See your House through the Eyes of a Buyer.

We live in our HOME; we sell a house.  Before you can Stage your Home, you'll need to see it as others see it.  All of us have a certain comfort level in our homes.  At the end of the day, it's where we look forward to going; it's where we can kick off our shoes and leave our worries and hassles of the day at the front door.  We make it our haven; our HOME.   We spent hours choosing that perfect shade of Periwinkle for our bedroom; we had a custom mural done for our child's room. But we're all different and what works for you;  how you live in your home may not work for others.  

                                                       Two things you can do to help you see Your House as others will see it: 

1. Begin by taking pictures of your house.  Start at the curb and take a picture of the front of the house; think of the view your buyer will see when they drive by.   Next stop, your front door. Take a snapshot there of the first thing your buyer sees as they approach your house.   Now, as soon as you enter, take another photo.  You'll want to do this for every room in your house.  Let your camera be the eyes of your Buyer.  Stand at each door and take a picture from there- that's the first view your buyer will see.  If it's a larger room,  take shots from different angles. Open your closets, too!  Why?  Because believe me, your Buyers will.  Next stop,  your back deck, yard, or patio area, and don't forget the garage.  
     Once you've taken your shots, download them to your computer.  If you need help with this, get your child, neighbor, friend, whomever to show you how.  (it's easy!)  

     You're probably asking why is taking pictures  and placing them on the computer so important?  Recent studies have shown that at least 85% of Buyers will begin their search for a home on the Internet.    If your house doesn't "show well" in photos placed on the MLS or other marketing  instruments your Realtor will use, then it may not make it on a Buyers "Must See" list.  Looking at your house through a camera lens gives it a different perspective. 

 
     Which picture appeals to you:
                                        
The photo on the left shows a comfortable, lived in family room; on the right we see much the same but because we've removed the clutter our eyes can now  focus on the space available  and the great views that can be seen from the windows.  There's even a large bookcase at the end of the room that was hidden before.  

2. Bribe a friend, relative, or neighbor with cookies, a cake, dinner, whatever and beg them to give you their honest opinion about your house. Show them the photos you took.  (You thought you'd skip step #1 and just move on to step #2 didn't you?)  Have them view your house as if they  were considering buying it.   Tell them this may be  their one chance to tell you how much they've always disliked the windmill in your dining room . ( I really did have a client with a windmill in her dining room!)   Remember the first step in this Series,  start viewing your house as a Product to be merchandised.  You have to be objective in this step.       

                                                                                                

REMEMBER:

1. BEGIN TO THINK OF YOUR HOME AS A PRODUCT TO BE MARKETED.

2. START TO SEE THIS "PRODUCT"  AS YOUR BUYER WILL SEE IT

                                                   
ROOM SERVICE! HOME STAGING
561-914-6224
www.MrsHomeStaging.com
Kathy@MrsHomestaging.com

 

Room Service! Home Staging
561-914-6224

Kathy@MrsHomeStaging.com
http://www.MrsHomeStaging.com

 

 

          

Like most agents in the Miami real estate market, I have quite a number of buyers I am working with.  Several months ago I started making sure that I always meet with each one before we start working together to make sure they understand the process.  We also make sure they're qualified and that we're a good "fit" for one another.  

Even so, I occasionally end up with the very eager buyer who thinks he can help me out by riding around his preferred neighborhoods and call me with addresses to look up for him.  

Inevitably, there is always a reason why I haven't sent him this particular home to review online.  It's not because I missed it.  I want to sell him a house as much as he wants to buy one.  Really!  

If you are working with a real estate agent who is looking for homes for you, here is a list of possible reasons a home may not be suitable for you and won't make it to the emails we send you:  

 

• The property is priced over your range - in every neighborhood there are homes priced well above what their market value is.  Homes priced over your maximum don't get sent to you.  If your max is $450K, a house that is listed at $575K is not going to be sent to you for review.
• The property is not listed -  this includes homes you may see that look vacant and may even have a lockbox on the door.  A foreclosure can take a long time to prepare to list.  The listing agent will get it listed as soon as it is possible to do so.  Sometimes it has issues with the title that need to be cleared up. If it is not in the MLS and there is a lockbox on the door, there is no way to know who is going to have it listed.  We simply have to wait until it is.  The good news is that the automatic search that is set up for you will pick it up immediately once it's listed.  Lucky you.
• The property is a short sale that has not been approved - and you specifically let me know that you don't want to waste your time on unapproved short sales.  Only approved short sales are being sent your way.
• The property needs extensive repairs - and you are buying with an FHA loan.  Yes, there is an FHA loan that takes repairs into account.  It's called an FHA 203K loan.  But if you're approved for $100K FHA, the house is listed for $100K and needs $25K in repairs, there's no point in looking at that house.  You are not qualified for $125K (the amount of the loan including the repairs).  So this particular house will be filtered out by your agent when she reviews homes to show you.
• The seller has specified CASH offers only - Sellers usually do this because of the condition.  This is usually seen with bank-owned homes.  It's not that they want to arbitrarily exclude a huge portion of buyers.  They're just being realistic when they say that the house won't qualify for financing.  It may need repairs well beyond the limit on an FHA 203K.  Or the seller may simply want a quick sale due to the horrible conditions of the house.  If it's priced incredibly low, there's always a reason.
•  The house is pending sale - this means the seller has accepted an offer.  The sign will stay in front of the house until the property closes.  But they have changed the status to Pending Sale in the MLS and they are no longer looking for offers on this one.

The above is not meant to be an exhaustive list.  There may very well be other reasons why a home isn't sent to you for your review.   

But please do know that I am working really hard to find you one that you can call home.  

Maggie Dokic is a licensed real estate broker in the state of Florida selling residential real estate in Miami, Palmetto Bay, Pinecrest, Coral Gables, Gables by the Sea, High Pines and the Redland.

For more information on our local real estate market, or to see or sell a home in Miami, Palmetto Bay, Pinecrest, Coral Gables or the Redland, visit my Miami Real Estate blog or contact me at Maggie (at) TheBlogThatAteMiami (dot) com.

The opinions expressed herein, are those of the author, and not necessarily of Prudential Florida Realty.