When it comes to real estate, putting your home in its best light is key when it comes to making the sale. While it may seem like you’re more limited with a home of a smaller scale, here are a few ways you can enhance what’s best and make a good impression on potential buyers.

Let There Be Ideal Light

If you’ve ever taken note of a room on a perfectly lit day or a downcast one, the difference in how lighting can impact a space is marked. When staging your small space, you’ll want to check the lighting of each room and make sure it ideally enhances the space it’s illuminating as few things can improve the look of a place like lighting. If you’re prepared to go all out, you may even want to install a swanky chandelier or lengthy light fixture in certain rooms as it can draw the eye up and lengthen the look of your space.

Brighten a Room with an Accent Wall

Homeowners often think that bright colors are a bad idea because they’re flashy and will minimize a space, but using a brilliant color on one wall of a room can actually maximize the look of your room and can serve as something memorable for viewers of your home. While you’ll want to make sure the color you choose isn’t garish and doesn’t completely overwhelm the eye, you’ll want to keep in mind that an accent wall works particularly well for enhancing a pint-sized bathroom.

Stand By a Statement Piece

It might seem like unique or off-the-wall furniture pieces will overtake the room in a small living space, but one statement piece can actually provide potential buyers of your home with a unique look that may instill an interest in your house and highlight it in a unique way. Instead of choosing multiple pieces that are bright or quirky, stick with one or two items per room that will stand out and make themselves known, but will still give off the living-style vibe that you’re going for.

Staging a small home can seem more complicated with less space, but there are great ways that you can highlight it to positive effect. While you may want to consider an accent wall or lighting that will effectively illuminate the room, if you’re interested in more tips for small home staging, you may want to contact a local real estate agent for more information.

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With all of the time and money that can go into moving, spending money on one more thing can seem like a bank account drain. However, when it comes to selling your home, investing in a professional photographer can mean the difference between getting a buyer and making a sale you’ll be proud of. If you want to get the deal your house deserves, you might want to consider the skills of a professional who will make your house look like someone’s dream home.

“Lighting” Up Your House

If you’ve ever noticed how dull a room can look when it’s cloudy outside, you’ll quickly realize how important the right lighting can be in complimenting the appearance of your house. A professional photographer will be able to determine what hours and what types of flash will work to highlight the rooms in your house the best. Not only that, they will go above and beyond what your smart phone can do to correct the issues that can impact a potentially perfect picture.

Capturing The Perfect Panorama

In the right light, it’s possible that you’ll be able to get some great pictures of your house on your own, but a photographer will be able to go beyond that. It’s a proven fact that people are most often lured in by façade photos when searching for homes online, and it’s these the right photographer will be able to perfect. By using a professional who understands what size of lens to use to compliment your home, your photos will easily optimize the way your home looks.

Diving Into The Details With Expertise

Beyond the panorama shots that might convince a potential buyer into considering your house for their next home, a professional photographer may be able to hone in on details that differentiate your house from the rest. With their keen, curious eye, they’ll not only notice intricate details, they’ll be able to highlight them in a way that makes them look interesting, expert and one-of-a-kind. They’ll also be able to beautifully capture the special features that you love about your home!

It can be tempting to be cost effective when it comes to showcasing your home, but just like wedding photographs, you don’t want to skimp on real estate images. If you’re interested in learning more about positive ways you can highlight your home, you should contact your local real estate professional for more information.

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Curb appeal is important in the home sales process, and this is because it will impact the overall first impression that potential home buyers have about the property. Some homeowners can easily spend a small fortune and a considerable amount of time improving curb appeal, but others may be looking for faster and easier results. The good news is that boosting curb appeal is easy and affordable to do when these three tips are followed.s

Spruce Up The Front Door

The front door and patio area are focal points for those driving by the home, and this area receives even more scrutiny by those home buyers who walk up to the home to take a tour of the interior. Re-staining or re-painting the front door can be highly beneficial to dressing up the look of this focal area, and this can give the impression that the home is well-maintained and stylish. In addition, consider replacing the front door mat and hardware on the door for improved results and added aesthetic appeal.

Power Wash The Exterior Of The Home

Beautification efforts for the front of the home would not be complete without spending time cleaning up the space, and one of the best ways to clean the exterior of a property thoroughly is by power washing it. Power washing the exterior may include cleaning the exterior siding material of the home, the patio, the driveway, the sidewalk and even the fencing. This can give the entire area a fresher and more appealing look.

Add Color To The Flower Beds

Some homeowners may not have funds or time available to fully revamp the landscaping, but showing the flower beds some attention can pay off. After weeding the flower beds, add some fresh, brightly colored blooms to the area to dress up curb appeal. Homeowners can finish off the look by spreading a new layer of mulch across the flower beds after the flowers have been planted.

Curb appeal is vital to selling a home quickly and for top dollar. Enhancing curb appeal can cost a small fortune and could take weeks to do, but even these small and affordable efforts can give homeowners great results with minimal time and money required. Homeowners who are thinking about selling their property soon can contact a real estate professional for personal assistance with their staging and home improvement efforts.

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When you are preparing to list your home for sale, you may take various steps to stage the interior so that it is appealing to a potential buyer. In addition to various steps you may take with staging the interior, you want to pay attention to your yard as well. During the spring months, many yards look fresh and vibrant, but they also need some extra care in order to boost curb appeal and make a great first impression on buyers.

Focus On Your Flower Beds

Whether you have one small flower bed or several sprawling areas of beds, you should ensure that all of the vegetation looks fresh and tidy. Trim bushes, and add bright spring annuals to brighten up the space. Pull weeds, and add a layer of fresh mulch to your flower beds to give them a finished, well-maintained look.

Keep The Lawn Neat And Tidy

During the spring months, your lawn may revive from its dormant winter state, and you may find it growing rapidly. The green hue of a spring lawn can have a powerful benefit to curb appeal, but you want to keep the lawn trimmed and edged regularly to give it a manicured appearance. This can also minimize the impact of the look of weeds that may occasionally crop up throughout the spring months.

Pay Attention To Your Patio And Entryway

While your vegetation will require some effort to maintain while you list your home, you do not want to overlook your patio and entryway. These are often visible from the street, and they will be viewed up-close when buyers tour your home. Ensure that the area is clean, and power wash it if necessary. Consider updating front door hardware and the entry mat if they appear worn or dated. You may also need to sweep these areas regularly while your home is listed for sale.

Staging your property can help you to sell your property more quickly and for top dollar, but your staging efforts should not be focused entirely on the interior of your home. Your landscaping also requires extra effort when you are getting your home ready to sell, and these tips can all help you to spruce up your landscaping with beautiful results. You may seek more customized information tailored to your property when you speak with a real estate agent about listing your home.

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Today’s home buyers are savvier about their buying options than ever before. They are able to research prices, browse listings, and investigate other important factors before even making the first call to a real estate agent. So professional photography and video can make the difference between your home getting a second look or getting skipped. In today’s blog post we’ll explore how professionally-shot aerial photos and videos can help you get your home sold that much quicker.

Buyers Love Having a Birds-Eye View

It’s increasingly likely that buyers will look for aerial photography to help them make their buying decisions. Just like professional ground-level photos of the home and property, and like the video tour that really gives that first-hand feel, aerial shots are something buyers like when evaluating properties.

People enjoy looking at aerial content because it gives them a new perspective. That helps them feel good about their choice to pursue a property. Plus, they take you seriously when you take marketing your property seriously using quality material.

Quality Material Makes Your Property Look Good

Professionals create quality products. They have the skills, tools, and professional eye to make your property and its best features look amazing. Quality marketing materials can even shorten sale time and raise the final list price, too.

Aerial footage is especially effective when topography, land features, and amenities are best displayed from above. Professional aerial shots can really enhance the overall impression of your property.

Professionals Are Certified

The use of unmanned aerial systems – what we commonly call “drones” – is becoming more frequent in the production of commercial photos and videos. But that doesn’t mean there aren’t issues.

Current Federal Aviation Administration regulation requires that UAS equipment be certified and operated by a certificated pilot when used for commercial purposes. This means that you can’t just buy a drone and take pictures to sell your house. You can’t pay your real estate agent to take them either, unless they also meet the FAA regulations. Hiring a certified operator can save you fines or even legal trouble down the road.

When you’re ready to take marketing your home to the next level, contact a reputable real estate agency to get started. Professionally shot aerial photos and videos can really make the difference for a prospective buyer when they make the list of “must-see” listings.

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Listing a property is a delicate dance. From the initial marketing to the final price negotiations, everything needs to be tailored to the type of home being sold. However, because of their main differences, this process can look very different when selling a condo versus selling a house.

Reason #1: The Homeowners Association or HOA

As all condo owners will know very well, almost all condos come with some type of HOA, or homeowners association.

The HOA generally handles common areas like swimming pools, the exterior of the building, and landscaping. Sometimes, the HOA is also responsible for holding social events throughout the year.

However, all of this comes at a few costs. The first is money; a HOA cannot operate or pay necessary expenses without charging residents a monthly fee. The second is freedom; most HOAs have rules that need to be followed.

When selling a condo, potential buyers will balance the costs of each HOA with the benefits.

Reason #2: Real Estate Investors

When selling a condo, it’s reasonable to expect a larger number of investors considering the property than when selling a home. After all, renting out condos is a big business.

As a result, selling a condo could mean a faster closing, a cash offer, or even competing bids if the condo is on prime property.

Reason #3: The Type of Buyer

Different types of buyers look at a condo versus a home. For starters, condos are generally smaller, don’t have yards, have all landscaping handled professionally, and frequently come with amenities like a swimming pool or fitness center.

While a good majority of potential buyers with children would love a swimming pool with zero maintenance, they aren’t willing to make the trade for a smaller space. This means that when selling a condo, potential buyers will generally be single adults, newly married couples, or retired professionals looking to downgrade to an easier property.

Reason #4: Location, Location, Location

Every real estate agent knows that one factor, above all others, is most important when selling a property: location. Being close to town versus far away from traffic, near downtown excitement versus in a quiet neighborhood, or near shopping centers versus on the edge of nowhere all come into play for a property’s value and desirability.

Generally speaking, condos tend to be closer to urban areas, shopping, and entertainment. This also means that their price per square foot is frequently higher. As a result, owners looking to sell their condo should carefully consult with their real estate agent about the best way to market their property and a fair listing price.

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Whether you’re selling a luxury home on North Padre Island or you’re putting a Port Aransas condo on the market, you need to prep your house for sale.
So where do you start?

How to Prepare Your Home for Sale

It’s time to start looking at your real estate transaction for what it is: a business transaction. In order to get it ready for buyers, you need to separate the emotional value you’ve built into your home from the actual monetary value. That way, you can look at each room (and the whole house) objectively so you know what needs to be done to prepare it for sale.

Step 1: Declutter

Decluttering your home means removing everything that you haven’t used in the past several months. You don’t have to throw it out, sell it, or donate it, but it can’t stay. You may want to look into renting a storage unit until you purchase and move into your next home.

Step 2: Take Down Personal Effects

Family photos and heirlooms shouldn’t be up when you’re selling; it may stop buyers from envisioning themselves living in your space. Leave up neutral décor, but anything that could drive away buyers has to come down.

Step 3: Rearrange Rooms With a Purpose

Make sure the purpose of each room is clear when you walk in. Is that a guest room, a workout room, or a home office? (In reality, it’s probably all three—but buyers only want to see each room with one purpose, so pick one and stick to it!)

Step 4: Clean Up Your Cabinets and Closets

Buyers will open doors, pull out drawers, and peek behind every corner. Make sure what they’re looking at is organized, neat, and clean to give them an overall good impression.

Step 5: Make Minor Repairs

If there’s a leaky faucet, fix it. If there’s a burned-out bulb, replace it with an energy-saving LED. Patch up holes in the walls, replace cracked tiles, and think about painting if you can.

Step 6: Clean, Clean, and Clean Some More

Your house should look like a showplace when it’s on the market. It should look like you have a live-in housekeeper, in fact, so you’ll have to vacuum every day (and consider having the carpets professionally cleaned), mop more often than usual, and dust each day, too.

Are You Selling Your Home in Port Aransas or North Padre Island?

If you’re selling your home, we’d love to help you do so quickly and at the right price. We’ll be happy to give you a free comparative market analysis so you know exactly how much your home is worth. While you’re here, you can also download our free home-selling eBook and read our useful tips for selling your home faster.
When you’re ready, call us at 361-563-7788 or contact us online to find out how we can help you sell your home in Port Aransas or North Padre Island.
 

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For most sellers, whether they’ve put a condo at the Grand Caribbean on the market or they’re selling a canal-front home on North Padre Island, it’s a big question: Is it easier to sell a home while you’re still living in it, or should it be vacant before you put it on the market?
Not everyone has a choice; in fact, most people sell their homes while they’re still living in them because they need to sell the home in order to purchase another.
But is it easier to sell your home while you’re living in it?

Should You Sell Your House While You Still Live in It?

There are a few aspects of selling that are tougher while you still live in your home, such as having to keep the house spotless and ready for a showing at any time or having to leave the house (and drop what you’re doing) every time someone comes to see it.
However, if you’re still living in the house when you sell it, you have some distinct advantages on your side.
First, it’s already halfway staged; second, a vacant house feels empty to buyers—and it may not give them warm-fuzzy feelings about buying it, either.
Homes show better when they’re occupied. Buyers don’t have to guess at whether their bed will fit in the bedroom or if they’ll need to buy a bigger dining room table. They can also identify each room’s purpose—provided that you’ve staged it properly.
The bottom line: Even if it’s tougher (and it is, sometimes) to sell your home while you’re still living in it, it’s probably a good idea because it’ll sell faster—and maybe even at a better price—than it would if you left it vacant.

Are You Selling Your Home in Port Aransas or North Padre Island?

If you’re selling your home, we’d love to help you do so quickly and at the right price. We’ll be happy to give you a free comparative market analysis so you know exactly how much your home is worth. While you’re here, you can also download our free home-selling eBook and read our useful tips for selling your home faster.
When you’re ready, call us at 361-563-7788 or contact us online to find out how we can help you sell your home in Port Aransas or North Padre Island.
 
 
 

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If you’re selling your home, your Port Aransas Realtor® will walk you through all the steps you need to make to put its best foot forward.
But what else can you do to make buyers fall in love at first sight?

3 Tips for Staging Your Port Aransas Home

You want buyers to walk in and love your house, so you have to be proactive. Each house has its own charms, so you’ll want to highlight them; likewise, each house has its own quirks, and you’ll want to minimize (or eradicate) those.

Home Staging Tip #1: Make Buyers Feel Welcome

Your goal: to make buyers feel right at home. Ideally, your potential buyers can envision themselves living in your space. In order to help them do that, you can:

• Leave the house. Buyers don’t want you hanging over their shoulders during a showing. (You wouldn’t, either.)
• Put out wrapped candy or other takeaways that your potential buyers are welcome to take.
• Make the interior temperature as comfortable as possible. Forget about your utility bills, just this once, to ensure that potential buyers aren’t sweating or freezing.

Home Staging Tip #2: Set the Mood

Turn on water fountains if you have them, and light a fire in the fireplace if it’s cool enough outside to make sense. (Remember that you’re leaving, though, so you’ll have to time it right.) If you can, pipe soft, relaxing music throughout the house.
Open all the shades to let in as much natural light as possible. Turn on all the lights, too. The brighter the home, the more likely buyers will view it more favorably. However, if there’s something unsightly outside, keep the blinds partially closed.

Home Staging Tip #3: Skip Heavily Scented Deodorizers or Air Fresheners

Lots of people are sensitive to synthetic smells, and lots of other people are just plain turned off by certain scents. Don’t burn candles or spray perfume, and skip the air fresheners and deodorizers.
Instead, open the windows if you can. (If there’s a lot of noise outside, though, leave them closed.)
If you’re going to bake cookies, make sure you leave them out for visitors with a nice note that says, “Please help yourself.”

Are You Selling Your Home in Port Aransas or North Padre Island?

If you’re selling your home, we’d love to help you do so quickly and at the right price. We’ll be happy to give you a free comparative market analysis so you know exactly how much your home is worth. While you’re here, you can also download our free home-selling eBook and read our useful tips for selling your home faster.
When you’re ready, call us at 361-563-7788 or contact us online to find out how we can help you sell your home in Port Aransas or North Padre Island.
 

Filed under: Blog, Selling, Staging by Julie Woodward
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In some cases, it really pays off to list your Port Aransas condo for sale during the winter months.
Why?
People who look for new homes during the winter, particularly in a great spot like North Padre Island or Port Aransas, may be a bit more serious about buying than those who come “kick the tires” during spring and summer.

Selling Your Port Aransas Condo During Winter

Sure, lots of homebuyers go into hibernation during the winter. Your condo may drum up less interest during December, January, February, and March than it would during warmer months… but the interest that it does generate may be from more qualified buyers.
It’s not necessarily the number of people who come through your condo that matters; it’s the number of qualified buyers who are ready to make a purchase that matters.
If you’re thinking about selling your condo, grab a free local market report. We’ll tell you about Port Aransas home values and North Padre Island home values so you know exactly what you’re getting into.
We’ll even be happy to perform a free comparative market analysis to show you how much you could get if you put your condo on the market today. Your CMA will include:

• Similar properties that have sold and closed within the past 6 months
• Similar properties that are on the market right now
• Similar properties that are in a “pending” status (they’ve sold, but they haven’t closed yet)
• Similar properties that have expired (they didn’t sell during their listing period)
• A detailed report on your condo and how much it’s worth based on today’s market

Let Us Help You Sell Your Port Aransas Condo

We can help you sell your Port Aransas condo quickly and at the right price. Call us at 361-563-7788 today to learn how we’ll market your condo and get it in front of all the right buyers — even during the winter.

Filed under: Blog, Home Seller Tips, Home Selling Tips, Selling by Julie Woodward
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