Lori Alvarez and Team

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Episode 8: Top 10 Things To Sell Your Home For More Money

So you’re thinking about selling your home, but you’re stumped on how to make the most money out of your investment. IN THIS EPISODE, join as Lori Alvarez breaks down the top 10 things you can do to prepare your home to sell for a higher value and current standards and requirements in California.

Want to hear more about it? Listen to Episode 8 of Lori Alvarez’s Real Estate With Soul: Top 10 Things To Sell Your Home For More Money

Hear some more of the tricks, trips, wisdom, and stories that we didn’t summarize. Subscribe to the podcast so you don’t miss an episode!

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The Question:

We have people who are asking us all the time: What do I need to do to sell my house? What do I need to do to get ready to sell? 

Lori says, “Clean, clean, clean.”

The Dream

You may think, Oh I need the coolest, newest, and most beautiful extravagant stuff.

Basically make the home perfect.

And here’s the truth. The reality.

No. You don’t need to do that.

The Reality

What you need to do is price correctly and price according to the estimate, the upgrades and work on your house.

You need to make the home clean and simple. Allow the buyers that walk in to see themselves in the home. Make them say, “Yes, I can see me in here. I can see my family here, I can see what we can do in this space to make it our safe, quiet, relaxed space.”

  1. PICK YOUR REALTOR AND SIGN A CONTRACT SO THEY CAN SUPPORT YOU THROUGH THE PROCESS OF WHAT NEEDS TO BE DONE TO GET YOUR HOUSE SOLD.

If you’re looking to spend $40,000 to put in a new custom kitchen, new flooring, and all the works because you think it looks amazing before hitting the market, realize you can have the same results with an investment of $6,000. You have to remember that a family is going to want to make a home their own and may make changes anyway. The family will want to make it personalized to them, not your tastes.

It’s not about the newest, greatest, best. It’s about making it look like a home sweet home.

2. FIGURE OUT THE PRICE THAT WILL SELL THE HOUSE

  • Don’t let it sit on the market. Your equity will slowly go down.

  • Don’t price it where someone says, “Oh, I’ll think about it. And Maybe look at that home around the corner.”

  • Price it where someone says, “Yep, I'll take that house at that price.” 

When you sit down with an agent you will go over all of these numbers and determine what price makes sense and if simple improvements to the home can increase your value.

3. SCHEDULE YOUR VIRTUAL STAGING APPOINTMENT

“83% of the buyer’s agents say out there that staging makes it easier for a buyer to visualize the property as their future home with virtual staging.

  • 83% of the buyer's agents say out there that staging makes it easier for a buyer to visualize the property as their future home with virtual staging.

  • 44% of buyers say that staging a home increases the dollar value of your property. 

  • 53% of the buyer’s agents and seller’s agents say that staging a home will decrease the amount of time on the market. 

  • 95% of agents recommend that sellers declutter their home before putting it on the market.

  • The most commonly staged rooms you need to focus on is the living room, kitchen, and master bedroom. 

What do all of these things mean? Less time dealing with people walking through your house.

Want to connect with a staging team? Contact us.

Your Virtual Staging Consultation

What does that mean you need to do?

  1. Take pictures of every space and room in your house.

  • Living Room

  • Bathroom

  • Master Bedroom

  • Bedroom

  • Office

  • Den

  • Stairs

  • Etc.

You get the idea.

2. Send a short simple walkthrough video of the interior of the property.

Smartphones work just fine. Can’t seem to figure it out? Call us. We can help get that done for you.

3. The staging team will review the pictures and the video and give their pointers.

Let’s be honest. The majority of us don’t really know how to use the space to the best of our ability. We go for comfort, but that may not translate into picture perfect. We all know the difference in model homes versus real life.

The stager will offer their suggestions and share all the tips you need to succeed in that area.

Their job is to make your space work and look best at a better cost. You saw the statistics. It’ll save you more money.

“I Don’t Want To Work With A Virtual Stager”

So maybe you decided you didn’t want to work with a stager and get those conversation tips. Maybe you don’t think it’s worth it. What do you need to do? 

What things are going to bring the greatest value out of your home?

Here are the TOP 10 things to focus on to sell your home for more money:

  1. Interior lights need to be functional. Are the bulbs fresh? Are they matching?

  2. Exterior lights need to be functional. We want the home to feel bright and cheery. Light makes the house feel bigger and we want to maximize the size of the house.

  3. Windows need to be cleaned inside and out. Beautiful sunlight streaming through the windows looks great on photo day.

  4. Clean up your address. You want people to be able to easily find your home’s address. Make it visible, touch it up so agents and buyer’s can find it.

  5. Entryways need to be functional. Most are simple fixes to ensure the protection of your home. Check the deadbolt, freshen up the doormat, or add little touches.

  6. Powerwash the exterior of the house. Cleaning down the house is easy enough to do. Rent a power washer and put in the work.

  7. Fix the minor things in the home. Put in the work to fix the “problems” in the home. Don’t sell your home at a discount to your buyer’s because you didn’t want to fix a minor thing.

  8. Paint the interior and exterior of the home. A pretty looking home makes for more value. Cover the marks and finger stains and mess with a nice fresh coat.

  9. Decorate in threes. Sorry, but the cuckoo clock and expansive knife collection has to get minimal. Clear the walls and countertops to simple decor. Leave space for their imagination to paint their own home.

  10. Landscape and freshen up the yard. It doesn’t have to be complicated. Plant some basic things, or place potted plants.

Do these 10 things and help maximize the value of your home.

Tip: Start your changes from the outside and move inside. It takes a bit longer for grass to get green and plants to grow.

What Else Do You Need To Think About?

  • Lender Criteria

  • State Requirements

  • Termites

Lender Criteria

Houses must also meet lender criteria.

Cash buyers are looking to spend less cash. But finance buyers are willing to spend a little more. But in order to sell with financing you need to meet the lender criteria.

FOR FINANCING THIS MEANS:

  1. A house can have no chipping paint

  2. No exposed electrical wires or light switches

  3. Toilets and sinks must be installed in place

  4. And notable health and safety hazards must be fixed

State of California Standards

If you’re selling your home in California, there are some requirements that you must meet in order to sell your home.

  • Water heater must properly be strapped and braced to the house with two strap

  • Every bedroom or sleeping quarter must have a smoke detector

  • Every story of the home must have a carbon monoxide detector

**Coming Soon requirement** Always be sure to look up and verify the latest regulations.

  • Efficient water conserving products

Termites

Termites are challenging. They love to eat wood. So be quick to get a termite inspection done. Do your best to lessen the wood rot of your home and to find out how much the fix could be for your home. (Tune in to future episodes where we will talk with a great termite inspector.)

Keep in mind, most California people have an expectation that a home will clear a termite report when they buy the house. But the reality is, it’s not a requirement.

Concluding Thoughts

So that’s what it takes to get ready to come on market.

“Everyone’s situation will be different because every family and home is different.

You may be wondering a few things.

How long does all of this take?

When will my home be ready to go on market?

How much will all of this cost?

That’s why you need to have a conversation with a realtor. They can sit down and answer all those questions, give you the support, walk with you through the process and make it less stressful.

Everyone’s situation will be different because every family and home is different. Let us show you it’s not nearly as hard as you think it is. Lori promises, “I'm going to be there with you every step of the way, helping you make the right decision to move your house forward to get it on the market.”

Some people get on the market in 48 hours. Others take a couple of weeks. Some take a year. And that’s okay. Whatever it takes for you to make your move.

Are you ready to get to get your dream?

So are you ready to move forward into the next chapter of your life?

If you want to get the most money out of that property and still feel great about selling it to someone who can then start their home sweet home.

Let’s get to work on helping you find your new home and helping another family find theirs. Then both of you can start making memories and stories in that space. 

Lori loves what she does because that's really what it is; “That's the reality of what you're doing. You're pulling up your roots, and you're saying, I'm ready to move on to the next chapter in my life, and I want someone else to put their roots here, and I want that person to succeed. So let's do it together. Let's make it a win win. Let's help everyone succeed in life.

We love helping families make their move. And let me tell you, everything is better when we are together. So let's do this together.

Our podcast is geared towards our current clients. We love to give our buyers and sellers great information. Wondering about something we haven’t covered? Send us a message. 

Lori Alvarez has been in the Real Estate Industry for almost 15 years. If you’d like to contact her call her at 909-227-4196. She loves helping families find their home sweet home.

Thanks for reading. We hope you’re ready and energized to get to work on that home sweet home!

Real Estate is an ongoing, beautiful story. That’s why we love to share ours and to help you begin yours! Tune in to the next episode where we will continue the conversation and talk about selling your house AS-IS.

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