Myrtle Beach Real Estate

There are many tips that I can give you in preparing your house for a sale that will happen quicker and retrieve more money from the Real Estate Market. If you are planning on living in your home while it is on the market, it is utterly important that you go into “Neat Freak Mode”, meaning that you completely declutter your home, make repairs and complete home projects that you have been putting off. Here are some things that you can do in “Neat Freak Mode” to help the value of your home and hopefully reduce the number of days that your property sits on the market.

1. Declutter- I believe that clutter is the number 1 turnoff when a prospective buyer is viewing your home. Throw away, donate or place the objects that have no immediate use in storage. Better yet, have a garage sale and use the money to repair/replace some of the other objects that I am going to talk about. Nonetheless, make your property as free of these useless objects as possible. Clean of your counters; remove some of your furniture to open up rooms and dust and air out the place.
2. Hide Your Trophies and Achievements- I know that you probably don’t like this idea, but you want the prospective buyer to view the home and not read about your life history. Also, you may have something that you are proud of that could turn-off the buyers. For example, you may have a Deer Head or War Medals that the Buyer just can not look past. By hiding these trophies or achievements you will increase the probabilities that buyer’s will view your home for what it is.
3. Remove Personal Photos and Family Memories- I know that this is the most difficult item about selling your home to swallow. But, the truth is, this is a big item to consider. You want the Prospective Buyer to view the home as their own. We have a saying that, when a Buyer begins to imagine their furniture in the rooms of the house, they are one step closer to making an offer. By taking down person photos and family memories you increase the chances that the buyer will be able to imagine the home as their own.
4. Destroy Odors-Ask someone their honest opinion of how your home smells. Something that you live with and smell everyday might not be appealing to a prospective buyer. Notice that I said, “Destroy Odors” and not “Cover Up Odors”. Destroying the odor will make sure a pleasant experience for the Buyer. If you just cover up the odor, the buyer will most likely not enjoy the smell that you are covering it up with.
5. Spend Money on the Curb Appeal- Besides paint and mild fixer uppers on the inside of the house; I wouldn’t spend much money on the inside of the home. Where your money will go a long way is on the outside of your home, particularly the front. Spend money on improving landscaping, painting the front door, adding planters on near the front door and so on. Prospective Buyers spend a lot of time looking at the front of your house. They look at the front of the home when they are driving up to the property, when they are waiting on the door to be unlocked and when they leaving the property. Curb Appeal is the first and last impression.
6. Make your Home Current and Trendy- I can’t give you much advice on this, but I would recommend that you don’t spend a lot of money and use the furniture that you have to accomplish this. Pick up some Home Decorating Magazines for tips on how to make your home look current with little money. Buyers want to purchase homes that are up-to-date.
7. Spacious and Open Feeling- This has to do with decluttering your home and removing Furniture that may take up to much space, removing items that you don’t use often. Spacious does not only mean your living room. The Master Bedroom, Bathrooms and Kitchen are just as important. Make sure that the countertops are decluttered and that the closets are neat and clean.
8. Lighten the Home- Open up the blinds, paint the walls a neutral color, and purchase lighter window treatments. If the home has a light feeling, it will add a feeling of warmth to a prospective buyer.

Getting your home ready for sale is not one of my clients’ favorite activities, but the ones that take the time to get their home ready for sale, are glad that they did when the offer comes in. It is proven that homes that are well taken care of bring offers closer to asking price.

Are you thinking of selling your Property “For Sale By Owner”? Here are a few things that you should think about and consider before continuing this quest yourself. First of all, most people sell “For Sale By Owner”, because they feel that they are competent of marketing their property in a way that will save them healthy real estate commissions. The fact of the matter is that they are leaving themselves wide open for disastrous lawsuits and almost every “For Sale By Owner Transaction” that takes place.

 There are a few that you need to consider before placing you property on the market. If you find these factionsof selling your property ridiculous, think again. We are in a “Sue Happy” country, and more and more people are being awarded settlements for these ridiculous factions everyday. There are three big No Nos that come to my mind that you should take into consideration before selling “For Sale By Owner” or deciding to hire a professional.

1. State of South Carolina Residential Property Disclosure Statement- It is law in the State of South Carolina to disclose and pertinent information that you have about the property to the party in the transaction that is purchasing the property. The Property Disclosure Statement is a four page document that you should present to the buyer before an offer to purchase is made on the property. Buyers have a right under law to know about any latent defects with the property. Be very careful if you don’t have one of these forms to present the buyer.

2. Fair Housing Act- This Act Prohibits discrimination in the sale, rental, and financing of dwellings, and in other housing-related transactions, based on

• Race
• Color
• National Origin
• Religion
• Sex
• Familial Status
• Handicap

You may not know that you are discriminating, but it is very easy for one to do when they are dealing directly with a buyer and don’t know what to watch out for. As Realtors handling the multitude of Buyers looking at your home, we take a big liability off your back with this one. This leads into the third subject that is a real biggy that you may overlooked. The way that you advertise your property may be discriminating, because of the “Federal Fair Housing Act”

3. Descrimitory Advertising- What makes for a good Clean Ad? You may think that a walk to the park or beach sounds great. Wrong answer… You have just descriminated against a handicap person. You may think that “Perfect for Empty-Nesters” sounds good. Wrong again… You just descriminated against a familiar status. As a matter of fact you have to be extra careful when talking directly to buyers. Your first instinct is to sell your home, but what do you say when the buyer ask you about your neighbors. You are leaving yourself wide open on this one.

When Realtors show houses, they let the buyers formulate their own opinions. After the buyer formulates an opinion, a good Realtor will use their expertise to overcome any objections that your buyer may have.

You may think that you selling “For Sale By Owner” is going to save you money in exchange for just a little bit of your time and money. The fact is that you are one person with very little up-to-date marketing experience; you don’t know the laws of today; and as I said you are only one person with limited access to the Internet and the local media. Let a Realtor market your property and you will get exposure to the other 4000 agents around Myrtle Beach; you will gain access to the 70% of buyer’s who are already working with a Realtor before they begin looking at properties. More exposure to your property increases demand to your property which will also increase the price that you can expect to receive in less amount of time. You are going to be steering yourself clear of many liabilities, because you are not dealing directly with the buyer.

With all this in consideration, is “For Sale By Owner” really saving you Money?