North Dallas 'Burbs Real Estate Talk

Your home equity is one of the best & biggest growth assets you have. It’s one of the reasons you chose to purchase a home instead of renting one. And many homeowners in the Dallas area are in the fortunate position of location, for we have managed to escape major home value declines and instead survived the housing collapse from 2006-2011 with mostly flat home prices. Now that the market is turning in favor of sellers (especially under $400,000) it’s smart to protect & increase the equity you’ve managed to maintain.

There are several,”no-brainer” ways to create home equity–carefully location & property selection, making a decent down payment, not refinancing unless you plan on staying long enough to recover closing costs, and not borrowing against your equity.

However, if the goal is maximizing equity, homeowners must also consider the importance of maintaining the physical condition and visual appeal of the property.

Address repairs, painting, and updating issues as they come up. That way, when you get that itch to find a new home, you won’t have a backlog of “to-do’s” haunting you. AND repair negotiations will go much more smoothly.

So repairs are done, now you are all set to put it on the market, right?…well, ALMOST!

Before a property hits the MLS, it must be styled inside & out in order to attract and engage potential buyers. I write this thinking, “Do I really need to tell sellers this? Doesn’t everyone know and understand this already?” For those of us that are HGTV junkies, probably not. But it never ceases to amaze me that I am continually showing homes that are not ready to be on display. Why? Please check out my Home Styling/Staging page for a quick reference. As a Realtor who prepares homes for sale–in every way–, I can tell you without a doubt that investing $100 for our one-hour staging (or I like to call it “styling” ) consultation and following through with the resulting plan of action will dramatically increase the dollar amount of the offers that come in and decrease days on market. 

Styling a home to present to the market is a lot more than simply decorating. It’s about addressing how a home FEELS. Every space has an ENERGY. What kind of energy have you created in your home? Does it feel… Welcoming? Nurturing? Spacious? Cared for? (These are rhetorical questions since the best person to answer is many times not the homeowner.) Many homeowners are accustomed to seeing the home a certain way– it’s very difficult for them to be completely objective.

When showing homes to buyers, I am continually surprised at the number of sellers who do not take the necessary steps to prepare for potential buyer traffic. There are two types of pre-owned home buyers. Those that are looking for distressed property bargains to rehab, and those looking for move-in ready homes. We are only concerned with the latter here. When a buyer walks through a home that has NOT been carefully prepared for their arrival and set to impress results in the buyer feeling deeply disappointed. Even if everything else about the house is perfect, they will scratch it off the list. Sellers should not make the mistake of “testing the market” by waiting until it’s too late to reap the full rewards of proper styling preparation right out of the gate.

Think about how a space in your home would make a potential buyer FEEL…

For $100, you get a one-hour consultation consisting of a property walk (inside and out), verbal advice, and a follow-up written report of actions steps to take. If you decide you need a Pro to complete the action steps, we of course will work our magic to transform your house into a multiple-offer worthy property!

UPDATE: Read this article on How to Use Buyer Psychology to Stage a Home for Sale!