Larry Buchanan Realtor®

Archive for the ‘Curb Appeal’ Category

In today’s market, you as the seller need every advantage that you can get in order to move your home quickly. One of the fastest ways to attract buyers is with an “Open House”. This is one of the strongest reasons to use a professional real estate agent. There are result proven steps, you the seller, must take in order to ensure the “Open House” is successful. You will find the contents of this article to be helpful in preparing your home for the showing.

You have heard the old adage that the first impression is a lasting impression. This saying is never more important than when you are trying to sell your home. This is why your home must be spotless from the top to the bottom. If you don’t have the time to do a thorough cleaning you can contract with a professional cleaning or maid service. The money you spend in this will return to you in two different ways.

The first way is it should help you get a quicker offer to the table. The 2nd and perhaps the most important for you is it will definitely enable you to increase the asking price for your home, thus recouping or possibly even doubling your return on the cleaning service.

The next important impression, which be made upon your potential buyer in going to be the way your home smells. The olfactory senses are arguably the most sensitive of the five senses. Consequently if the house does not smell clean you will immediately turn off many of your open house viewers. Of course one of the fastest ways to eliminate these odors is to have the carpets, furniture, curtains/blinds, mattresses and anything else that smells washed and steam cleaned. It is also a good idea to move pet bedding, cages and litter boxes and of course the pets completely out of the home on the day of the showing.

It is extremely important that the interior of your residence appear as spacious and open as possible when showing the house anytime. Be sure and have all the blinds/drapes open to increase the sense of space.

Take the time to eliminate all the clutter you can from the walls, end tables, entertainment centers, closets and even unnecessary furniture out of all rooms. You can pack the clutter in storage boxes and the extra furniture neatly in the garage.

Better yet you could rent a small storage space temporarily to store the excess stuff from your home. Not only will your prospective buyers be impressed with the space, you will be also. You will have a side benefit from taking this step, as it will make it much easier for your home to be kept clean while you are selling.

Another aspect of preparing for the showing of your home is to create a relaxed ambience within your home. Again this can be done quickly and simply. A few simple things like placing a white tablecloth on the dinning table with a simple vase of fresh flowers, having a tray of cookies with napkins placed on the kitchen counter, soft music playing in the background, a lit lavender candle in several rooms.

It is vitally important for the ambiance of your home that the temperature is set for maximum comfort depending on the season. These few things will make your visitors feel at home and they will remember your home, verses the others which did not take this step, because of the sense of being relaxed and feeling at home in your residence.

When you implement the steps above as a package you will find your “Open House” will be successful and may well lead to an offer being made on your home.

For more tips or to get an up to date evaluation of your home, give me a call. I always return my calls and look forward to speaking with you.

Larry Buchanan Realtor
Prudential Network Realty
904-910-0203

email: Larry@ LarryBuchananRealtor.com

Thanks for stopping by…

When you are selling your home one of the first things you must realize about the future buyers, the decision to buy your home is more of an emotional decision than it is a logical one for them.

Now this does not mean that the future buyers throw out logic all together, but it does mean the buyer will allow his emotion’s to dictate the final decision making process more so than the logical ones. Therefore your home must appeal more to the buyer’s emotions as well as the practical ones. The tips provided here will help you recognize how easy it is to appeal to the emotions of your future buyers.

As we all know the “first impression is a lasting impression” and therefore the first thing your future buyers are going to see is the front yard and the front of the home. In real estate terminology, this is often referred to as “Curb Appeal”.

Curb appeal makes a huge difference because it impresses the prospective buyers and also assures them that their new home will look good from the outside. Right from the moment they first drive up to your home they are hooked.

Having a high curb appeal means that selling your home becomes a lot easier and buyers tend to look over small things, when they are truly impressed with the curb appeal of your home. This is the very first emotion you want to trigger in your future buyers. Frankly, it’s not that difficult to do.

It is extremely important that your yard be well manicured and appears sharp and clean. Proper edging of the driveway and sidewalks will ease your potential buyer’s eyes right on up to the front exterior of your home. The front exterior walls of the home then become the focal point of your buyers.

In most cases the buyers will be checking out the exterior colors of the walls and trim. Therefore it will be necessary for you to be absolutely certain the exterior walls, at a minimum, be power washed or where necessary repainted. Color is among the top things that add to the curb appeal. When choosing colors for the repainting it can make or break the “curb appeal” of your home.

At this point you must remember that you will be repainting for the future buyers not yourself. Therefore you will have to set aside your own personal taste and think in terms of what will appeal to the buyer. However, since you don’t know what anyone buyer will like it is safest to choose what is known as a “universal color”.

In fact the original color on the home may well be just the right color. The thinking behind this is more than likely the original color blended well with the other homes in the neighborhood, appealed to you and did not stand out like a “big sore thumb”.

Please understand this does not mean you have to repaint the house the same colors of all the other homes in your neighborhood. It simply means it is best to follow the basic rule known as the “clash rule”. Which in turn simply means your property should look like a part of the whole and not clash with every other home in the neighborhood.

A very easy way to help you select the right basic colors and trim colors, for maximum “curb appeal” is to use a color matching chart. You can also take a sample of the original colors of your home to the local paint center and for the most part these centers will be able to advise you and match your colors perfectly.

Having the right “Curb Appeal” to your home will be the first emotional trigger your buyer will experience. In turn this will lead your buyer to be more open to the other emotional factors of your home.

I’m Larry Buchanan and I’m a full time Realtor. Let’s talk… call me at 904-910-0203
email: Larry@ LarryBuchananRealtor.com

Very few days go by where I do not have a conversation with a friend or business contact who must sell their home quickly. The media has done a good job of alerting everyone to the fact that the housing market has taken a dive, which definitely slowed the sale of millions of homes across the country.

If the thought of when to place your home on the market is a concern, as you continue to read, you will find that a few things have changed since the first of the year, especially in the greater Jacksonville and Jacksonville Beaches areas.

According to a recent story in the Associated Press, the fallout in regard to foreclosures seems to be affecting Ohio, Nevada, Arizona, California and Florida with the highest increases in foreclosures in the first quarter of the year.

While it’s easy to miss the positive side of this news, the impact on home buyers is on the up-swing. However, in the City of Jacksonville and the Beaches areas, home sales are gaining ground as well. I’ve been fortunate enough to find a couple of niches that are moving somewhat faster, sales wise, than the market in general.

The circumstances that support this trend are most likely tied to rising foreign interest in the US real estate market, fueled by the current weakness in the dollar. When combined with the rising number of foreclosures and the attractiveness of the US dollar’s purchasing power in many countries, the timing is right for sales to warm up in this area.

My best advice for homeowners interested in selling is to spruce up and liven up interior and external areas of your home. Particularly in the Beaches areas where traffic is becoming noticeably higher.

My advice for buyers, including investors is to shop carefully. While real estate in interior areas of Jacksonville provide good dollar values, Jacksonville’s Beaches are beginning to sell at very attractive levels. With foreign interest warming, don’t hesitate too long before starting your search. There are many hidden values just waiting for an offer.

Please feel free to call me to get your questions answered.

Best Regards,
Larry
Larry Buchanan Realtor, Prudential Network Realty
Phone: 904-910-0203
Email: Larry @LarryBuchananRealtor.com

You’re probably asking yourself, what does Larry know about wild flowers? I’m laughing out loud when I think back a few years at the easy answer I’d have for that question.

Actually, I’m a Realtor rather than a gardener. But I’ve watched how buyers respond to bright flowers and a nicely landscaped home so I thought I’d share an article with my blog readers. I assure you, curb appeal and landscaping go hand in hand when making a home more attractive….to buyers.

So what’s it take to add a little color and pazzaz to your curb appeal with wild flowers? Read on…

A wild-flower garden has an attractive sound. One thinks of long walks in the woods, collecting hands full of colorful plants, and then of the fun in fixing up a really cool wild garden.

Many people say they have no luck at all with such a garden. It is not a question of luck, but a question of understanding, for wild flowers are like people and each has its personality. What a plant has been accustomed to in Nature it desires always. In fact, when removed from its own sort of living conditions, it sickens and dies.

That is enough to tell us that we should copy Nature herself. Suppose you are hunting wild flowers. As you choose certain flowers from the woods, notice the soil they are in, the place, conditions, the surroundings, and the neighbours.

Suppose you find dog-tooth violets and wind-flowers growing near together. Then place them so in your own new garden. Suppose you find a certain violet enjoying an open situation; then it should always have the same. You see the point, do you not? If you wish wild flowers to grow in a tame garden make them feel at home. Cheat them into almost believing that they are still in their native haunts.

Wild flowers ought to be transplanted after blossoming time is over. Take a trowel and a basket into the woods with you. As you take up a few, a columbine, or a hepatica, be sure to take with the roots some of the plant’s own soil, which must be packed about it when replanted.

The bed into which these plants are to go should be prepared carefully before this trip of yours. Surely you do not wish to bring those plants back to wait over a day or night before planting. They should go into new quarters at once. The bed needs soil from the woods, deep and rich and full of leaf mold.

The under drainage system should be excellent. Then plants are not to go into water-logged ground. Some people think that all wood plants should have a soil saturated with water. But the woods themselves are not water-logged.

It may be that you will need to dig your garden up very deeply and put some stone in the bottom. Over this the top soil should go. And on top, where the top soil once was, put a new layer of the rich soil you brought from the woods.

Before planting water the soil well. Then as you make places for the plants put into each hole some of the soil which belongs to the plant which is to be put there.

I think it would be a rather nice plan to have a wild-flower garden giving a succession of bloom from early spring to late fall; so let us start off with March, the hepatica, spring beauty and saxifrage. Then comes April bearing in its arms the beautiful columbine, the tiny bluets and wild geranium.

For May there are the dog-tooth violet and the wood anemone, false Solomon’s seal, Jack-in-the-pulpit, wake robin, bloodroot and violets. June will give the bellflower, mullein, bee balm and foxglove. I would choose the gay butterfly weed for July. Let turtle head, aster, Joe Pye weed, and Queen Anne’s lace make the rest of the season brilliant until frost.

Wow…I didn’t realize how much reading a simple process could be:) But at least now you have the basics and with a little help from our always varying NE Florida weather, you’ll probably amaze yourself with the results of your wild flower garden. Just take a little time each week to stop back to review this article.

But in case you’d prefer to explore other ideas for improving your curb appeal I’ve got an option for you.

Click on this link for details about a great book, simply called: Curb Appeal

There are great pictures and descriptions of the types of small changes that can make a huge difference in how your home presents itself to prospective buyers.

I hope you find this somewhat lengthy article to be useful information. Please feel free to leave your comments and questions.

Larry
Larry Buchanan Realtor
Prudential Network Realty
Call: 904-910-0203
email: Larry@LarryBuchananRealtor.com