Tips for Real Estate Investors

Accompany your home inspector during the home inspection on all potential properties. The home inspector will often mention repairs or replacements that are not necessary right away but may be needed in the near future. These things are often not put in the final inspection report but are good to know as a new property owner. For example, a furnace may run fine now but the home inspector may inform you that it's near the end of it's useable life and probably won't last more than 3 years. This information could save you an uncomfortable ride in a blizzard at 2 a.m.

Staging Tips for Sellers

A little paint goes a long way in adding new life to things you may not notice but your potential buyers will. Walk around the front of your home and really look at what looks haggard and worn by age or weather. Things such as the mailbox, garage door, railings, and window trim can age your home and make it look sloppy. A new coat of paint on these things are a great way to give your home a shot of botox instead of the whole facelift saving you time and money.

Staging tips for home sellers: The Yard

The yard of your home is very important when you are trying to sell. Everyone makes a snap judgement about your home as soon as they drive up. It's a harsh reality but it is reality. Make your yard look as appealing as possible by keeping the lawn decorations to a minimum. Remove any decorations that are not in "season" ( no Christmas in July please) and keep the cutesy ornaments to only a few tasteful ones. Believe it or not, some people get freaked out by an entire army of funky gnomes and fake animals in frozen poses. You want to appeal to as many buyers as possible and a hundred different wooden signs with funny sayings is not the way to do it. So box up those lawn ornaments and save them for your next home.

Buying Your First Rental Investment Property

Congratulations on considering buying an investment property in the rental market. The rental market can be a very lucrative form of investment, when done correctly. Before buying, it is very important to go to the Code Enforcement Office (or whatever it may be called in that area) responsible for the area in which you are looking. You want to get your hands on all the regulations, rules, codes, and laws that effect the rental market in that area. No two areas are the same and they all have regulations that can severely complicate your life if you do not plan ahead for them. These rules vary from the number of unrelated tenants allowed to the types of trash cans allowed. Do not ignore these rules or try to "get away" with not following them! As my very successful attorney father-in-law states "You can't fight City Hall". So save yourself many sleepless nights and determine if the rules of a town or city are ones that work with your lifestyle. If not, move on to another area. Rental property investment is supposed to create wealth not gray hair.

Staging Tips for Home Sellers: Family Photos

This advice will be unpopular but it will help. I guarantee it. Remove the majority of your family photos from walls, mantles, and tables. You want potential buyers to walk through your home and see it as their home with their family photos on the walls and mantles. Believe it or not potential buyers get distracted very easily and if they are focused on great grandma Pearl's giant mole they are not focused on your beautiful hardwood floors. Your home may have been where many fond family memories were made but you want a buyer to imagine creating their own fond family memories in your home and they can't do that with Uncle Fred's bucktooth smile staring back at them.

Staging Tip for Home Sellers: Furniture

Remove excess furniture from the rooms in your home. Potential buyers want to see if their furniture will fit and if you have grandma's extra dresser filled with doilies and grandpa's night stand filled with pipes in addition to your own bed set, the room will look cluttered and worst of all SMALL. You want your rooms to look as large as possible and this effect is created by less furniture not more. As ridiculous as it sounds, potential buyers will judge your home by your furniture to a certain degree. So if you have very dated or tattered items, you may want to consider an upgrade or at least removing them to someones garage until your house is sold. Best advice is to have an objective 3rd party (real estate agent would be the best choice) look at your home with fresh eyes and give you the harsh reality about the way your home will show to a potential buyer. This isn't the best part of our job, but it will help your home sell faster and for more money, which is our goal as well as yours. So remember it's not a personal attack, we know it is hard for someone living in a house to see the small things that turn off buyers because you "don't" see them everyday.

For Sale By Owner Tip: Open House Safety

Always let potential buyers walk ahead of you while you point out certain rooms and features. For example, say, "the bathroom is ahead on your right", while gesturing for them to go ahead of you. You want them to get the full view of all rooms without your body blocking some of it and you are also not trapped inside a room in case things go south. Your greatest strength is your instinct and if you get an uneasy feeling about a person, male or female, let them go into the house alone and walk outside into the front yard and pretend to answer a text or phone call. Tell them you are waiting for someone (broker, husband, etc) to arrive and you don't want them to miss the property but will kindly answer any questions they have after they view the property. There is nothing wrong with saving face and being safe.