Homes in HRM
Your home for Real Estate Services within
the Halifax Regional Municipality!
Sheila Banser
Phone: 902.830.8757
Fax: 902.455.6738
E-mail: sheilabanser@royallepage.ca
General Real Estate Articles
The Trading Spaces Effect
What
it Means for You!
There is a new effect that has hit the Real Estate market in the past
5 years, and I call it the “Trading Spaces Effect”. What is the Trading
spaces Effect? Put Simply, it is the new STANDARD that you have to meet
to put your house on the market! With the glut of home design, redecorating
and staging shows that have flooded television and magazine racks in the
past few years, today’s buyer is looking for each listing to be presented
as if it were a model home. So what can you do to combat this effect?
There are a few strategies that you can employ.
First, the bad news. No longer can you have your 15 year old wallpaper
on the wall and expect people to “look past it” when they come in to potentially
purchase your house. Let me tell you, there is only one way to have them
look past it – Price it so cheap that it is worth their while to do so!
This is obviously NOT the objective of most sellers, so it is probably
worth your time to strip that old wallpaper down and repaint. It is,
in fact, probably worth your money to pay someone else to do it for you!
With that in mind, however, don’t necessarily grab the sledgehammer and
start gutting your home to rework it. The Good News is, that most of
the stuff that you see being done on TV is relatively inexpensive, and
can be recreated in your home to give you that leg up on the competition.
Remember, despite the fact that buyers are demanding this sort of presentation
now, there are still a number of people who are simply not willing to
put the work in to try and sell there house. Think how much better yours
will look with a few dollars and some elbow grease! Here are some tips
for some of the cheaper things you need to do before you get your home
ready to sell.
- Paint – anything
that needs it, inside and out. Taupes, Beiges, Soft Colours, basically
anything that is very Neutral remains the key. People seem to be drawn
to the colours in the Chocolate/Mocha family right now.
- Garden – Weed
and Mulch your gardens, mow the lawn more frequently, trim back any
overgrown trees or bushes. This makes the yard look larger and better
maintained.
- De-Clutter
– Same concept here. Makes the house look bigger and better maintained.
People like a peaceful, organized environment, not your junk lying around!
- Slip Covers – Still using that same couch that you had in college? That’s OK – you just need a good, solid-coloured slip cover that compliments your décor.
Clean, Clean & Clean – Again, speaks to Good maintenance. This is isn’t your typical clean up for a few minutes before dinner. You need to clean things that you would otherwise think of. Clean the laundry tub, the storage room and the garage workbench. Trust us, it makes a difference!
The Trading Spaces Effect - What can you do to compete?
No longer can you have your 15 year old wallpaper on the wall and expect people to "look past it".
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