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37% of properties that sold last month along the Front Range had a price reduction at some point during the listing period.
Property owners who have to reduce their price take an average of 58 days to receive an offer.
Those who don’t have to reduce their price only take 13 days.
This stat obviously speaks to the importance of pricing your property right on day one.
When you’re selling your home, one of the most important jobs you have is to make your home more attractive to prospective buyers. According to MoneyWise, some of the biggest turnoffs for buyers are a messy, dirty, or smelly home. Thankfully, this is an area that you have complete control over, and with some helpful tips you can clean and stage your home to show off it’s beauty. All your spaces will be inspected during a showing, but there are a couple key rooms that are especially important to focus on to impress the buyers.
Kitchen: Clean and Free of Clutter
The kitchen in every home is a source of love and congregation, where food is prepared for the family and loved ones tend to gather. First, you want to thoroughly clean and organize the entire kitchen, including drawers, cabinets, and pantry. Don’t forget the appliances – clean all the refrigerator shelves, wipe out the microwave, and deep clean your oven. Next, you will need to stage your kitchen. Staging is decorating with the intention to increase attractiveness to the strangers surveying your home. The less you have on your counters the better, so put away all the small appliances and containers. Keep only a pretty bowl full of lemons or limes to add a pop of color. The kitchen can be a difficult area to keep clean while selling your home because you are still using it several times a day. In the coming weeks, take the time to completely clean up after every meal, even when you are in a hurry.
Living Room: Staged to Perfection
Your living room is likely the focal point of your home, as it is often the largest space and the one where most time is spent. According to House Beautiful, the living room will help you sell your home more than any other room in the house. As with all the other spaces in your home, you will need to deep clean thoroughly and keep it tidy as the home sits on the market. Most important for this particular room is flawless staging. Living rooms tend to be a home for beloved knick-knacks, family photos, and cozy collections of favorite blanket and pillows. All this personalization needs to go. If staging feels impossible to you, consider hiring a professional home stager to help out. A beautifully staged home will sell faster and at a higher cost than a home left in its original state.
Master Bedroom: Peaceful Retreat
Lastly, the master bedroom needs your attention. This is the place in your home that signals rest, a peaceful retreat from the busyness of life. In addition to a deep clean, you need to declutter and organize the space well. Take advantage of storage space underneath your bed, out of sight from prospective buyers. Utilize functional furniture like decorative trunks and storage ottomans to store your belongings and clear off surfaces. A decluttered space is the first step to creating a peaceful retreat. Next, paint your walls a calming neutral color like soft gray or pale blue, and replace heavy curtains with light sheer panels to allow natural light to shine through. With a few simple touches, your bedroom will be showroom-ready.
Of course, not everyone has time in their busy schedules to devote to cleaning on a regular basis. If you discover you’re having a difficult time making it all come together, look into hiring a housekeeping service, one that can help you keep your kitchen spotless, your bedrooms tidy, and your house ready for any potential last-minute showings.
By focusing on these three main rooms – your kitchen, living room, and master bedroom – you will have an easier time getting your home cleaned and staged. It is a stressful time putting your house on the market, but remember that it’s only temporary. In no time, your beautiful home will sell to the perfect buyer, and you will be able to move on to your next adventure.
Kris Louis is mom to two rambunctious boys. Her oldest is 10 and her youngest is 7. A former advertising copywriter, she recently created parentingwithkris.com, where she puts her skills to work writing about the trials and tribulations of parenting. Kris, her husband, and two boys live in Durham, NC.
Photo Credit: Pixabay
They are surprised to learn that, in most cases, the “For Sale” sign does indeed represent a home that is actively for sale.
For example, today in Fort Collins there are 655 single-family homes on the market. 290 of these are under contract and will be closing soon. 365 of these are still active. So, 56% of the signs in Fort Collins are in front of homes that are still available.
Here are the specific numbers for each of our Northern Colorado markets:
• Fort Collins = 56%
• Loveland = 57%
• Windsor = 58%
• Greeley = 41%
Did my property really go up that much?
Here are some stats that will help you answer that question.
First, you need to know that property assessments are done by the County every two years. So, as you look at how much your property increased in value according to the County, keep in mind that this increase is over a two-year period.
Next, it will help you to know how much our markets increased, on average, over the last two years. This data comes from our most trusted source, the Federal Housing Finance Authority.
Two Year Appreciation:
• Metro Denver = 18.65%
• Larimer County = 17.60%
• Weld County = 22.31%
• Boulder County = 16.28%
If you have questions about your new valuation or how to protest your property’s assessment, we would be happy to help. Just reach out and let me know.
Well, it depends!
First, let’s define each market. According to research, a buyer’s market exists when there is more than 4-6 months of inventory on the market.
If it would take longer than 4-6 months to sell out all of the inventory currently for sale, then it is a buyer’s market.
This calculation is obviously a function of the amount of inventory on the market and the current pace of sales.
A seller’s market exists if it would take shorter than 4-6 months.
So, which is it?
It depends very much on the price range.
Here are the numbers for Northern Colorado:
• $300,000 to $400,000 = 0.9 months
• $400,000 to $500,000 = 1.9 months
• $500,000 to $750,000 = 2.3 months
• $750,000 and over = 5.8 months
So, most price ranges are a clear seller’s market. It’s not until $750,000 and over that the market starts to approach a more balanced state.
Here’s one more thing that might help you…
You probably don’t need a reminder that this is tax season.
Not only because tax returns are due in two weeks but also because you will soon receive your property tax notification in the mail.
Every two years your County re-assesses the value of your property and then sends that new value to you.
When this happens, many of our clients:
Good news! We have a webinar that will help you. On the webinar we will show you:
You can listen to the webinar live or get the recording. In any case, you can sign up at www.WindermereWorkshop.com
The webinar is April 17th at 10:00. If you can’t join live, go ahead and register so you can automatically receive the recording.
This is a complimentary online workshop for all of our clients. We hope you can join!
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Not only because tax returns are due in two weeks but also because you will soon receive your property tax notification in the mail.
Every two years your County re-assesses the value of your property and then sends that new value to you.
When this happens, many of our clients:
Good news! We have a webinar that will help you. On the webinar we will show you:
You can listen to the webinar live or get the recording. In any case, you can sign up at www.WindermereWorkshop.com
The webinar is April 17th at 10:00. If you can’t join live, go ahead and register so you can automatically receive the recording.
This is a complimentary online workshop for all of our clients. We hope you can join!
The results are in from FHFA.gov’s latest ranking of the top performing markets in the U.S.
Each quarter they track 245 cities across the country and rank their real estate markets by home price appreciation.
What’s the highest performing city the the U.S.
Vegas! Their prices have gone up 17.63% in the last year.
How about the worst?
Bloomington, Illinois sits in dead last where prices went down 3.58%
Here’s how Colorado cities are ranked:
• #10 Colo. Springs = 11.41%
• #16 Greeley = 10.68%
• #59 Fort Collins = 8.29%
• #64 Denver = 8.15%
• #97 Boulder = 6.85%
