Increase Your Chances of selling Your Home

(We apologize for not blogging in a while. It has been a busy winter.)

In a healthy real estate market, buyers and sellers have to work to make reasonable concessions. Buyers have to respect the value of a seller's home and sellers have to be realistic about what buyers can and cannot live with.

One of these adjustments involves preparing homes for sale.

While preparing to sell and show your home, the most important thing to remember is not to take anything personally. Buyers are picky and they can afford to be, when there is a lot of inventory. Like you, they want to live in a home that they are confident will look and feel like home. Simply put, that's hard to do that when they can't see past your treasures.

Realty Times columnist Phoebe Chongchua just published an article about increasing the odds of your sale by "cleaning out the clutter."

"Realtors will tell you when they show buyers a cluttered home, no matter how lovely it could be, prospective buyers just can't picture it and will usually pass or make an offer for much less than the seller thinks the home is worth. Yes, packaging matters. It matters when you're buying a product in a store and it matters when you're selling your home."

We've walked through so many homes over the years it may be easier for us to imagine what fresh paint or fewer toys could do to help make a home more appealing. But buyers don't want to work that--and, this is key, they don't have to. They can probably find a new home where the builder is offering outstanding incentives, or they'll find a more motivated seller.

In short, save time on the front end, bite the bullet and pack your (gulp) "clutter" away. Give yourself a better shot at getting into your next dream home where you can display all your wonderful things!