It is quite often that buyers will find the right house with the wrong yard…and vice versa…the right yard, wrong house.

A real estate buyer searches for just the right fit, often starting with resale properties in established neighborhoods or on the beach and ending up with new construction.

What does an established neighborhood mean to you?

To me, it’s the older neighborhoods with wonderful outside elements that help to make a house have the feel of a home.

The land, the yard, the Azalea’s and Rhododendrons that burst into bloom each Spring.

What does an old neighborhood mean to you?Large lots? Grand Southern Magnolias and stately Oak trees?

When you drive up to a house like that, it feels like home…you wish that it was your home!

In the South Brunswick NC real estate market, you’ll quickly learn that the beauty of our older neighborhoods start at the ground level and work their way skywards.

The lots are larger, nicely set back from the street with a front porch and a front yard…large trees offering a canopy over the fenced backyard.

Natural privacy is found by ample spacing between you and your neighbors home.

These homes should sell quickly, right?

Well, not necessarily.

The homebuyers drive through the older neighborhood…….”It’s just GORGEOUS!” they exclaim.

COSMETIC UPDATES NEEDED

Ahh…then they make an appointment to view a few of the older homes.

The carpet is a fashionable olive green. The Kitchen has harvest gold appliances, lots of heavy floral wallpaper in the Dining Room and Bedrooms…very clean but very dated.

The residential property disclosure sheet states that there are hardwood floors under the carpet. Well, unfortunately, without viewing those hardwood floors, the buyers are uncomfortable in making any further inquiries.

These are homes that have fantastic potential!

Given a few basic cosmetic upgrades, these homes could move off of the market quickly. Instead, they are gathering dust.

GET SERIOUS OR YOUR HOME WON’T SELL

If you are serious about selling, first get serious about your home’s selling condition.

If you don’t take this all important step of condition and staging, your home will be left to linger on the market at a cost greater than you will ever believe.

It’s the almighty price reduction!

This takes place when you have to lower your price every few months to see which buyer will finally rise up to greet you with an offer. Not any offer, a low ball offer. Because at this point, you have been on the market long enough to look like easy pickin’s.

So, the only way to sell your home for top dollar, will be to have it in top condition. Make some small updates in your kitchen or bathrooms. Spend a couple hundred dollars on paint to make thousands more.

Take a look around every room, once, twice, ten times, a hundred times. Is it cluttered? Are countertops, shelves, desks, end tables for the most part cleaned off? Can buyers walk through and visualize their own furniture there? If need be, rent a small storage space to remove items, not all, just enough to give that ‘home feel’ but allows prospective buyers to see their couch or their kitchen table where yours currently sits.

There are smart, small costs and expenses you can incur to improve the overall look of your home when you get ready to sell that can reap higher rewards.

Remember the old adage “It takes money to make money”? Making small improvements in your home preparations to sell can give you greater returns or at the very least, prevent you from having to reduce your list price that leaves you disappointed.

I’ve helped many sellers and investors know where to make some updates to greatly improve their bottom line.

Contact me if you’d like me to take a look and give you some ideas!