In this interview, Pillar To Post Home Inspectors President Dan Steward shares ways your clients who are looking to sell this fall can get their home ready for prime time.

Q: For clients looking to sell this fall, what can they do to get their home in tip-top shape?

Tom Stachler: While spring is usually designated as the best time to put a home on the market, fall is also a lovely season to show a home.

Some of the most important fall clean-up tasks that should be completed include:

Clean Up the Exterior
It’s well-known that outdoor space is one of the top five most important factors for buyers, however, forgetting to clean up the yard is the No. 1 place sellers often drop the ball when preparing their home for sale. If you’re lucky enough to have magnificent trees on your property, spend a few dollars and get them trimmed so that they look their best.

-Raking leaves
-Removing loose sticks
-Weeding flower beds
-Trimming flowers, bushes and shrubs
-Aerating the lawn
-Cleaning gutters
-Painting the exterior of the house, even if you can only afford to do the trim
-De-cluttering, both inside and out

-Brewing a fresh pot of pumpkin coffee Cozy-up the Interior
Since you’re selling a home in the fall, it’s a great time to use scents to make the space more inviting. Some ways to introduce a fall scent include:

-Boiling cinnamon sticks, baked plate of cookies/smells or Burning fall scented Candles
-Fire in Fireplace

Another important tip to help prepare for showings during the fall season is to make sure you turn on all the lights. Since the number of daylight hours in the fall decreases, it’s more likely your home will be shown when it’s dark. Having all the lights on for showings will make the home appear larger and more cheerful.

Tom Stachler is a michigan licensed broker and Builder helping buy and sell homes in the Ann Arbor, Saline, Dexter, Chelsea and Ypsilanti realty markets.  Call or use the handy navigation tabs and Links on this website for home owner information or find listings to purchase or sell.  Go to RealtyQuest.info to look up the price or your home or to MyHomeTour.com to access the AA Area Board of Real Estate.  

1. Packing away personal items is one of the simplest — and cheapest — things you can do to sell your house or condo quickly.  Pack Away Personal Items and get ready for your next move. 

“The reason you want to depersonalize your home is because you want buyers to view it as their potential home,” we always say.

“Pictures are extremely distracting. You cannot believe how long potential buyers will stop and stare at people they do not know in photos,” and within reason on both these suggestions we also recommend moving any religious items from plain view.

The cost: $2 to $3 for a roll of packaging tape. You already have the scissors on hand and you can often score the boxes for free from a neighborhood store.In addition to attracting the buyer, “you want the buyer’s agent to enjoy showing the home,”  because even if this particular buyer isn’t interested, the agent might represent someone who would be a good match.

2. Clear Clutter

“This is the hardest thing for most people to do because they are emotionally attached to everything in the house,” 

We recommend removing items from countertops in the kitchen and bathrooms. We suggest putting things in boxes and neatly stacking them in the corner of the garage. Anything extra should go in a small, rented storage unit. After years of living in the same home, clutter collects in such a way that may not be evident to the homeowner. However, it does affect the way buyers see the home, even if you do not realize it. Clutter collects on shelves and countertops, and in drawers, closets, garages, attics and basements.  Look for deals on plastic bins that have lids and stack neatly on top of each other.  These make a great alternative to storage shelves in the future for not only this place, but your next home.  Label gun the front neatly to make things easy to organize and find going forward. 

Or even better, ask a friend or relative to hang on to your items for free.

“Pack up 90 percent of your home, is a worthy goal" we always say. 

The cost: The price of a storage unit varies (around $45 a month for a 5-by-5-foot unit) or you can also consider one of the "pods" type moving services that will drop and retrieve a storage container in your driveway that they will later store until needed .  

3. Rearrange and Neutralize

Rearrange the rooms in your home to reel in prospective buyers. Make sure each room has a distinct, useful purpose.

We suggest touring builders’ models to see how the rooms are furnished.

“Builders are experts on preparing their product for prospective buyers,” 

Have spare time when done? Closets should be “neat and organized.”  Even cereal boxes and can goods with labels forward organized from highest height to lowest gets noticed sub consciously by the buyers if we are splitting hairs here.   

“The pair of shoes or clothes that you haven’t worn in 10 years, get rid of at good will or Salvation Army etc. 

If your home has been painted recently, consider yourself ahead of the game. If not, take a paintbrush to the rooms that need it most. Sellers who paint the interior of their home will see a large return on the investment, this is one of the best returns on your dollar

“Fresh, neutral paint on the walls, trim and doors is worth its weight in gold — it makes everything appear clean and new,” I always say.

The cost: Anywhere from $12 to $50 per gallon for paint, plus another $10 to $50 for other painting supplies (primer, brushes, drop cloths, etc.) You can get back some of that money as a refund on your taxes for any items you donate to charity (such as those extra shoes in the closet).

4. Scrub and Deodorize

Make sure your house or condo shines from top to bottom.

Cleaning and deodorizing a home before every showing “should be first and foremost.”

The goal is to help buyers imagine themselves living in the home.  Thus the less distractions objective.

“When buyers see an unkempt home or smell something when they first walk in, they become turned off immediately,”  we always say. “They can rarely see past it to look at all of the great features in the home.”

We suggest having the house professionally cleaned so that everything is spotless — windows, sliding glass door tracks, garage, basement, ceiling fans, etc.

We also recommend baking cookies in the oven, bringing cinnamon sticks to a slow boil in a pot of water or using air freshener to mask smells before each showing. Ridding the home of litter boxes or at least stale box material is also a must.

The cost: Varies by the location and size of the home, but typically less than $100 to clean a 4-bedroom, 2,500-square-foot home. Cookie dough runs about $3.

5. Enhance Curb Appeal

Whatever you do, do not overlook the home’s exterior when selling.

“Curb appeal is just as important as cleaning the inside of the home — it’s the buyer’s first impression of your home,” are some of the things we mention in a special video we provide every one of our listing sellers.

“You only have one chance to make a first impression. …You want your home to stand out.”

Mow the lawn, make sure the sidewalk and driveway are free of clutter and debris, and ensure the house number is easily visible.

It may also be beneficial to pressure-clean the exterior of your home, driveway and sidewalk, if needed. Fresh stain on the deck or front door

Another valuable low-cost solution? Mulch.

“Mulch is cheap and covers a multitude of sins. It makes everything look trim and neat,” Landscaper and other contractors discount information is available using the link.  

The cost: Mulch costs around $3 per bag. The cost of renting a pressure washer varies, but you may be able to get one from a local hardware store for around $50 per day. It may cost double that to purchase a pressure washer. Professional cleaning with a pressure washer for a 2,500 square-foot-house may set you back about $250.

Looking to Sell your Property?  

Showing tips that will help you sell your home.  Tom Stachler is a licensed Broker and builder serving the areas near Ann Arbor, Michigan. Saline, Dexter, Chelsea homes and houses, condos for sale.  Get more information using our Links page or contractor discounts site.  We can provide you with a helpful personalized marketing plan showing how digital clout and marketing prowess prowess including staging video to watch at home and taking charge of any recommended contractors and projects aimed at getting you a higher return on your sale and investment.  We also have an automated service to get a shotgun type price for your property at www.RealtyQuest.info

When the Avengers team up to save the world, they don’t exactly tread lightly. Iron Man, Captain America, Black Widow, Hawkeye, and the rest of the S.H.I.E.L.D. super-team are constantly facing the threat of global annihilation, all while risking life and limb. But when the bone-crunching fights are over, and the dust settles, who pays for all the damage? Certainly not the bad guys!

There’s no doubt the Avengers would need a superhero-sized bundle of insurance policies to cover the financial consequences brought on by their brawls. But what, exactly, would these policies look like? There are different types of insurance policies we all may need at one time or another, especially super heros and they are provided by example below. 

How Much Coverage Would the Avengers Need?
The Hollywood Reporter sought out some hard numbers in 2012, when they asked the disaster experts at Kinetic Analysis Corp. (KAC) to calculate the economic toll the events from The Avengers would have taken on Manhattan. They estimated that the damage unleashed by Loki, his flying Chitauri minions, and S.H.I.E.L.D.’s nuclear missile would have cost New York at least $160 billion. That figure includes up to $70 billion in property damage and $90 billion in cleanup and recovery costs.

What Coverages Would the Avengers Need? While $160 billion dwarfs the $220 million budget of the film itself, it’s only a fraction of the expenses the Avengers would incur over the course of many battles. Before the next epic face-off begins, the super-team would be wise to invest in several types of insurance coverage.

Some of the Avengers have their own solo movies, but all of them would need their own insurance policies. See how one would insure the following Avengers to accommodate their unique risks.

Insuring Black Widow (AKA Natasha Romanoff)
From the moment it dropped out of the sky in the Avengers: Age of Ultron trailer, Black Widow’s Harley Davidson was a scene-stealer. Natasha is a martial arts expert who knows how to handle a bike, but even she would need motorcycle insurance for her magnificent ride.

Insuring Captain America (AKA Steve Rogers)Insuring Hawkeye (AKA Clint Barton)
When he’s not taking down aliens with his archery skills, Hawkeye lives a modest life on a farm with his small family. Mr. Barton would need a homeowners policy to protect this hideaway, but we also hope he has a safe room inside to keep his loved ones secure.

Military tests turned scrawny Steve Rogers into a super-soldier, and it was Iron Man’s dad, Howard Stark, who built Captain America’s vibranium shield. Cap should definitely invest in a personal property policy for his life-saving shield, and he would also need renters insurance for his apartment.

Insuring Iron Man (AKA Tony Stark)
Cap’s frenemy and fellow Avenger requires the most comprehensive coverage of all. As a billionaire businessman, the owner of an artificial heart, and the target of angry gods, aliens, mutants, and artificial life forms, Tony Stark would need some serious insurance coverage.

Business Owners Policy: BOP insurance would give Iron Man the basic coverage he needs to protect Stark Industries from property damage and basic liability claims. It’s basically mandatory for the owner of a big corporation, and it would cover the building in New York and other properties with Stark’s name on it. Here are the policy options he would need to consider:

General Liability Coverage: Stark owns the patent to Iron Man, and Stark Industries manufactured the suit and heart. The company’s general liability coverage would cover them if Iron Man got sued for claims of negligence, property damage, injuries, and more.

Product Liability Coverage: Even after Stark’s change of heart in the desert, his company’s weapons continue to cause collateral damage, and product liability coverage protects these goods.

Even Superheroes Need Insurance
Every time the Avengers team up to save the world from a supervillain, damage follows. It may be a small price to pay for mankind to survive another day, but we don’t live in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. We can only imagine how much havoc Captain America and Iron Man will wreak in their civil war, but if they choose the right coverages, at least they won’t owe millions (or billions!) of dollars in liability costs.  Something we should all consider from time to time when we review our policies for Home, auto and maybe a blanket policy for the gaps.  We recommend you compare pricing with three different companies and you will generally save money when you bundle coverage for two or more products (like home and auto) which is less costly than separate policies and companies.  

Tom Stachler, real, estate, one, ann arbor, saline, michigan, broker, sales, agent, houses for sale, home pricing and inventory list.. Properties for sale in Saline Michigan

The best technique for pricing a home when listing it for sale is setting the asking price just below a round number, according to recent research published by the Journal of Housing Research – an official publication of the American Real Estate Society (ARES).

“These findings will help real estate brokers and sellers of homes develop more informed listing and marketing strategies to better suit sellers’ needs,” said Ken Johnson, Ph.D., ARES publication director, real estate economist at Florida Atlantic University’s College of Business and co-developer of the Beracha, Hardin and Johnson Buy vs. Rent Index. “The results of this study take a lot of guess work out of the marketing of homes for real estate brokers.”

The study looked at 1,000 buyers in Virginia considering a pool of more than 370,000 listings. The researchers were able to determine the impact of “rounded pricing” listing strategies versus “just below pricing” listing strategies.

“Our study suggests that by using the just below pricing strategy sellers can price their home slightly higher without driving away potential buyers,” says Eli Beracha, Ph.D., of Florida International University, who conducted the study with Michael J. Seiler, Ph.D., of The College of William & Mary. “As a result, they end up selling their house for more.”

How does dropping your asking price ever so slightly impact the final outcome?

“On average, buyers are more attracted to a house priced at $199,000 than to a house priced at $200,000 and it appears that ‘just below’ pricing works out favorably for sellers in terms of their bottom line,” Beracha explains. “Based on our research, the ‘just below’ pricing strategy yields a selling price that is, on average, roughly 2.5 to 3 percent higher, $5,000 to $6,000 on a $200,000 house, compared with a rounded pricing listing strategy.”

While residential real estate agents widely disagree on the appropriate pricing strategy to use when listing residential real estate for sale, the researchers found that homebuyers more often prefer homes priced using a “just below” pricing strategy. This preference allows sellers to list their home for a higher initial listing price.

On the other hand, due to the demand effect, rounded priced homes typically have shorter time on the market and a lower discount relative to listing price. Their findings suggest that sellers’ ability to set higher listing prices for properties using a “just below” pricing strategy outweighs the lower discount and shorter time on the market associated with similar rounded priced strategy homes.

“We tested the age-old debate concerning the best technique to price a home when listing it for sale,” Seiler says. “We find that using a price just below a round number works best, particularly in connection to the left-most digit in the price. So, $199,000 works better than $200,000.”

Want to get a ball park price on your home?  Used this automated website at www.RealtyQuest.info if you are curious.  

Also, if you are first looking to purchase a home,  you might like a inventory list of homes in a certain area, having a certain size and price point.  Click here to get a list of homes currently for sale.  

tom stachler, real, estate, one, house, condo, homes, for, sale, best pricing strategy, saline, ann arbor, michigan, dexter, ypsilanti, sold, selling, agent, broker, get the best pricing model to market your home