Selling Your Home During The Holidays - Decorating Tips To Help You Sell

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It's that time of year - holiday parties, gift-giving, and fresh snow. Okay, so it doesn't snow in San Diego. But with home prices in San Diego increasing, many are selling their homes this holiday season. And if you are selling, you might want to consider these tips to get buyers in the right spirit to buy your home. 

CLEAN AND STAGE
Staging your home can make a huge difference when selling your home. When people walk into your home, they want to invision it as their own. By decluttering your living space, you'll help buyers feel better when they walk through your home. However, if the rooms are already piled high with clutter, your reindeer collection is only going to add a sense of overcrowding. It's okay to put your favorite holiday decorations out, but try to keep the space clean.

COMPLEMENT YOUR PALETTE
Before you begin untangling your tinsel, make your holiday collection match your current decor. If your living room is painted a soft shade of red, ditch the red garland and opt for white snowflackes or silver ornaments. And if you've got an earthy color scheme already implemented in your home, choose rich tones. Cranberries, greens, and gold are always winners. 

GO LIGHT ON LIGHTS
This is always a tough one for homeowners. But when you're selling your home during the holiday season, skip the inflatable snowmans, the trees filled with lights, and the reindeer on the rooftop. Try to tone down any light displays while your home is on the market. Instead, use simple string lights to help play up your home's architecture. 

MIND THE TREE
A tall tree can help you show off the two-story great room. A skinny tree will help you save space if you live in an already small living room. 

CLEAR THE CLUTTER
Don't feel obligated to hang every ornament you own. Many people tend to use all the extra space they have in their home during the holidays, but remember - you want to make your home look as spacious as possible. Limit yourself when pulling out the holiday decorations. 

Just remember, as much as you miss your Santa figurines, perhaps with a bit of luck, you'll be celebrating next year's holidays in a new home! And don't worry - you can decorate that place with as many reindeers and ornaments you can get your hands on! 

Happy holiday decorating!

Your Local San Diego Real Estate Expert,

Selling Your Home: 3 Must-Knows Before You List

Sometimes the hardest part of selling a home is making the decision to sell it. Our homes give us roots, provide sanctuary, house memories and, hopefully, give us some financial security. It's a huge decision to sell a home.

Once made, however, additional decisions will come fast and furious, so take some time now, before the frenzy, to understand three salient points about the successful sale of a home in today's real estate marketplace.

What is Market Value?

One of the most challenging aspects of selling a home is determining the list price. Many homeowners will go online to find homes nearby that are for sale and base their price assumption on those that are most similar.

The list price of a home, however, is a fantasy. It represents an amount of money the seller thinks, or hopes the home will bring. Until the home sells, he may be right or he may be wrong.

Buyers set market value for homes. What a knowledgeable, willing, and unpressured buyer pays for a home is the home's true market value. Therefore, when pricing a home for the market, one must always look at the sold prices of similar homes nearby.

This is the method both real estate agents and appraisers use when determining a home's market value.

First Impressions Matter

Think back to when you were house hunting. Were there houses that you arrived at that you just couldn't bear to get out of the car to look at? Chipped or peeling paint, sagging window and door screens, and overgrown or dead landscaping do not make a good first impression.

Before you do anything else, clean your house, inside and out. Make cosmetic repairs, especially outdoors where the house makes its first impression. Even if it's merely a new coat of paint on the front door, shiny new house numbers and some fresh mulch in the planting beds, it may help folks want to see more.

Don't neglect the interior either. If you don't know where to start, take a look at some websites with ideas on how to declutter and stage the home.

Don't Attempt This on Your Own

I know what you're thinking: Of course a real estate agent is going to tell me not to take the for-sale-by-owner route. So, I won't ask you to take just my word for it. Let's look at the cold, hard numbers.

First, only 9 percent of homeowners attempt to sell their homes without the aid of an agent, according to the National Association of Realtors® (NAR). Of those, almost half said they took this route because they were selling their home to someone they knew.

The next most commonly stated reason that a homeowner gave for not using an agent was that he or she didn't want to pay the real estate commission. That's understandable when one isn't sure exactly what an agent does to get a home sold. Once you get a look at that list, you'll understand that you definitely get what you pay for.

You should also take into consideration the fact that a home that is for sale by the owner is considered a bargain to most homebuyers. Many will walk in expecting you to kick back some of that money you're saving by not using an agent. This is why, according to NAR, homes sold by agents sell for 16 percent more than those sold by owner.

Selling a home is a big deal and, thankfully, something we don't often do. When it's time to sell yours, start with the basics, as outlined above, and you'll be ready to list your home before you know it.

Your Local San Diego Real Estate Expert,

Stephen Nissou
Nissou Realty Group   |   Keller Williams Realty
680 Fletcher Parkway, #100
El Cajon, CA 92020
Office 619-873-2772   |   Cell 619-250-4541
www.StephenNissou.com   |   www.NissouRealtyGroup.com
Stephen@StephenNissou.com

CalBRE # 01443193