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For Competitive Metro Chicago Real Estate Market, RE/MAX Agents Offer Low-Cost Ways to Sell Faster
Those planning to sell their home in 2010 to take advantage of the demand created by the expanded homebuyer tax credit will need to capture a competitive edge if they don’t want their home to linger unsold for months. Fortunately, getting that edge need not cost a bundle, according to Jim Merrion, regional director of the RE/MAX real estate network in the metropolitanChicago real estate market.
“There are a number of highly effective but relatively inexpensive ways to make a home stand out, and that is vital in today’s market, which has more than nine months of inventory on hand,” he said. In the third quarter of 2009, homes that sold in the Chicago area were listed for an average of 167 days, a number calculated using only the market time of residences on which sales were closed. Many other homes sat on the market even longer and did not find a buyer.
One good strategy sellers should consider is having their home professionally inspected before putting it on the market. That is the advice of Spero Speropoulos of RE/MAX TEAM 2000 in Palos Heights, Ill., who says he personally pays for an inspection of each property he lists.
“We have a pre-listing inspection done and then get estimates from a local handyman service of what it would cost to address all the issues uncovered by the inspection,” Speropoulos said.
“Typically the seller will make some of the repairs, and we will disclose the other items to all potential buyers so they understand fully what they are getting. That way, when buyers have their own inspection, there shouldn’t be any surprises, and it won’t be necessary to reopen the contract negotiation.”
With a little good advice from a knowledgeable real estate agent, most homeowners can do much of the work required to get their home ready to list, but for those who hate that sort of work or face other demands that leave no time for handling the chores themselves, investing in professional assistance can pay for itself.
“If house cleaning, for example, isn’t your thing, hiring a cleaning service can be extremely worthwhile, according to Cynthia Caba, who serves the Barrington Hills area and is affiliated with RE/MAX Advisors in Lake Villa, Ill.
“Squeaky clean houses are much easier to sell, even if the interior is dated,” Caba said.
And once the house is clean, Caba stresses the importance of proper lighting to show it off.
“You want the lights on and the drapes pulled back when a buyer walks in. Leaving the lights on all day may seem wasteful, but it is a small investment and a good one if you know there will be a showing. If the agent doing the showing has to walk around turning on lights for the buyers, the home won’t have the same welcoming impact,” she said.
Another step that can help sell a house at little or no cost, according to Elise Livingston of RE/MAX Plaza in Richmond, Ill., is to make sure each room has a single purpose.
“You don’t want a desk in your master bedroom or a shelving unit filled with kids toys in the dining room. If you have double-use rooms, you send the message that the house isn’t big enough,”Livingston said, who also emphasizes the value of curb appeal when advising sellers.
She urges them to focus on the front yard and front door because buyers often have quite a bit of time to size up that area as they wait to enter the home. Spending a small amount on some fresh landscaping, a new mailbox or similar improvements can help make a buyer’s first impression of a home strongly positive, rather than blandly neutral or even negative, according to Livingston.
The improvement that can pay the biggest dividend to sellers, in the view of Emily Jeffries, an agent at RE/MAX Exclusive Properties in Chicago, is fresh paint.
“Painting a home just before putting it on the market lets the seller do two things at once and at a very reasonable price,” said Jeffries. “First off, fresh paint lets buyers know the home has been well maintained. It also can cover over unusual paint colors, which might suit the seller’s taste but can drive away a potential buyer.
Even though buyers know they are likely to repaint a room once the home is theirs, some will be so put off by a color they find offensive that they won’t be able to focus on anything else about the home.”
The condition of floors and carpeting is another area where sellers can spend modest amounts and significantly improve the appeal of their property, according to Nanette Bauer of RE/MAX Suburban in Glen Ellyn, Ill.
She estimates that when someone walks into a room, 65 percent of the impression they get comes from what’s on the floor, so it pays to clean or replace dirty carpeting and refinish damaged wood floors.
These RE/MAX agents also cited a number of other low-cost ways to add sales appeal to a home:
- Replace dated looking older light fixtures with something new, contemporary and modestly priced;
- Replace worn or dated faucets, doorknobs, cabinet hardware;
Remove wallpaper and replace it with paint
- Bring in a professional home stager for a one-hour consultation, and then follow the stager’s recommendations.
A creative way to add impact to a property is to do some special staging. Elise Livingston listed a home for a family that came up with the idea of staging each room with special scene. In the child’s room, for example, a board game was carefully set up as if play had been suspended. In the master suite, there were champagne and strawberries, while in the kitchen, the family left coffee, tea and snacks for visitors along with a welcome note.
According to Livingston, the home drew three offers in just a few weeks and sold at above list price.
Whatever sellers plan to do to ready their home for market should be discussed with their real estate agent to avoid spending money on things that won’t help sell the home and could even hurt.
“Sellers often realize that their kitchen would look a lot better with new countertops, but before getting that done, you should see what the homes you’ll be competing against have to offer,” said Cynthia Caba. “If those homes all have granite counters, and you’ve always wanted Corian counters, it is probably wiser ignore your personal preference and put in granite.”
In the 2010 housing market, with so many homes for sale, it’s vital for sellers to take the right steps to ready their home for sale.
“No single formula can apply to every home when getting ready to sell, but I always stress five priorities,” said Bauer. Those priorities are: clean the house thoroughly, remove clutter from rooms, counters, shelves and closets; have everything in working order; make sure room colors aren’t off putting; and maximize curb appeal because first impressions matter greatly.
“If you want to sell,” said Bauer, “you really have to offer not just a competitive product but a compelling one, both in terms of its price and by presenting it in a way that maximizes its appeal.”
RE/MAX is the leader in northern Illinois real estate sales and has been number one in the metropolitan Chicago real estate market since 1989. In 2008, the RE/MAX network in northern Illinoisclosed nearly $8 billion in sales.
The RE/MAX Northern Illinois network consists of 2,800 associates and 135 individually owned and operated RE/MAX offices that provide residential, relocation and commercial real estate services throughout the northern one-third of Illinois. The network’s Web sites, www.illinoisproperty.com andwww.remax.com, are outstanding resources for buyers and sellers and consistently rank as the most visited brokerage sites in their respective categories. RE/MAX Northern Illinois is part of RE/MAX International, a global real estate organization with 6,600 independently owned offices and 95,000 member sales associates in 75 countries.
