How to get Great Real Estate Listing Photos
The 4 Worst Home Staging Mistakes Your Sellers Can Make
When we accept a listing, one of the first things we think of is staging. Are they hiring a professional? How will they do it? While many sellers do hire a staging pro, there are many who don’t – and it’s our job to at least point them in the right direction. That said, there are four huge home staging mistakes your sellers can make that can send potential buyers straight out the door. It’s usually best to give them a heads-up before the listing even hits the MLS. Home Staging Mistake #1: Not Staging at All Not bothering to stage a home has far costlier consequences than spending a few bucks on paint and a storage unit for oversized furniture. Even if your clients have a spectacular home, failure to stage can cost them thousands on the selling price. Home Staging Mistake #2: Ignoring Scent and Sound While it’s great to clear out the clutter, the litterbox (and the cat) also has to go. The noisy appliances need to be turned off during each showing. Potential buyers are really tuned in when they’re touring what could be their next home, and every little detail counts.’ Home Staging Mistake #3: [...]
The House that Never Sells
We’ve all seen it – a home sits on the market for a month. Then two months, then three… finally, the frustrated owners pull it and try again next year. So what would you do if those owners asked you to list it? Could you help them sell it? Would you even try? Three Not-So-Secret Reasons a House Won’t Sell You probably have a pretty good idea about why that particular house isn’t selling. Maybe the owners are unrealistically pricing the house, and they haven’t yet met a Realtor® who helped them understand the market. Maybe it just doesn’t show well, and the owners don’t understand the fundamentals of home staging. Perhaps their agent isn’t marketing the home correctly. So what would you do differently? Discussing Price Points with Your Clients When a client has a particular price in mind, it’s often tough to get them to understand they might be in the wrong range. Calling out a professional appraiser and explaining the market conditions can go a long way – and if that doesn’t work, asking your clients to revisit their price if the home doesn’t sell within 30 days might be a good idea. Let them know that [...]
4 Hot Tips for a Killer Virtual Tour
Some people believe that virtual tours are a must, and in the digital age, they might be right. Are you using virtual tours as part of your marketing effort for each home you list? If you are, are they actually bringing in buyers? Effective Virtual Tours Mean More Sales If you’re skipping out on the fundamentals, which are different now than they were five years ago, you might just be spinning your wheels. At Benchmark Realty, we’re committed to giving you all the tools you need to make your business a success. That said, there are four key ingredients that go into an amazing (and effective) virtual tour: 1. High-Resolution Pictures Say Thousands of Words Once the home is properly staged, pictures taken with a digital SLR camera can highlight its best features – and those pictures can bring in between $934 and $116,076 more than listings taken with an ordinary camera. 2. Silence is Golden Piping music throughout your tour is a thing of the past. The first thing people do is click the “Volume” button and shut it off; they might already have their own music playing, they might not like yours or it might even startle them [...]
Essential Home Staging Tips to Pass On to Your Clients
Not all homeowners have the means to hire a professional interior decorator to stage their homes. While that’s totally understandable, you can help them out by offering a few insider tips they can implement to help their homes sell faster—and closer to their asking prices. Home Staging Photo by The Decorologist Clear the Clutter As Realtors®, we know that potential buyers want to envision a space as their own; seeing other people’s mail on the counter, jackets hung on coat racks and shoes lined up in the foyer can be deal-breakers. Make sure your clients know that, too. Have them go through the home and: Arrange bookshelves neatly Close dresser drawers and closet doors (unless it’s a walk-in; then leave it wide open) Pick up yard debris and tuck away the trash cans Removing personal effects wherever possible lets buyers use their imaginations, so if your clients make a special effort to take down family photos, eclectic décor and all of the things that give their home a “lived-in” look, they’ll likely see better results. A Clean Home is a Happy Home Naturally, your clients will keep the house clean when they know potential buyers are coming. Don’t [...]