Home Staging: Is it worth it?

Home staging may be one of those secret weapons that real estate agents and few home owners use to sell their homes but the word is out! You can use the same secret weapon to sell your home faster and enjoy the reward of your sale even quicker.

When buyers look at a home, they see it from a perspective different to what you, as a seller, would have of your own home. Showing them an empty house leaves them with too much to imagine and the possibilities are endless. Showing them a home with warm and cozy furniture will have their imaginations set running.

Using home staging to sell your home will have the buyer looking around and envisioning their furniture, pictures, etc…in your home. If your home is packed full of your own belongings, the buyer will not be able to see this picture in their mind. Try to put yourself into the buyer’s shoes and see what they see, just like it is your first time in the house.

Statistics shows that home sellers using home staging are selling their homes faster and receiving a better profit than other homes on the market. Staged homes look better and feel better to the prospective buyer. Staged homes sell for quite a bit more money than non-staged homes. When you see a photo of a staged home on the internet or in print, the photo is inviting and welcoming, which can help in your overall selling ability.

Home staging is so beneficial in selling your home that with just a few quick steps you will be creating a dream home for the buyer that they can not resist. You will find that your home will sell faster, sell for more and the new owners will be excited and pleased with their purchase.

Selling Your Home - Quick and Easy

There are some basic strategies that you can use to sell your home faster than most on the market and get a great price at the same time.

The first thing any homeowner usually does when he's decided that he wants to sell his home is set the asking price! You do not want to price your home out of the market or price it so low that you find yourself with a smaller profit than you’re entitled to. Survey the homes for sale in your neighborhood, check out the asking prices, compare your house with the other homes and then decide how much you can ask for.

Next, you’ve got to get your home ready to show. The best way to begin is to pretend walking into the house as if you were a prospective buyer and looking at it from their perspective – look at the the window sills, walls, the carpet, counter tops, look at every nook and corner of your house – is everything good? Spot the problems and have them fixed. Clean every inch of your home including the windows inside and out.

Next, get rid of all the clutter. You may be comfortable with the way your house looks and feels, afterall you've been living in it for some time now, but prospective buyers may not necessarily share the same feelings. If you’ve got several pieces of unused furniture which take up more space than needed, put them away. Your house needs to look spacious. Check for anything that may turn off the buyer and repair or replace the problem.

And finally the exteriors! This is the very first thing a buyer will see when they pull up to your home. Are there oil stains in the driveway or garage, how do the rain gutters appear, is the pavement or sidewalk cracked and do you have any moss on the roof? Get all of them fixed.

Once done, you are ready to place your home on the market and see it sell faster than the others.

Before taking an apartment on rent, make sure you clarify these things with the landlord

Finding an apartment to your taste and budget can take time. After all the search, if you land yourself an apartment you like and one that just suits your needs, make sure you it becomes yours and stays yours!

There have been many an instance when one has had to vacate their dream apartment because of one or more reasons of disagreement with the landlord - disagreements which could've easily been avoided had the right clarifications been made before taking the apartment on rent.

Before you finalise on the apartment, there are a few questions you need to ask the landlord BEFORE you rent the apartment so that there is no reason for disagreement later on during the lease period.

• When will the unit be available for occupation? If it’s ready to occupy and it’s impractical for you to move in immediately, make sure you negotiate with the landlord so that you don’t pay for unoccupied time.
  
• Are pets allowed to stay in the apartment and if not, would it be possible if you paid a pet deposit? And would the pet-deposit be refundable if there's no damage caused to be found when you move out?
  
• How much is the rent payable and when is it due every month? How much is the security deposit to be paid upfront and is it fully refundable?
  
• Is there a penalty fee for late payment of the rent?
  
• What are the terms for renewing the lease?
  
• Are there any conditions to move out before the lease expires? Even if you may think you won’t have to move out for a long time, it’s better to keep your options safe and negotiate secure terms should you need to move out earlier than the expiry of the lease period.
  
• Are any utilities included in your agreement? What are typical bill amounts in different seasons?
  
• Are you allowed to share your unit with roommates and what is the policy on subletting the apartment?
  
• Can you paint the walls or make other decorative changes to the apartment?
  
• Are you allowed to run a home business from your apartment?
  
• Who will be responsible for property maintenance and is there any separate maintenance fee to be paid?
  
• Who are your neighbours? It's better to know a little about your to-be neighbors before deciding to take up the apartment.
  
• How close is the nearest post office, grocery store, bank, restaurant and public transportation?

Asking these questions only avoids any cause for disagreement in the future between you and your landlord. Infact, some of these pointers can be included in your lease agreement so as to safeguard your interests.