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Make Your Western MA Home for Sale Stand Out From the Competition!
As a REALTOR in Western MA, I get the chance to see a lot of homes, but this week was even more than is typical. I had an out of town client in for just a couple of days. He had an ambitious list of homes he wanted to see and not much time to do it.
Luckily for both of us, I have the process of scheduling showings down to a science. If the homes a client wants to see are in the same general area, I can schedule us to see up to four houses in one hour. Also, I tell my buyer clients that we are under no obligation to view every square inch of every home we see. If we have walked through the main living area and you know for a fact, you are NOT buying this home, then why bother going into the basement? I tell my clients to give me constant feedback on their thoughts while we are in the home so we can better manage our time with the properties we might purchase.
So on Friday I showed this buyer client 7 homes in a little over two hours. The following day we saw 4 more in approximately an hour. Here is a brief and anonymous rundown of our experience:
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House #1- horrible carpeting was the first thing we saw upon entering. Not just the color (pea green), but the condition was atrocious. The house was dated AND it was messy. We stayed about five minutes until my client gave it a firm, “no way”.
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House #2- Lovely from start to finish. Not only was the home immaculate and staged for showings, but the lights were on and the home had obviously been well maintained on a regular basis. Two of the bedrooms were small children’s rooms and they were uncluttered and spotless. Our entire experience was one of good impressions and the buyer loved this property. We stayed at least 20 minutes here and looked at every square inch of the home.
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House #3- Great neighborhood, bad driveway. Upon entering there was a lovely front room and great open kitchen area, but the house was still decorated for Christmas and the flooring was different in each room. The home was neat, but not prepped for showings. We stayed about 10 minutes until the buyer decided it was too much updating.
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House #4- Nice spot on the end of a street, yard (what you can see under the snow) was great. Inside was cluttered with piles of things like baseball hats and t-shirts being prominent in the bedrooms. This home was too small for my client. We stayed about 1o minutes.
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House #5- I wish I could give feedback on the inside. The home was on a nice cul-de-sac. The exterior needed updating and the front doors were very old. We tried to get inside, but the key wouldn’t turn in the lock. We actually stayed at this house quite some time (probably 15 – 20 minutes) trying to get in before we gave up and moved on. The listing agent was pro-active in getting the door opened later, but we were unable to return and the buyer decided he didn’t want to see it, anyway.
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House #6- The client hated the neighborhood and we didn’t go inside.
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House #7- This was a lovely new construction home with a nice layout, hardwood floors on the entire first floor and a HUGE MBR suite. We stayed about 20 minutes here as the client debated the bonus of having a new home vs. the location on a busy street. This property was his second favorite home.
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House #8- Buyer liked the location and the layout. Home was very clean, but the client didn’t like the white carpeting that runs throughout.
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House #9- Super large raised ranch on a nice street. We were both impressed with the space available. There were some dated elements to the home and while it was neat, it wasn’t staged. We stayed about 15 minutes and this was the buyer’s third choice.
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House #10- First issue, the sidewalks were not shoveled and this showing was after snow, ice and during the showing…rain. The walk to the front door was treacherous. Inside was very nice, although on the small side and on a busy road. We stayed about 15 minutes while the buyer considered the size.
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House #11- Treacherous driveway. The buyer didn’t want to see inside.
So, if you made it this far here are the take-aways from my two days of showings:
FIRST IMPRESSIONS: If your driveway is icy or front walk is not cleared and de-iced, the buyer has a red flag up before they even step inside your home. As seen with my client, they may decided NOT to go in your home based on this. Things like front doors and decorations also add to the first impression.
OPENING THE FRONT DOOR: What is the first thing a buyer will notice when the door is opened? If it isn’t a benefit to the property, find a way to fix it. You want to encourage the buyer to want to see more of the home based on the entry.
STAGING: Yes, folks, staging matters. It is an added job and potentially an added expense if you hire a professional, but it will pay off in the end. Buyers are looking at your home as a commodity, as a potential next home for themselves NOT as your home. Get neutral and get retail and your home will stand out from the rest of the Western Mass homes for sale.
PREPARATION: If you live in the home, prepare the home for the showing. Turn on the lights, make sure it smells nice, play some soft classical music and if it is winter, make sure the heat is turned up.
KITCHENS: The kitchen should be empty of your life. No dishes, no utensils, certainly no mail on the table.
BATHS: If your bath features colored tile (pink, blue, green, etc) then you might want to consider having it painted with porcelain paint. Outdated vanity? Replace it…they aren’t expensive. Outdated flooring? Replace it….most bathrooms aren’t that large and you can get the job done at a reasonable price.
BASEMENTS: Organize and clean. Make sure buyers can see the hot water tank, furnace, electric panel, etc.
In a nutshell, the homes that are clean and staged give the buyer the impression that the home has been well cared for.
If you are looking for a REALTOR to help you sell your Western MA home, I would love to help you prepare your home for sale. I can guide you with what improvements and decorations can be made to improve the sale-ability of your home.
If you are looking for a REALTOR to help you buy your Western MA home, I can set up your showings in the most efficient manner and support you during the search for your next home.
Lesley Lambert, Park Square Realty in Westfield, MA is a REALTOR in Western Massachusetts. She has been helping Western MA home buyers and Western MA home sellers with their real estate needs for over 24 years. You can reach Lesley at 413-575-3611.
Are You Aging Your Home? Maintenance tips for your Western MA home in 2014
An out-of-shape house is older than its years and could lose 10% of its appraised value, says Mack Strickland, an appraiser and real estate agent in Chester, Va. That’s a $15,000-$20,000 adjustment for the average home.
But good maintenance can even add value. A study out of the University of Connecticut and Syracuse University finds that regular maintenance increases the value of a home by about 1% each year.
So if you’ve been deferring maintenance, or just need a good strategy to stay on top of it, here’s the simplest way to keep your home in good health.
Focus on Your Home’s #1 Enemy
If you focus on nothing else, focus on moisture — your home’s No. 1 enemy.
Water can destroy the integrity of your foundation, roof, walls, and floors — your home’s entire structure. So a leaky gutter isn’t just annoying; it’s compromising your foundation.
Keeping moisture at bay will improve your home’s effective age — or as Dr. Oz would say, “real age” — and protect its value. It’ll also help you prioritize what you need to do. Here’s how:
Follow This Easy 4-Step Routine
1. When it rains, actively pay attention. Are your gutters overflowing? Is water flowing away from your house like it should? Is water coming inside?
2. After heavy rains and storms, do a quick inspection of your roof, siding, foundation, windows, doors, ceilings, and basement to spot any damage or leaks.
Related: How to Tell if You Have a Drainage Problem
3. Use daylight savings days or the spring and fall equinox to remind you to check and test water-related appliances like your washer, refrigerator, water heater, HVAC (condensation in your HVAC can cause leaks) or swamp cooler, and sump pump. It’s also a great time to do regular maintenance on them. Inspect any outdoor spigots and watering systems for leaks, too.
4. Repair any damage and address any issues and leaks ASAP.
Don’t procrastinate when you spot minor leaks or drips inside your house. Ongoing small leaks can slowly erode pipes and fixtures, and even cause mold and mildew issues you won’t notice until it’s too late.
Say you’ve got a bit of cracked caulk around the kitchen window. It may not seem like much, but behind that caulk, water could get into your sheathing, causing mold damage and rot. Before you know it, you’re looking at a $5,000 repair that could have been prevented by a $4 tube of caulk and a half hour of your time.
Once you settle into a routine, it becomes easier to handle other maintenance tasks, which will only do more to protect and enhance your home’s value. Plus, you’ll get to know your home better, which will help you spot other one-off problems, such as termites and other wood-destroying insects, that can cause costly damage.
If You Want to Take Home Maintenance to the Next Level . . .
If you’re a geek about home maintenance like we are, and you want to do more than water patrol, these ideas will help you keep your house in great shape.
Give yourself an incentive to do maintenance. Maintenance is your springboard to sexier projects like a kitchen remodel or basement makeover. So plan a room-per-year redo. This way you’re maintaining, fixing, and improving. For example:
In your basement:
- Check for dark stains that could signal plumbing leaks. If you find any leaks, fix them.
Check your ductwork for leaks that are wasting energy.
Clean the lint out of the dryer vent. The machine will last longer, and you’ll help prevent fires.
Caulk and seal basement windows to stop air leaks.
Once your space is moisture sealed, you can start converting it into a family room or other livable space.
Add a basement ceiling.
Brighten it up with paint.
In your kitchen:
- Clean out all the cabinets, then wipe them down. It’s a great way to purge and get organized.
Take a good look under your kitchen sink. Remove all the wastebaskets and cleaning supplies to help you spot any leaks, and fix them.
Pull out the fridge to give that yucky alcove a thorough cleaning. Check the drip pan for moisture that can spawn mold growth.
Update cabinet hardware and adjust hinges if necessary.
Re-caulk the seam between your backsplash and wall to keep moisture out. To give your whole kitchen a low-cost facelift, how about a new backsplash?
Re-paint the walls using paint with a tough, semi-gloss sheen that stands up to repeated cleanings and resists moisture.
Keep a maintenance fund. Some sources say you should save 1% to 3% of your initial house price annually to pay for maintenance. On a $200,000 house, that’s $2,000-$6,000 a year. Yeesh, that’s a big nut.
Alternatively, make it a goal to save enough money to do a major replacement project, so the bill won’t catch you off guard. Probably the biggest single replacement project you’ll have is your roof or siding.
You can build up this fund over several years by paying yourself a monthly assessment — whatever you can manage. Keep it in a separate account to avoid the temptation to tap it for hockey tickets or other impulse buys.
If you need to replace the roof before you have a fund, an equity loan is an option. But consider very carefully.
If you’re practicing maintenance in the way we’ve outlined here, you won’t need $2,000 per year to manage your home’s natural aging process. Some routine tasks, such as cleaning rain gutters and changing furnace filters, could cost you $300 or less per year.
Your house takes care of you — not just for shelter but as a financial asset. Return the favor and keep it hale and hearty by caring for it with regular maintenance.
Lesley Lambert is a Western MA REALTOR with Park Square Realty in Westfield, MA. She has been working with home buyers and home sellers in Western Massachusetts for almost 25 years. If you have real estate questions in Western Mass, give Lesley a call 413-575-3611.
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Is Your Home Older Than Its Years?
Would you throw away $20,000? You are if you’re letting your home age faster than it should. Here’s a simple maintenance strategy to keep your home young. Read
Visit houselogic.com for more articles like this.
Copyright 2014 NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS®
Tax Credit for Insulation, Your Western MA Home May Qualify
The Energy Star site is your safest bet for information on how to get the credit. Energy Star has been pretty flexible on what it allows for this credit:
- Batts
- Rolls
- Blow-in fibers
- Rigid boards
- Expanding spray
- Pour-in-place
Products that reduce air leaks also qualify:
- Weather stripping (such as fabric, foam, or metal to provide a seal)
- Spray foam in a can, designed to air seal
- Caulk designed to air seal
- House wrap
Installation isn’t covered.
Don’t rely solely on contractors who may not know the details or who promise their products will get the credit in order to make a sale.
Read on to learn more:
Insulation costs
Insulation is measured in R-values
Savings and energy audits
Insulation costs
Adding insulation is a relatively affordable home improvement project, and the savings can be felt almost immediately. Some DIYers can even tackle the project themselves over a weekend.
Cost for adding attic insulation to a 2,200-square-foot home:
- $1,000 to $2,500 including labor, depending on how much you put in and how easy it is to install.
- Effort and expense go up when you add it to exterior walls or around hard-to-reach ductwork.
Insulation is measured in R-values
The higher the number value (measuring its resistance to heat flow), the better the insulating power.
Recommended R-values are 30 to 60 for most attics, according to the U.S. Department of Energy. R-38 (or about 12 to 15 inches, depending on the type) is the sweet spot for most attics, says Energy Star, a joint program of the DOE and U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. In colder climates, go for R-49. The DOE’s online calculator recommends R-values for all areas of your home’s “envelope”:
- Attic
- Walls
- Floors
- Basement
- Crawl spaces
You need more insulation if your insulation is level with or below the attic floor joists.
Just about all types (fiberglass, cellulose, mineral wool, spray foam, foam board, cotton batting) qualify for the energy tax credit, as long as its primary purpose is to:
- Insulate
- Bring your home up to recommended R-value guidelines
Insulated siding doesn’t count, because its main purpose is not insulation, but simply covering your house.
Generally, most homes built before 1980 have inadequate insulation. The easiest kind to add is blown loose-fill insulation. You’ll probably need to hire a contractor. Since insulating an attic isn’t too complicated, you can get quotes—at least three—by phone. However, get a copy of the quote in writing before work starts, and be sure it specifies R-value.
Michael Kwart, executive director of the Insulation Contractors Association of America, recommends rolled insulation for do-it-yourselfers. The new material can be added on top of the existing.
Savings and energy audits
Depending on where you live and how much insulation you already have, adding more can trim heating and cooling costs anywhere from 10% to 50%.
- A home owner in the Northeast with an uninsulated attic, for instance, can save about $600 a year by adding about 15 inches of insulation (R-38) between the rafters, according to the Energy Department.
- Just 6 inches can net annual savings of about $200.
Energy audits uncover even more ways to save energy
Besides adding new insulation, conduct a whole-house energy audit to find other ways to reduce power consumption and save even more on monthly bills.
Caulk around drafty windows and doors, and stop gaps in siding and the foundation, says Matt Golden, president and founder of San Francisco-based Sustainable Spaces. Reducing a home’s air leakage by 25% can lower annual energy costs by about $300, according to the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory.
This article provides general information about tax laws and consequences, but isn’t intended to be relied upon as tax or legal advice applicable to particular transactions or circumstances. Consult a tax professional for such advice; tax laws may vary by jurisdiction.
If you are looking to buy a home in Western Massachusetts,I would love to help you in your Western MA home search! You can reach me anytime: Lesley Lambert, Western MA REALTOR with Park Square Realty 413-575-3611.
Find Out Why He Has Worked With Me on 7 Transactions – Testimonial for Lesley Lambert, Western MA Realtor
A few years ago I went on a listing appointment with Stephen Foster. He had a house that he had renovated that had been on the market for six months without selling.
If you are going to “flip” houses there are a few key elements:
1- price it right
2- don’t over improve
3- watch the style of the improvements
4- get a full marketing plan
5- be aggressive
Stephen was frustrated. He wasn’t getting the advise he needed to get this home sold. He hired me, I told him the truth about the house and we got it sold quickly. Following that transaction, we have had six consecutive sales and another due to close next week.
Stephen does a great job with these homes. Each home he renovates, I want to move into. They are all lovely and well appointed and all of them appreciated by the buying market.
It is my total pleasure to work with Stephen, not only is he a great guy who does wonderful work, he is kind and funny and loyal. I try to repay that loyalty with only the best I have to offer. I work hard for Stephen, doing a lot of research and marketing for him that another agent may not even know how to do.
It is my job to ensure that Stephen and I continue to work together on these types of sales until one of us retires.
