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Preparing a House for Sale, It’s Not Always Location, Location, Location Homes and Land Magazine August 2005 Selling a home requires tremendous effort on the part of the agent,
but before pictures are taken, virtual tours uploaded and marketing
pieces printed, most homes need work. What’s the most important component to a home’s appeal?
According to a study done by Dr. Robert Degner and Susan Moss at
the University of Florida, 96% of Realtors® ranked ‘Landscaping’
as the most important attribute of a home. At the bottom of the
list, accounting for just 6% was ‘Location’. The study, entitled Effects of Relandscaping on the Perceived Market
Value of Single Family Residential Property, took on several homes
with home values devised before and after landscaping. All homes
in the study improved their value after landscaping, some as much
as 10%. Other important features for home selling in Degner’s study
included ‘Paint Condition’ (31.7%), ‘Roof Condition’
(30.8%), General Condition (29.8%) and ‘Neatness/Cleanliness
(24%). When The Soap and Detergent Association (SDA) commissioned an independent
survey on “what makes the biggest impact when walking into
a home for the first time,” cleanliness ranked at the top
at 51%, followed by scents/odors (22%), style of décor (13%),
furnishings (6%) and home architecture (1%). What’s most surprising is that the SDA’s survey found
that only a third of home sellers “actually clean their home
to ensure their house smells fresh.” So, making a home smell
and look great can nearly ensure your chance of selling a home by
more than 65%. Another tip on preparing a home for sale includes the addition of a home stager. Karyn Elliott, of Crazy House, a home staging company based in Calgary, Alberta offers staging advice on or off-site and claims her staging techniques can increase the selling potential of any home. Some suggestions include:
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