Real Estate Information

Dress your house for success:

A checklist to help sellers sell their house for the best price in the least amount of time.

Now, that you've made the decision to sell your home, you'll want to look at it differently. It's now a house for sale. Packaging- or staging- your house to appeal to more buyers can help you put the sold sign up faster, and bring you a greater return on your investment.

As your Real Estate Professional, I will create a staging program tailored to fit your house, your time frame and your budget.

By the time buyers arrive at your front door, your house usually meets their basic criteria for location, price, size & style. the more rational side of home-buying. The purchasing decision is generally based on the emotional connection that begins when a buyer imagines living in your house. My staging program is designed to help more buyers imagine life in your house.

This program doesn't need to be expensive or overly time-consuming. I will purchase items that can be used in your new home or borrow or rent the "extras" - from acessories and furniture to artwork to help build a series of positive first impressions. If time is short, I will hire professionals from cleaners to organizers & repairmen to expedite the process.

 As a Certified Home Marketing Specialist, I will stage and market your home to sell for the best price possible in the least amount of time & that's only one of the services we offer here at Ashton Khoury Properties. It does matter who you list your home with, so why not list it with the best.

I will implement the following 5 steps:

1) Uncluttering: Clutter makes a house feels smaller. When in doubt, throw it out, sell it, store it or give it away! Then, neatly stack packed boxes in the garage or rent a storage space to hold boxes and excess furnishings. Hold a garage or tag sale, or donate surplus belongings to a charity before the house goes on the market.

EXTERIOR:

Lawn & Garden- fertilize, mow, trim, weed, water; re-sod any bare spots.

Walks, Steps, and Driveways-clear away items & remove weeds.

Remove lawn ornamnets

Pet Areas-thoroughly pick up and organize

Decks, Patios and Backyards- remove excess ornaments and furniture

INTERIOR:

Closets-

-Remove and pack or store extra items

-Organize linens and groupl like clothing

-Pack and store off-season clothing

Bookshelves- remove up to half of books and items; pack and organize

Kitchen

-Clear counters; put away appliances, acessories, etc.

-Remove and pack extra dishes

-Consolidate duplicate food items

-Remove notes & magnets from fridge

-Organize flatware, utensils and "junk" drawers

-Organize and consolidate items under the sink

Bathroom Vanities & Medicine Cabinets

-Remove extra items; pack and organize

-Remove stained or torn drawer and shelf liners

Living Areas

-Remove papers and magazines from tables

-Remove extra furniture; arrange for openness

-Remove extra or unhealthy plants

Collections- Pack & store

Children's Play Areas- pack, store and organize toys and games

Tool, Shop and Laundry Areas- remove extra itmes; pack and organize

Garage- organize tools and gardening equipment; remove extra items

 2) Cleaning:

Clean to sells means cleaner than ever before. And be sure every room smells as clean as it looks! Jumo-start this step and give yourself some time off with a professional cleaning service.

3) Repairing:

Making repairs now can save you money and negotiation stress down the road. Look into a home warranty to provide protection for you- and your buyer-against failure of mechanical systems. Schedule projects so everything is complete before your house's debut.

4) Neutralizing:

Create a home for any lifestyle and taste. Neutral paint, decor and carpeting helps buyers mentally "move in," while highly personolized or dated decorating may make it difficult for a buyer to imagine their furnishings in your house. Choose warm, neutral colors. Replace bold artwork and displays of family photos with a few carefully chosen accessories. And remember, many people are allergic to or afraid of animals. Kennel your pets ot take them with you dueing showings.

5) Dynamizing:

This is were our role as experts in staging appears. We have experience in building an emotional connection by helping buyers imagine daily life in your house.

Remember, staging & dressing your home for success is just one of the steps we take to help you sell your home for top dollar in the least amount of time.

Call us today & experience the difference yourself!

I'm often asked if this is a good time to buy a home. Some clients are concerned that home prices may fall further than they have already. They are assuming that the best course of action is to wait for the bottom in the market and then buy. The problem with this approach is that you don't know where the bottom is until you see it in the rear view mirror, meaning until you've missed it!

Home prices are one factor in determining your cost of ownership, but so are interest rates and financing availability. Even though interest rates have gone up in the last six months, they are still near historic lows. Since your monthly mortgage payment is a combination of paying down your principal and paying the interest owed, if home prices come down a little further but interest rates go up, it could cost you even more to service a mortgage on an identical home!

While a home is a major investment, it is also the center of your personal life. It's important to live in a home that reflects your taste and values, yet is within your financial "comfort zone." To that end, it may be more important to lock in today's relatively low interest rates and low home prices, rather than to hope for a further break in prices in the future.

Please give me a call if I can be of any assistance in determining how much home you can afford in today's market.

The Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008 was just signed by President Bush with some amazing benefits for first time homebuyers. Call everyone you know who wants to buy their first home (or who hasn't owned one in three years), this is too good to miss - it's a $7,500 tax CREDIT (not deduction but a credit).

If you have not owned a home in three years, you qualify as a first time home buyer. If you buy a home after April 9, 2008 and before July 1, 2009, you qualify for this credit. Call your friends who just bought a home since April 9th and tell them they may take $7,500 off their tax bill if they qualify. It has to be your principal residence, so rentals do not count.

The tax credit is 10% of the cost of the home, up to a maximum of $7,500. This is not an additional deduction that lowers the amount of income to be taxed, it is a tax credit. In other words, you take $7,500 off your tax bill. But there is a catch; the credit you receive now is actually an interest-free loan that must be repaid.

The loan has no interest, and will be paid back over 15 years. You get the credit on your 2008 taxes, but you start paying it back on your 2010 taxes that are due in 2011, so you get at least two years without a payment. You pay back 6.67% of the credit each year, so for a $7,500 credit the payment is $502.50 per year. If you stay put for 15 years, you pay it off with no interest.

What happens if you sell the house? You pay the balance back at the closing. So, you get $7,500 now, and pay the rest of it back if you make money on the sale of your house. What happens if you do not make enough money when you sell your house? They forgive the rest of the debt.

Other restrictions stipulate that you have to buy your first house in three years before July 1, 2009, not have super high income, not use bond financing and buy anywhere in the US.

If you'd like to learn more about this program, please call me!