Charleston, SC Posts

I use to tell sellers you should move out of your house before we put it on the market. Well, not really but it seemed like I was telling them to with removing all the stuff out of the house.  Sometimes when sellers have so much stuff, it's hard for the agent and any buyers to look beyond the "stuff." And that even includes me! This home in Goose Creek, SC wasn't so bad, but it doesn't bring me to a point about what is better, a room without a defined function or a vacant one?

When it comes to preparing a home to go on the market, it's important to explain to sellers that there is a Good, Better and Best approach.  Often the sellers decision will depend on motivation, time, ability and money on which approach they choose.

This bedroom was used as a catch all room and 2nd office in this 3 bedroom house that already has an office downstairs. 

What a buyer needs to SEE in this home is a 3rd bedroom. The house must allow a buyer to envision him/herself and their family in the space.  Most people are visual learners which means they are also mostly visual buyers.  The house must look and feel a certain way-so that they can see themselves in it.

My first thought was, make it empty!  The seller was not going to keep the office furniture anyway so it was a good idea to go ahead and sell it or give it away.  So away goes the furniture, but then this room was pretty blah.  This blah picture is not exactly going to attract the internet buyer.  I wouldn't really call this "Good" but probably "Okay."

My stager, Melissa Marro, brought in some furniture and Viola!  This photo makes this room shine, defines the room, and shows off its size and scale.  As a empty room, its hard for buyer to know what function this room would serve but this photo really showcases this room.  Effective staging can turn Good into Best. Knowing this seller wanted top dollar for their home, we went over the top in each room so that the photos would sell the house.  More to come on other rooms in this house.  This house sold to an internet buyer that wrote a contract without stepping into this home for 99.5% of list price at 10 days on the market! 

REGISTER for the next CSP Elite class, "How to Protect Your Client's Equity through Home Staging" on July 22, 2009 in Mt Pleasant, SC to learn how you can use home staging to list more, sell more and earn more. To register, visit http://cspelite.com/elite_register.php

Contact Michele Reneau, Top Real Estate Agent, North Charleston, SC Relocation Expert, CRS, GRI, ABR. 843-814-6680. Michele Reneau is a Certified Staging Professional Instructor and teaches agents how to use staging to maximize their real estate business and Help Sellers Protect their Equity using Home Staging while earning the CSP Elite designation.  She is also available for speaking engagements on: How to use social networking to improve your real estate business, Why Home Staging is a Must in Today's Market, How to calculate market statistics and use them to understand and explain to sellers where the market is going using data, Discussing statistics with sellers to help them price their property to sell.  Michele is a Certified Residential Specialist with a top real estate team in Charleston, SC.  Since 2004, Michele Reneau has personally sold 174 homes while the average agent in the market sells 6 homes a year.   Featured on HGTV's House Hunters and Real Estate Executive Magazine.  RESA 2009 Staging Realtor of the Year Nominee. The Charleston Relocation Experts Team specializes in military relocation, first time homebuyers and creating marketing exposure to sell your home in the Charleston SC Real Estate market.  Michele can also be contacted by email at michele@CharlestonRelocationExperts.com.

Sounds kinda silly, but it can make a difference in the marketing of your listing/home.  It drives me nuts to see the 1^st four photo all exterior shots from different angles. The first picture is usually an exterior photo.  This picture should demonstrate curb appeal to the max because if a buyer likes what they see here, they definitely want to see more.  I can speak from experience because we are in the process of purchasing and we pass over homes that don't have the "look."

Curb appeal means a lot of things and will include a well kept lawn, pressure washing the exterior, removing any debris, etc. Curb appeal can also be enhanced by pops of color.  Use hanging baskets with colorful flowers if you have a front porch, potted plants or topiaries on either side of the door, and freshened up flower beds with pinestraw and fresh flowers. Don't forget that curb appeal doesn't stop on the outside. The use of the Internet brings your curb inside.

The arrangement of these photos should be given some serious thought.  Here's why: The MLS is a feed for many other home search engines and website, namely I'm talking about Realtor.com, one of the #1 websites where buyers start their search.  Realtor.com feeds the 1^st four photos to their website even if you do not pay for the upgraded showcase feature. 

Buyers are attracted by certain things but you have to at least have the photos for them to even look. Following are my suggestions that should be included in your top 4 photos.

•1.      Kitchens can make or break a house. One of the number #1 features I have found a buyer have requirements on is the kitchen. This room must be clean and uncluttered with plenty of light.  Upgraded kitchen will win buyers over!

•2.      Family rooms especially when photos demonstrate they are part of an open floorplan and have features such as fireplaces, vaulted ceilings or a view. 

•3.      Bathrooms are #2 on the make or break a house features.  If you have a stunning bathroom, this should be featured.

•4.      Outdoor living spaces are an extension of a home and bring value to a buyer.  If you have a nice size deck, screen porch, gazebo, pool (if it's an asset vs liability), large private backyard or a view, this photo should make the top 4.

All other photos should follow.  The Charleston MLS allows up to 24 photos so the more, the better. If you aren't showcasing the home with multiple photos, what are you telling sellers who are researching listing agents about your marketing skills?  What other features are worthy to make the top 4 photos?

Contact Michele Reneau, Top Real Estate Agent, North Charleston, SC Relocation Expert, CRS, GRI, ABR. 843-814-6680. Michele Reneau is a Certified Staging Professional Instructor and teaches agents how to use staging to maximize their real estate business and Help Sellers Protect their Equity using Home Staging while earning the CSP Elite designation.  She is also available for speaking engagements on: How to use social networking to improve your real estate business, Why Home Staging is a Must in Today's Market, How to calculate market statistics and use them to understand and explain to sellers where the market is going using data, Discussing statistics with sellers to help them price their property to sell.  Michele is a Certified Residential Specialist with a top real estate team in Charleston, SC.  Since 2004, Michele Reneau has personally sold 174 homes while the average agent in the market sells 6 homes a year.   Featured on HGTV's House Hunters and Real Estate Executive Magazine.  RESA 2009 Staging Realtor of the Year Nominee. The Charleston Relocation Experts Team specializes in military relocation, first time homebuyers and creating marketing exposure to sell your home in the Charleston SC Real Estate market.  Michele can also be contacted by email at michele@CharlestonRelocationExperts.com.

Mr. Seller called me and needs to tell his house in Dorchester County, SC ASAP because he really can't afford a mortgage payment and rent payment.  Besides who wants to throw money down the drain? He relocated his family out of state 2 years ago and rented the property out when it didn't sell.  I spoke to the tenants who were more than happy to help the seller sell the home by making the property available for showing because they had been in those shoes before.  I previewed the property and stopped in my tracks.  I'll just say...clutter, clutter and way too much furniture. 

I advised the seller that while this was going to seem painful for him, it would be more painful to start the marketing process before his home was in showing condition.  Why? Because, buyers would walk into the home and say it's nice, but found something else that suited our needs better.

Many agents might have opted to list this property once it became vacant because it looks better empty that it did cluttered.  What you can't see if that this home had been gently used and without furniture and dressings, a buyer wouldn't be able to get over all those gently used things (i.e. walls and carpet).  Don't get me wrong, they will notice it, but staging a property propertly helps to control where the buyer looks.  When done by a professional, it helps create an atmosphere so that the buyers can feel themselves living in a home and they can be more objective to look at the space. After some convincing, the seller agreed on my marketing plan to include the staging. It was painful again b/c of the cost upfront, but it has been my experience that proper staging and pricing equals SOLD! With the staging package, I recommend a price of $200,000. If he chose the option not to stage, I recommended the price of $189,000 because the average sold per sqft in the neighborhood is $86/sqft. Also, the average days on market for this neighborhood was 130 days.

I had First Impressions, my staging partner, do quote to have this vacant property staged.  Upon staging this 2200 sqft, 5 BR 3 BA home, we listed it for $200,000 because this home now looked like a model. Here are some before and afters.  The pictures convey a completely different house!

Due to the seller's situation, we agreed that if we didn't get 7-10 showing within the first 45 days or an offer, we would reduce the price to $195,000. The cost of a 3 month contract to stage the living, dining, breakfast room, 2 bathrooms and the master bedroom was $1600.  The GREAT NEWS is that we didn't have to reduce the price because we got a contract for $196,000 on Day 42!! We closed on this property last week!

So this seller could have opted not to do the staging and would have most like received an offer close to $189,000 but it might have taken 94 days which would have meant he had 94 days of carrying costs to pay the mortgage, electric and water bill and lawn service but instead, he netted $8000 more for an investment of $1600!

$189,000                                                             

-$4800 mortgage for 3 mo                                    

-800 utilities                                                       

$184,300 NET withOUT staging       

$196,000

-$1600 cost of staging 

-$1800 mortage for 45 days 

-$300 cost of utilities

$192,300 NET with staging

$1600 is significantly less than what would have been our 1^st price reduction and it netted the seller over $8000 more.  It is our fiduciary duty to help sellers get the most for their money.  Would you spend $1600 to get back $8000?

Contact Michele Reneau, Top Real Estate Agent, North Charleston, SC Relocation Expert, CRS, GRI, ABR. 843-814-6680. Michele Reneau is a Certified Staging Professional Instructor and teaches agents how to use staging to maximize their real estate business and Help Sellers Protect their Equity using Home Staging while earning the CSP Elite designation.  She is also available for speaking engagements on: How to use social networking to improve your real estate business, Why Home Staging is a Must in Today's Market, How to calculate market statistics and use them to understand and explain to sellers where the market is going using data, Discussing statistics with sellers to help them price their property to sell.  Michele is a Certified Residential Specialist with a top real estate team in Charleston, SC.  Since 2004, Michele Reneau has personally sold 174 homes while the average agent in the market sells 6 homes a year.   Featured on HGTV's House Hunters and Real Estate Executive Magazine.  RESA 2009 Staging Realtor of the Year Nominee. The Charleston Relocation Experts Team specializes in military relocation, first time homebuyers and creating marketing exposure to sell your home in the Charleston SC Real Estate market.  Michele can also be contacted by email at michele@CharlestonRelocationExperts.com.

While the Charleston market still has too much inventory to be able to mark the bottom, I must admit that as a seller's and buyer's agent, I have recently been on both ends with multiple offers.  This is occuring on property where the price is right and the condition is spectacular! Once this becomes common place, watch out.  There will not be a better time to buy that Today.  It's impossible to predict the bottom.  Jerry Murphy, Phoenix AZ real estate expert, put this perfectly in his post, Stop trying to find the bottom....