We have all heard the commercials: “Sell your home when YOU want to paying no real estate agency commission!” Can this be true? What are the Pros and Cons? Full disclosure – since we have a dog in this fight we will be spending a lot of time on the Cons. What the heck is an iBuyer? iBuyers are companies that purchase homes outright, directly from the owner. The seller doesn’t have to pay an agent, list the home, stage it, market it, or even show it to potential buyers. Instead, they tell the... read more

Sellers are often astonished when a house sells in one day. The first place they tend to jump after the excitement of selling has lost some of its glitter is the thought "our sales price was not high enough." Sellers often begin to wonder if they priced the home too low because it sold so fast. While all of that anxiety and uncertainty and questions are popping up on the side of the seller, imagine what's going on with the buyer. Probably an identical scenario! The buyers are questioning whether they paid... read more

Spring is the most popular time of the year to put a home on the market. In our area Spring starts the week after Superbowl and ends around the end of June. It astounds most people that summer is not usually a popular time to sell a home but Summer can be very quiet. Why It Isn't Ideal Summer is a good time for a lot of things, but home selling is not necessarily one of them. If you don't have to sell in the summer, you might get more for your home if you wait until school starts. Why? Because i... read more

Everyone works hard to get the house ready to have a party and they work hard to get the house looking its very best. What guest is more important than your potential future buyer? It is very hard to look at your home through the eyes of others – one unique method is to have a “staging” party. Why not invite a group of the friends that you know will be honest to have drinks and nibbles and experience your home at its very best. Ask them to fill out anonymous postcards telling you the top... read more

A recent experience listing a home occupied by a smoker underlined the difficulty in selling a home occupied by an active smoker. More than half of the feedback sent by showing agents included some variation of the line: “Buyers put off by smell of cigarette smoke”. The property had to be reduced from the original listing price and I am convinced the smell of cigarettes was largely responsible. According to realtor.com® Smoking in a home can reduce that property’s resale value by up to 29 perc... read more