Community Life

Selling Your Home

The agents at Stanwood Properties will do what it takes to make sure you not only receive the greatest real estate service in Northern Snohomish, but they will work hard to sell your home to the best buyer.

Here are some tips for making sure your home is ready for the best...

Timing of Your Sale

The real estate marketing calendar generally has two major peaks and lows created by the activity in your local real estate market.

First Peak Season: Spring

February through May is generally the most active time for selling residential real estate. Families with children want to get their purchase or sale out of the way by late spring so moving won't disrupt the kids' schooling for next year. Other people buy or sell early in the year for tax purposes, or to avoid conflict with their summer vacations.

Usually this is the best time to put your house on the market. High sale prices result from competitive buyers.

First Valley: Summer

Sales activity usually slows down between June and August. Buyers, sellers, and agents often take summer vacations, which reduces the market activity. Many people spend their weekends enjoying the weather rather than looking at houses.

Houses ordinarily take somewhat longer to sell in the summer due to a lower level of buyer activity, so this not always the best time to put your house on the market. Unless you have to sell now (or if property values are declining), wait until the fall to put your house on the market.

Second Peak Season: Autumn

After labor Day the second peak season starts. This peak normally goes all the way through September, October, and November.

Calendar-year taxpayers who sold houses earlier in the year and want to buy their new home before December 31st so they can pay tax-deductible expenses prior to the end of the year to reduce the impact income taxes.

Unless prices are rapidly increasing in your area, wait until activity slows in mid-November and then buy your next home at a discount price. You get the best of both worlds -- remember "sell high and buy low."

Real Estate Activity Hibernates Until Spring

About a week or so before Thanksgiving everything stops. With the exception of a few, mostly desperate, sellers and relocating buyers who stay in the market until the bitter end of December, residential real estate sales activity ordinarily slows significantly by mid-November.

Preparation For Selling

Exposing your property to the market before it looks its best gives buyers who tour the house a bad first impression. It's nearly impossible to get them back for a second look, even after you correct the flaws.

Start the presale fix-up process by getting an outside opinion of your house's strengths and weaknesses. Good real estate agents are an excellent source of advice about readying your house for sale. Because agents see your house with fresh eyes, they can spot flaws you no longer notice. Furthermore, agents look at your house the way buyers do. They know how to prepare houses so that they're appealing for marketing -- a process sometimes referred to as staging.

If you've ever visited a new home development and walked through the builder's model home, you know exactly what staging is. Builders usually do extremely elaborate staging jobs.

Staging finishes the process you started with the three Cs (clean up, clear out, and cosmetic improvements). Here are some staging tips:

Kitchen: Aromas from fragrant goodies like freshly baked gingerbread or just-brewed coffee bring back wonderful memories of home. Conversely, many people find odors from pungent foods such as liver, fish, and cabbage to be a turnoff.
Bathrooms: Always have fresh towels in bathrooms. Buy new shower curtains; old ones are usually mildewy. Put new soap in the soap dishes.
Collections: Everyone has collections -- family photos on the wall, autographed baseballs, dolls, trophies the kids won in school, whatever. You're not running a museum or a curiosity shop. Put away your collections so people focus on the task at hand -- buying your house.
Clear everything off your refrigerator. Most folks use magnets or tape to stick everything from vacation snapshots and finger-painting masterpieces to notes for the kids and "to do" lists on the surface of their refrigerator.
Comfort: Keep your house warm in the winter and cool in the summer.
Fireplace: If you have a fireplace, spotlight it. Polish your fireplace tools. Pile logs neatly in the fireplace. When your house is shown on cold fall or winter days, nothing says "Welcome" like the warmth, glow, crackle, and smell of a blazing fire.
Flowers: Vases of colorful, fresh flowers spotted throughout the house make a wonderful impression on prospective buyers.
Furniture: Rearrange furniture to create a warm, inviting feeling.
Light: Bright, well-lit houses seem more spacious and cheerful. During the day, open all your curtains and drapes. When you show your house, brighten up rooms by turning on all your lamps, even during the day. Be sure hallways and stairways are brightly lit.

Key Interior Improvements

The outside of your house draws buyers inside. But appealing interiors make the sale.

Just because we recommend using neutral colors doesn't mean that you should make your house boring. Use fabric -- area rugs, table cloths, napkins, sofa cushions, window curtains or drapes, bedspreads and quilts, bath and hand towels, shower curtains, and so on -- to create temporary color accents in rooms.

Clean, scrub, and polish: Your stove, oven, refrigerator, microwave oven, and other appliances must be spotlessly clean inside and out. Scour walls, floors, bathtubs, showers, and sinks until they sparkle. Don't forget to clean the ventilating hood in your kitchen.
Eliminate odors: Buyers will notice strong smells as soon as they walk through your front door, so eliminate smoke, mildew, and pet odors. Cleaning drapes and carpets helps get rid of odors. Remove ashes from the fireplace. If you're a smoker, clean all ashtrays daily and take your smoking breaks in the great outdoors until you sell your house. Use air fresheners or citrus-scented potpourri to keep your house odor free.
Fix drippy faucets: If any of your sinks or bathtubs drain slowly, unclog them.
Get rid of clutter: Keep clutter off kitchen counters and dirty dishes out of the sink. Eliminating clutter and excess furniture makes rooms appear larger.
Make cosmetic improvements: Painting isn't expensive if you do it yourself, but be careful when selecting interior colors. Avoid cherry red, canary yellow, cobalt blue, emerald green, and other bold colors with strong visual impact. You may love the effect, but you aren't the buyer. Stick to conventional whites, soft pastels, and other neutral colors that won't clash with most prospective buyers' tastes

Key Exterior Improvements

Most buyers make snap judgments about your house, and buyers begin forming their opinion of your house long before they go inside. Curb appeal, the external attractiveness of your property when viewed from the street, is critically important.

Painting: Paint your house's exterior before you put it on the market
Lawn: A freshly mowed, neatly trimmed lawn gives your house a well-maintained appearance. Don't leave toys, lawn equipment, or garden hoses scattered around the yard.
Sidewalks: Sweep your sidewalks daily. Keep your walks free of snow and ice in the winter.
Shrubbery: Remove or replace any dead or dying trees, hedges, or shrubs and prune anything that looks scraggly or overgrown. Cut back overgrown shrubs that block windows and keep light from entering your house.
Flowers: Filling flower beds with seasonal flowers is an inexpensive way to add color and charm to property.
Repairs: Be sure that all gutters and down-spouts are in place and clean. Replace missing roof shingles and broken or cracked windows. Repair cracks in your driveway and remove large oil stains. Replace or repair broken stairs, torn window screens, broken or missing fence slats, and defective doorknobs. Make sure that your front and back doors, garage doors, and all windows open easily. Check exterior lights to be certain that they're working properly.