A recent listing we sold is one of the best examples of good presentation that we have ever had. We sold an older home at well above other sales in the neighborhood in three days. We had realtors calling asking that we not accept an offer until their client had a chance to see the property.

When we first saw the house, we recognized what a gem it was. The owner and I went through the house, around the house and looked at the house from the street. We then made several recommendations.

They spent three days weeding, edging, putting in fresh mulch and trimming landscaping and trees. We did some minor repairs and improvements. We painted, cleaned and moved out most of the owner’s furniture. We staged the house for showing. It was beautiful and looked as if it were right out of homes and garden. It was a showplace with lots of character and unique architectural features that we had accented.

After the work was done, we ordered our advertising, put up a sign and placed the home on the MLS. We had several showings the first two days with realtors calling asking  not to put the house under contract until they could get their buyers in to see the house. We had formed a Seller’s market for the property. We negotiated very hard knowing we were negotiating from a position of strength. We netted substantially more for the seller than what we had expected.

Another example of a listing we recently worked on was just the opposite. The owner had years and years accumulated belongs and enough furniture for two families crammed into their house. I went through the same process as the success story but the owner only made a halfhearted effort.

The result was that the house didn’t sell. We had good showing activity but the house didn't show well at all. We tried again without success to get the seller to properly prepare the house for showings.

We released them from the listing agreement so they could try another realtor. After following the listing in the MLS for several months, we saw they finally sold the house by lowering the price well below market value. We felt bad for the seller. Just a little work would have made the difference between setting a new high in sales price for the neighborhood and just getting out from under a house that wouldn't’t sell.

The links below are to helpful information on preparing a home to sell.

Curb Appeal List

Free Evaluation Curb Appeal and Staging     

Flowers Add Curb Appeal! 

The Back Yard 

The Kitchen 

Plumbing and Fixtures 

Staging Your Home

Staging Checklist

 Staging