6 Tips - for selling your home at the highest price

We interviewed the top realtors in our area and organized their suggestions into these 6 tips to help you maximize the selling price of your home.

Ginger Creek is considered a premier residential community with lovely upscale homes offering both lake and golf course views. Prospective purchasers looking at homes in Ginger Creek have higher standards and expectations for their dream home. Today’s home buyers are looking for the “perfect” house. What does that mean when trying to market your home in Ginger Creek? It means you will have to spend time and money to properly stage and create the “perfect” home both inside and out. The first tour of any home in today’s residential real estate market is a virtual tour. In fact, prospective purchasers will perform a Google Street View of your home to determine curb appeal, and of the neighborhood to ensure the adjacent properties are not unattractive or lack maintenance. The top local selling realtors are sharing secrets of their success by providing the following tips to help you obtain the best-selling price for your home and to promote your sale: 1. Spotless and Sanitized Have your home cleaned from top to bottom by a professional cleaning service. This includes windows, kitchen areas including appliances, floors, bathrooms, closets, basements and attic areas. Do not forget that unpleasant and mold odors must be eliminated. This is especially important in today’s market as properties must feel and look sanitized. 2. Decluttering Your Home Remove unnecessary clutter and personal items. Organize closets, attics, and basements and remove and store large pieces of furniture and artwork. There are services that will do this for you. If necessary, place your personal items in storage. 3. Present a Picture-Perfect Home Both the inside and outside of your home must be picture perfect for online photos and virtual tours. Top-selling realtors are recommending that the inside of homes be painted white in order to obtain top dollar. There are 4 popular realtor recommended Benjamin Moore interior white paint colors: White Dove; Chantilly Lace; Simple White; and Cloud White. Studies have shown that in today’s real estate market, interior walls paint white will significantly enhance your chances of selling your home and getting top dollar. 4. Staging Upscale Homes Every successful realtor selling upscale residential properties requires that homes be professionally staged. Real estate professionals have partnered with individuals and companies that stage properties for sale. Remember that you are competing with other properties in your community that are being listed for sale. If they are properly staged and your home is not, you have significantly reduced the chances of a successful sale. 5. Curb Appeal is Everything If a home lacks curb appeal, chances are a prospective purchaser will not bother to view the inside of the home. Enhancing curb appeal is very important. Yew trees, bushes, shrubs and fancy flower beds that were popular in the 80s have lost their appeal for the current home purchasers. In today’s market, less is more in outdoor landscaping. Kellie O’Brien of English Gardens of Hinsdale remarked that the new landscaping trend is a beautiful lawn with a row of manicured boxwood bushes strategically placed in the front yard. Overgrown and old shrubs, yew bushes, trees and flowerbeds should be removed, and the area should be re-sodded. Trees and shrubs that enhance property values should be professionally trimmed. Flowerbeds should be mulched with brown mulch and annual flowers should be prominently displayed in the front of the home for sale. Black plastic edging is considered dated and is no longer utilized for landscaping. Flowerbeds should be edged by your landscaper. Old swing sets, lawn furniture, basketball standards and children’s playhouses should be removed from the property to enhance the sale ability of the home. 6. Power Washing Areas to Look Brand New Concrete walks, patios, and front porches should be power washed before listing the home for sale. Power washing can make these areas look new again. Concrete and paver brick driveways should also be power washed, and asphalt driveways should be patched and sealed coated in order to enhance the home’s curb appeal.

Need help? Check out the Ginger Creek Service Providers page. Many of them offer discounts to our residents. We wish you the very best of luck on the sale of your property. Please call Oak and Dale Properties when you receive a fully signed contract for the purchase of your home, or contact them if you should have any questions.