Top 7 Home Selling Facts

Happy Monday morning readers! Have you had your caffeine yet today? I have, and I’m ready to prove it with some great facts, some known, and some unknown about selling real estate! When meeting with prospective home sellers, Josh and I do an initial walk through to see the home. We may ask questions such as: What are your favorite features about your home? – or – What, if any, improvements have you made to your home? Then, after the walk through we get hit with the questions from the homeowners. From some of the frequent homeowner questions, I’ve comprised some of the answers into the “Top 7 Home Selling Facts”. Take a second and scroll through – it’s an informative read!

1) You MUST have a clean, and uncluttered home! – Believe it or not, a dirty home can knock hundreds, and thousands of dollars off of your home value. This can be avoided by just a good Spring ( or Summer, Fall, Winter) cleaning! One of the easiest ways to make your home seem more open, and cleanly is to declutter! Box up all of that stuff just sitting around collecting dust! Do you have boxes in the basement that haven’t been touched since the last time you moved.. 10 years ago? Chances are, you probably aren’t going to use it anytime soon – now would be a good time to donate them!

2) Small repairs you’ve been putting off will save you more money to get done, than the price you’ll pay if you don’t fix it! – Do you have that leaky faucet that you’ve just been meaning to fix, but haven’t found the time? Or perhaps that light switch that has quit working. These repairs that you’ve been wanting to complete but haven’t, have the potential to cost you thousands of dollars off of your home profit! It will be a lot less expensive for you in the long run to fix them sooner, rather than later! You may be wondering why it makes such a large difference. After all, it hasn’t bothered you all that much. Buyers are not looking to inherit problems. They are looking to buy a move in ready home, with no move in maintenance required! So get those small problems fixed now, before the buyer wants to start negotiating price!

3) Homes that smell bad, are bad!- This almost falls into the dirty, cluttered home category, but deserves it’s own number! There may not be anything worse than walking into a smelly home! Whether it is from pets, smoking, or unique cooking… bad smells equate to a bad house in a buyers’ mind! Sure, even if they had to deal with a dirty home… a little elbow grease can go a long way! But… a smelly home sticks in a buyer’s mind, and nose! I read somewhere that the way something smells is something we never forget. You do not want a buyer to think of your house as the rotten fish do you? A good carpet shampooer, and some great wax melts can do wonders!

4) Think neutral! – No one loves and appreciates bright colors and uniqueness more than I do, but I have to tell you that is not what a prospective buyer wants to see! Start thinking of sandstone and pastel colors, because this is what everyone looking to buy your home will be expecting. Not the pretty princess pink in your daughter’s room, or the ninja turtle green in your son’s room. A buyer has to walk into your home, and envision it as their own. Make their home, your home in their mind. Buyers really have a hard time doing that with so many crazy colors. So start thinking about ways to revert the home back to the state when you bought it. Think of all of the changes you’ve made to the home to make it yours, and remember that a buyer wants your home, but without the YOU!

5) In this market, closing date will mean it’s moving day too!- Long gone are the days where you would get a full month of possession after closing on your home. When the buyers sign on the dotted line, they may expect to move in that day, or you may get 2-3 days if you’re lucky! When that closing date starts coming quicker and quicker, all of your belongings should be moved out, and packed up… because it just may be that you have to bring that key to the closing table!

6) We are in the digital age, and the Internet sells your home! – Chances are that the first place a buyer will fall in love with your home is online! I hope that isn’t a real shocker to most of you. It is a statistical fact that buyers skip over homes they’ve looked at online because of no photos, limited photos, or poor quality photos. In this day in age over 90% of buyers start their home search online; it is like the old saying goes, “A picture is worth a thousand words”. Buyers want to SEE your home, not read about it.

7) Hard work, dedication, and experience matters! – Just like anything in life, these 3 qualities are key to doing anything well. Having a real estate professional representing you that have all three will ensure that your home gets sold in the shortest amount of time, and for the most money possible. If you don’t have an agent that understands the real estate market and how to negotiate for you – numbers 1-6 do not matter!

Thank you for taking the time to read my article! Selling a home can sometimes be no easy task for the seller! We know that, and it is why we work the hardest for our clients on the front lines, and behind the scenes than anyone else. Our goal is to make your experience in selling, or buying real estate, as easy as possible!

To learn more about us click HERE!

Don’t be a FSBO!!

Sure – It’s easy for me to tell you not to be a “For Sale By Owner”. I’m a Realtor! My profession is helping homeowners’ sell their homes! If you try to sell your home by yourself – I’m out of a job!

Let’s take a second though to really discuss, and go through the reasons you should not try to sell your home solo. If you think hard, if there wasn’t a need for us… why would our profession still be around if people truly did not need us? Realtors have been around for decades, and the job field is only steadily growing with the demand of consumers.

What benefits do we offer that would be any different than you trying to sell your home yourself? First think about these three statistics, and let them sink in for a bit.

1) Homes that are “For Sale By Owner” sell for an average of $40,100 LESS than a house listed by an agent! The average home sold by an owner is $174,900 – while the average home sold by a Realtor is $215,000! If you do the math correctly, that means that on average, an agent can sell your home for 23% more than you can alone. I don’t know about you – but for me, that is not an insignificant difference!

2) Have you thought about how long your home will be on the market, or “for sale” before it actually gets sold? If you’ve ever been searching for a home… and you’ve seen those houses that have been on the market for 200 days… or 400 days – have you thought to yourself, “Why has no one bought that house yet.. there must be something wrong with it”? Well, since I know your answer is yes… it’s because you are not alone. This is a stigma attached with homes that just sit, and sit on the market. So, think about this if you will. The average days on market right now for a home sold by a Realtor is 69 days. The average days on market if sold by the owner is 88 days. That is an average of 19 days longer than if sold by a Realtor, or 22% faster. What we also find is that when the homeowner cannot sell on their own… they re-list with an agent, and then the average days on market becomes significantly lower once entered in the MLS!

3) Do you have a full time job? I do. Being a Realtor IS my full time job, and my partner’s too. This is all that we do for a living. Help people buy, and sell homes in Central Ohio. When you try to go the “For Sale By Owner” route… have you thought about the ridiculous amount of added stress? In a recent poll done by Realtor.com, 70% of FSBO sellers said that they ran across major difficulties while trying to sell their home, and had to enlist professional help anyway. When you hire a Realtor (Like Me 🙂 ) — we have the all of the resources to deal with all of the common, and uncommon difficulties that surface during a transaction! Whether it is title mistakes, pricing & financing, or inspection reports… we handle everything. You are not alone.

I could go on, and on as to why you should and need to hire an agent to help you sell your home, but these are the top three reasons if I were to be asked right now as to what challenges FSBOs face. If you have a home anywhere in Central Ohio, and you’ve thought about selling your home… contact us today! We’d be happy to meet you 🙂

For more info about us… click HERE!

Selling Your Home In The Summer

If you’ve ever bought, or sold a house… I’m sure that you’ve heard this over and over again, “Spring is the time to sell!”

I’d argue that there is not a season, not Spring, Summer, Fall, or Winter that you cannot sell your home if you are ready and have the right real estate agents (that would be us)! When you list in Spring, you can attract families looking to move between school years. When you list in the Fall, you get the folks looking to move before Winter hits. When you list in Winter, you attract the very serious buyer… because who wants to drive in a foot of snow to see a home they have no interest in actually buying?

What’s the upside to selling your home in the Summer? You still catch the families looking to make a move before a school season, and you have a bit more time to get your home showing ready!

One of the great things about selling your home in the summer is, it gives you a chance to actually showcase your outdoors! It’s time to highlight your outdoor areas like your decks, patios, and porches! These attract buyers! But, not if they aren’t inviting! Make sure you repaint, clean, and repair any loose railings. Another thing that can really boost your home into prime selling condition is landscaping! Have you been maintaining your yard work? Having colorful flowers, and potted plants or hanging baskets can give your home curb appeal that other homes on the market may not have. Thus, landing your home at the top of the buyer’s list!

In the Winter & Fall months… we have asked some of our clients to do things like bake cinnamon rolls or cookies, and leave them out for showings. It not only makes the buyer feel welcome, and at home… but it also makes a house smell great! In the Spring & Summer months… it is a nice touch to leave out some refreshing iced tea or lemonade! It does the same thing for buyers, gives them a sense of being at home, but you don’t get the same smell factor as you would cookies of course!

There are a lot of great tips and tricks to selling your home in the Summer to get the best possible price for your home! If you’ve thought about selling your home… make sure you give us a call!

For more information about us click HERE!

Reasons To Use A Realtor To Sell Your Grove City & Central Ohio Home!

Good Afternoon Fellow Readers!!

Although the title to this blog is “Reasons To Use A Realtor To Sell Your Grove City & Central Ohio Home!” – Please do not think that the same great content will not work for all of the areas we help sell in. Areas not limited to: Grove City, Hilliard, Dublin, Circleville, all of Central Ohio!

I’ll go through 7 great reasons you should be using a Realtor… (preferably my partner and I) … to sell your home!

1) We will list your home at the right price to sell!
As Realtors we have good understanding of the housing market in Grove City, Hilliard, Dublin, Circleville, and basically all of Central, West, and South West Ohio. It is our job, our profession  (which we happen to love) and we pride ourselves on giving our sellers the best highest price analysis of their home. Zillow, Trulia, and other online methods of homeowners trying to get values for their homes are very, very rarely accurate. One study showed that in cities like Kansas City, Cleveland, and Cincinnati – Zillow Estimates were only remotely accurate 10% of the time. Using us, insures better pricing for your home!

2) We offer better home presentations and home selling coaching!
In the world we live in now, the first place a buyer falls in love with a home, is online. Long gone are the days where you would flip open your Sunday paper and see one blurry little photo of the outside of a home! We are here to help you stage your home, and present your home to the largest audience of buyers possible!

3) We are guaranteed to get more exposure of your home!
Buyers don’t have the wool pulled over their eyes like they used to. Years ago there did not used to be such a thing as a “buyer agent”. Agents only represented sellers. As time progressed, and buyers started realizing their wants and needs were not being met… the buyers agent evolved. Now buyers, the majority of the time, contact a real estate agent before looking at properties. This means that the majority of buyers in every market will only be looking at homes listed by an agent. Your home will get more showings, and offers if listed by an agent. Want to know another secret? Buyers typically do not pay a dime out of pocket for their agent… they are paid by the seller’s agent! So what is the motivation to not have a buyers agent? I can’t think of any….

4) You are likely to get a higher offer!
How do I know this? Statistics don’t lie! Higher offers come rolling in when you list with an agent. We are here you make sure your property gets seen by as many people as possible! We also are here to make sure that all aspects of the buying process are handled in a professional manner. When you are represented by an agent… it can dramatically impact the offers that you receive!

5) Inspections & Appraisals!
Nothing can damper the sell of a home more than getting a 35 page inspection report from your buyer.. and not knowing where to start… or what to do. Having an experienced team, like us :), will make all the difference. What are the big ticket items that you may need to fix? What can we push the buyers back on to keep more money in your pocket? We handle all of these questions daily. What about appraisals? If a 35 page inspection report doesn’t have you worried… what about an appraisal that comes in $15,000 less than list price? YIKES!!! Have no fear though, this is where we come in… and will handle these problems with ease!

6) We speed up the time to close!
From the time we get your home into contact (and we will)…to closing… there is a TON of paperwork to be completed. We will handle this daily, keep everything up to date, and up to speed throughout the contract!

7) WE SELL YOUR HOME FOR MORE $$ IN YOUR POCKET!!
Ultimately, what it all comes down to is selling your home for the best possible price for you! If reasons 1-6 were not enough for you… then #7 should be!

If you have thought about selling your home in Grove City, Dublin, Hilliard, or anywhere in Central Ohio… contact us today!

Click here to learn more about us!

Happy To Meet You!

Hello there — I’m happy to meet you!

Welcome to our “I Heart Ohio Homes” real estate blog. My partner Josh Detty, and I (Kayla Staup) are both Realtors with HER Realtors, and founders of The Detty Group. We service all of Central Ohio including Franklin, Morrow, and Delaware Counties..

Our goal is to help everyone to have a wonderful experience while buying and selling Real Estate! Our blog will be aimed towards offering home selling advice, showing buyers the best ways through the loan process, and offering up random Real Estate humor – because… lets face it… humor is what helps us all get through our day!

If while reading our blog, you feel inclined to utilize us as your buying or selling agents…
Please know that we will be Happy To Meet You!