There are two key things to keep in mind as you consider selling your home, first impressions and effective marketing.

First Impressions

Your Fridrich & Clark Realtor can offer expert guidance on how to achieve the very best first impression and can advise you on where a little money on renovations would be most beneficial.  Readying your home for sale requires a critical, impersonal, experienced eye.  Remember, your goal is to SELL in a timely manner for the best price!

Exterior

Potential buyers will drive past a home either in a car or via the internet and make a quick (often erroneous) decision about whether they are interested in considering your home, we call this curb appeal. Be objective – try it in your own car – drive past your home and ruthlessly evaluate how it appears, including comparing it to neighboring homes.  There are many things that you can do for little or no cost to influence that first exterior impression:

  • Remove all clutter from the outside of your home, including toys, tools, discarded building materials, pots of dead plants, and any litter.  Don’t forget the back yard!
  • Keep lawn freshly cut.
  • Prune any dead limbs from bushes and trees.
  • Keep porches, walks, and decks swept absolutely clean.
  • Weed planting areas and add fresh mulch – mulch is a small investment, but it gives the impression that you’ve cared for your home.
  • Store portable barbecue grills, charcoal, toys, small planters, outside furniture that’s not in perfect condition in a garage or storage unit.  A cheap, broken lawn chair can make a potential buyer run away!
  • Take a look at shutters, doors, and overall exterior paint condition.  No crooked shutters or peeling paint!

Interior

Start at your front door and walk through your home as if you were the buyer.  At each threshold, stop and get a general first impression of each room.  This is the time to take a box into each room and fill it with the clutter that’s been there so long you don’t even notice it anymore.  Let us help you with what must go:

  • Piles of newspapers, magazines, catalogs, and mail.
  • Restrict objects on end or coffee tables, dining tables, and mantles to just 1-3 objects.  Ruthlessly clear away family photos (just for now!).  Take a hard look at plants – any that remain must be shiningly healthy.
  • Remove all those children’s drawings, magnets, calendars, and photos from the refrigerator front.
  • Clear your kitchen countertops. Be sure that whatever remains on the countertop adds to the kitchen appeal.
  • In the bathrooms, put away toiletries.  Remove hanging wall shelves.  Be sure towels that are hanging on bars are in good condition and coordinate with the room color.
  • If a room appears crowded, consider removing, relocating, or storing some furniture.  Too much furniture is distracting.  A few well-placed pieces let your potential buyer envision his own best furniture in the room.  And less furniture makes the room appear larger.
  • Bedrooms can be the most difficult, but they should also be clutter free.  This includes storing away toys and stuffed animals from children’s rooms.  In master and guest rooms, bedside tables and chests should be cleared of anything except lamps, clocks, perhaps a book.  Bedspreads and throw pillows should be immaculate.
  • Some other important tips for making the inside of your home the most appealing include:
      • Lighting – Open curtains and shades and be sure windows are sparkling.  Good lighting contributes to a feeling of spaciousness.  Replace burned out light bulbs; dust lampshades (consider replacing frayed or yellowed shades – you won’t believe the difference!)
      • Clean away all that dust and dirt!  You know those places that you never get around to cleaning?  Potential buyers will notice right away!  Window blinds should be dust free.  Windowsills, the inside of cupboards and closets, range tops and ovens, shower doors, walls and woodwork should be spotless.  Consider hiring a professional cleaning service and having rugs and carpets cleaned.  A clean house gives the impression of being well cared for and sends the impression to your buyer that you’ve been a conscientious caretaker of all of your home.
      • Décor  Of course you’re not going to completely redecorate, but consider storing shabby furniture; eliminating clashing patterns or colors; removing worn shades or drapery; painting to eliminate outdated or extreme colors or in rooms where paint on walls or woodwork is in poor condition.

Effective Marketing

In addition to home condition, the most important components of effective marketing are proper pricing, negotiating deals, and appropriate advertising.

Determining Property Value and Closing the Deal

Consulting a professional Realtor to provide a fair market analysis is essential in properly pricing your home for sale.  Be wary of websites that purport to tell you what your home is worth.  Statistics show that the majority of homeowners think their homes should be priced higher than the market will bear – incorrectly priced homes do not sell quickly.  The housing market is constantly changing, and a price that may have been reasonable four or six months ago may not be reasonable today – the current market may bring a higher or a lower price.  Your Fridrich & Clark Realtor is committed to helping you get the best possible price when you put your home on the market, and your Realtor can help you weigh the factors that will influence how long it will take to sell your home.  Do you need a quick sale or can you wait longer than some sellers?

Also, your Fridrich & Clark Realtor will provide expert guidance on handling offers, counter-offers, and sales agreement negotiations.

Effective Advertising and Marketing

Simply put, at Fridrich & Clark, we know what works.  Our professional Advertising Department assists agents in identifying the advertising and marketing avenues most appropriate to each listing and each client.  We will list your home with the Multiple Listing Service (MLS) and determine if Open Houses will be effective.

Aware of the increasing value of Internet exposure, we are the first agency in Middle Tennessee to subscribe to an Internet marketing vehicle. This ensures that our sellers’ homes receive maximum presence on websites best suited for marketing real estate, providing a distinct advantage over our competition.

Our listings and agents are featured monthly in the most widely consulted print publications.