8 crucial seconds!

You only have….are you ready for this??…8… ONLY 8 seconds for buyers to make up their minds about whether they want to go past the entry of your house.    So, let’s take a walk up the steps and through the front door to see through a buyer’s eyes.  While the Realtor is fumbling with the lockbox, you’re busy looking at the chipped and dirty concrete on the steps, the neglected shrubs and extremely dead potted plants.  The stair railings need a serious power washing and don’t ask about the scarred front door!  What animal was trying to get in? The faded fake flower door wreath isn’t doing a thing to make a great impression, either. Oh my!  The spider webs and wasps nests are scaring the dickens out of you.  Ms. Realtor, please hurry and open that front door before we change our mind!

Here we are in the foyer.  Uh oh…the bi-fold closet doors came off the track.  And what about those nasty, rusted closet wire shelves? Hmmm…not a good sign of what’s to come.  The  entryway with it’s dingy, dark color scheme, muddy shoes all over the place, outdated and scratched up parquet floor and 80′s vertical blinds…not exactly inviting.  Let’s stop here.

By the way, this couple told the Realtor, “We want to see the next house. This isn’t for us”  They had no desire to look any further, even though there was a lovely master bedroom and bath, a cozy fireplace in the great room, an updated kitchen and a huge private back yard.  Shame, shame shame.

So, if you think the first impression isn’t important, I say think again.  The first impression is the lasting impression. You only have 8 seconds.  The clock is ticking!

Does your house pass the sniff test?

 

 

After living in a home for many years, many of us no longer smell the familiar odors of our everyday lives.   

I love the aroma of garlic and grilled onions.  It’s hard to believe that that there are those who don’t share my feelings. You may make a wicked curry.  And oh my.. is there anything more heavenly than corned beef and cabbage?   Unfortunately, cooking odors can be a real turn-off to potential buyers.  Cooking smells are very personal.  Don’t think for a minute that a buyer won’t look in your refrigerator, so it had better look and smell clean.

I love my cats even more than I love garlic and sauteed onions.  Too bad I don’t love their litter box.  I love dogs, too. The smell of wet dog?…Not so much.  Not exactly eau de cologne!  Pet odors are difficult because our pets are family.  We want our pets around.  But when you’re selling your house, pets should keep a very low profile and their smells need to be non-existent.

Cigarette smoke is a tough one. I’m not here to judge.  But buyers who are not smokers will frequently move on to the next house because of the smell. It’s amazing how often smoke smells make an immediate and negative first impression.  It can be difficult to remove, that’s for sure.  Sometimes, the only solution is to completely re-paint and re-carpet. Even then, there’s no guarantee. 

Finally, the smell of mold and mildew can be very frightening to homebuyers.  It means there’s moisture somewhere and your potential buyers could be imagining the worst. 

So, what are you supposed to do about all of these potentially offensive and scary odors?

A box of baking soda in the fridge is a simple solution.  While you’re at it, toss a lemon down the garbage disposal.  Lemons smell clean and fresh.  Use lemon scented cleaners to wipe down the kitchen daily.  Please don’t serve your world famous fish stew while your house is on the market.  Everyone knows the old trick of baking cookies or bread before an open house.  It sure can’t hurt!  But don’t try to cover up odors with an overabundance of potpourris, scented candles, and air freshener sprays.  They can be overpowering.  It’s better to just open some windows when you can.

Pet odors can be more difficult.  Remedies can be as simple as sprinkling a box of baking soda in the kitty box or on the carpet, to much more elaborate professional remediation.  Cat and dog accidents on the carpet can be extremely hard to treat.  That’s because the accidents typically seep into the carpet padding and the subflooring.  It often involves replacing some of the subfloor and completely replacing the carpet.  See your carpet cleaning professional and be prepared to spend some money.  Buyers often will not overlook pet odors that are unbearable, unless the price is REALLY, REALLY great.  You can be sure you’ll be beaten up on the price if your house smells!

Mold and mildew odors can be helped by using a dehumidifier, but it’s only a temporary fix if the source isn’t found.  A A solution of bleach and water is the surefire way to get rid of most mildew.

When all else fails, it’s time to call in a professional air purifier company.  Yes, it’s costly, but far less costly than a house that just will not sell.

Are you afraid to turn the key to your vacation rental?

 

 

 

 

 

 

Vacation season is here.  If you’ve ever rented a vacation place from pictures on the internet, you know that your accommodations can be disappointing, to say the least.  Nothing like plunking down hard earned savings and driving for hours only to be stuck with a place you are afraid to sleep in.  Let’s just say that the internet pictures can be misleading.

It’s not a good sign when you immediately throw the bedspread on the floor because it’s so nasty.  If you’re considering using that faded, bally, pilly bedspread as your beach blanket for the week, I don’t blame you!  When you open the kitchen cupboards, why do 10 dented, greasy aluminum pots fall out?   You’re on vacation and have no intention of cooking gourmet meals for the troops.  It’s pretty frustrating when you only have 4 ancient chipped dishes and 4 knives, spoons and forks when you’re trying to feed a family of 6.

And then there’s the furniture…  Why won’t the dresser drawers open? Does ALL the furniture have to be from garage sales?  Why are the chairs so uncomfortable?  Who needs a wet bar that takes up half the living room but hasn’t been used since the 80″s?  Why won’t the outdated vertical blinds close?  How long have those faded silk plants been collecting dust?

Of course, there are those wonderful places where families go back year after year and create wonderful memories.  I’m not talking about those places but…

Vacation rentals should be clean, comfortable and durable. They shouldn’t be a dumping ground for junky furniture, scary linens and never used  kitchen paraphernalia.  So here’s to summer vacation…I hope your rental and the weather is everything you hoped for.   

 

Barb at the beach

Home Sweet Home Stagers, Inc.

My favorite staging question: “Do you love it?”

By barbmihalik

Greetings from Barb at the beach:

By barbmihalik

Greetings from Barb at the beach:

I frequently work with clients who are downsizing.  No doubt about it…it’s challenging to move from a 3000 square foot home into a 1500 square foot condo.  Many of my consultations are about how to fit all that stuff into the new space.  Not easy…I assure you.  The big problem is the fear of parting with the stuff.

My favorite question to ask is “Do you love it?”  I have a lot of customers who try to THINK of reasons to keep their stuff, even if they rarely use it or look at it, and even downright despise it.  I keep asking the person that same question over and over.  Most of the time when I get the admission that they don’t like it, want it or need it, it goes.  It’s exhausting but worth it.

So do you really need, want, or love:

Your ancient yellowing, molding college textbooks, even though you graduated in 1967?

Aunt Jane’s entire tea stained doily collection that can’t be bleached because it will distintegrate?

The Hummel figurine someone gave you as a wedding present 25 years ago that never, ever came out of the box?

Your 30 year old daughter’s headless Barbie collection?

Your 35 year old son’s pre-school finger paintings?

The hideous sofa in the den that makes you cringe every time you walk past it?

The silver tea service that tarnishes just by looking at it?

The thousands of paperback books and cut up National Geographic magazines in the attic?

Think of the effort, expense and stress of moving what you don’t love.  If you love it, by all means move it.  It sounds cold and unsentimental…but there are ways to display sentimental items so that you can look at them instead of keeping those treasured items hidden away in boxes.

If it’s valuable but you don’t love it, sell it.  If it’s not  of value to you, donate it. Someone will be grateful. And then there’s always regifting…Remember, moving into a small home requires an unbiased critical eye.

So love it or lose it is my motto.  And prevent another packrat from taking up residence in your new home!

Why can’t I have my model motorcycle collection in my master bedroom when I’m selling my house?

Hi from Barb at the beach:

 

Yes, a client’s husband really did ask me that when I came in for a staging consultation! He had an entire wall of the master bedroom devoted to his beloved model motorcycles.  It was the focal point of the bedroom.

 Giving up the notion that this is still your house is a tough nut for home sellers to  swallow.  Home sellers have many years of fond memories of living in their homes. Collections express your personality and are a part of those happy times.  BUT…

Do you want home buyers looking at your collections or your house?  If they’re not focused on the room sizes, the focal points, the windows, the floor coverings, etc. and they’re looking at the collections, you’re not making it easy for buyers to see themselves living there.

This collection of dirt bike trophies was taking up almost an entire wall of a garage.  The owner agreed to pack them up because they need to move.

You’re moving anyway…so pack up the collections for your next home.  Distracted buyers don’t buy.

Why isn’t my home selling?

There are 3 reasons why homes linger on the market:

1.  The most obvious reason is price

2. An incurable defect such as location

3.  Condition

Two out of three are fixable…price and condition.

Homes that are priced correctly but are still not selling often need help in the condition department.  Houses that are cluttered with out-dated decor, too many knick knacks, poor furniture arrangements can stay on the market 30% longer that those that have a well-cared for look.  It starts in the entry way.

This foyer invites buyers in.  They won’t be able to resist seeing the rest of the house.

A consultation from a professional stager is an inexpensive way to help home sellers get their homes in buying condition.  A professional staging costs far less than a price reduction.

Vacant Homes take longer to sell

            

Good day from Barb at the beach!

Did you know that vacant homes take 30% longer to sell?  There are several reasons for this:

• Internet photos of vacant rooms are passed up by potential buyers
• Vacant rooms actually look smaller than furnished rooms
• Empty rooms have no sense of proportion

Before you sell…prepare, prepare, prepare.  Furnish your rooms to define the purpose and create a life for your buyers.

Barb at the Beach

Check out this month’s Wilmington Magazine…Home Trends

I was so fortunate to be interviewed by Wilmington Magazine and I have a quote in an article about Home Trends and staging on page 9.  Please check it out!

This is Barb at the beach.I confess! I’m a closet clutterer.

Kids Klutter

You would think that a professional stager would be an organization freak.  Not so!  If you could see my coffee table right now.  You can’t even find the beautiful tile slate top for all the papers. 

BUT…one day after I couldn’t find my keys (which were hiding in plain sight) under a pile of stuff, I missed a plane. After I gave myself a major talking to, I realized that the energy and the stress of constantly looking for things was making my life chaotic and even miserable at times.

My dad and mom are both packrats.  My dad creates huge amounts of junk.  He’s saved every newspaper and Time Magazine for the last 30 years.  He literally spent weeks in the attic throwing out scraps of lumber, hardware, and just plain junque that he was planning on using “someday.”   My mom, on the other hand, collects plastic deli containers.  I defy you to open one of her kitchen cabinets and not have 25 deli containers fall out. But my folks are a product of the Depression.  I have no excuse. 

The day I missed my plane, I vowed to confine my clutter to just one area.  Unfortunately, the gorgeous  tile coffee table has become the catch-all.   In a pinch, if I have people coming over, I can pile up the clutter and hide it somewhere, or even fake-organize all the stuff so that it looks respectable– the mark of a busy, professional person.

As a real estate agent and a professional home stager, I’ve seen what clutter can do to put an end to a potential sale.  Home buyers form an opinion of your house in just 15 seconds.  In today’s market, they’ll just turn heel in a flash and go on to the next house.

It’s too bad…you probably have a perfectly beautiful house hiding under all that nonsense that you’ll never look at, much less use.  And clutter eats up equity…it’s a proven fact.  Cluttered homes sell for less…thousands less.

So what’s a clutterer to do? 

Here’s a suggestion:  take pictures of your home.  Look at the photos carefully. You might just see the forest for the trees!  Make sure your realtor has great interior pictures on realtor.com.  87% of homebuyers begin their home search on the internet.  What if they see something like the photo in this blog?  You might be fine with all of your stuff, but remember, you’re not going to be living there anymore.  Why not get a leg up on the move and pack up half of your possessions.  Or better still, donate it, have a yard sale or just throw it out.  The goal is to move on!

Stayed tuned for 10 easy things you can do to eliminate clutter! 

Barb at the beach

The top 20 decorating faux pas

Hi again! This is Barb at the beach with some new staging tips:
Here are the top 20 decorating faux pas:

Four Seasons Home Stagecrafters, Inc.
Setting the scene to sell your house
BARB MIHALIK, ASP
Accredited Staging Professional/Broker/REALTOR®
cell: 901.599.1616
barb.mihalik@hotmail.com
barbmihalik@seacoastrealty.com
The Top 20 Biggest Decorating Mistakes
20. Outdated accessories, let’s leave lava lamps and psychedelia back in the 70’s where it belongs!
19. Lopsided furniture arrangements…furniture shouldn’t be standing at attention like soldiers
18. Toilet rugs…EEEEWWWW!
17. Too formal living areas…keep it comfortable and inviting, it’s no fun parking your rear at the of a sofa because of   the overabundance of pillows
16. Too many personal photos. Please, no babies on bearskin rugs!
15. Lack of furniture traffic pattern…your home should not be an obstacle course.
14. Ignoring your foyer/entry…it’s the opening scene..no one wants to look at your muddy shoes and 37 raincoats and umbrellas.
13. Not covering up cables, wires. You’re not serving spaghetti.
12. Everything matches too much..”Matchy Matchy” is tacky tacky!
11. Outdated wallpaper…when in doubt, take it out!
10. Furniture that doesn’t fit the scale of the room. Your 9 piece sectional in a 10 X 10 room might be a bit much.
9. Colors…any color of a florescent highlighter shouldn’t be on your walls.
8. Not enough lighting. They sell things called lamps.
7. Picture frames hung too high. Great, if you’re a giraffe!
6. Furniture pushed against walls. Don’t let your furniture be wallflowers.
5. “Floating” area rugs that aren’t connected to furniture. Rugs aren’t rafts.
4. Ignoring window coverings. Sheets, towels, and newpapers just won’t cut it.
3. Ugly sofa covers. Would you want to park your rear where there’s a mystery stain?
2. Knick knack overload…your Mickey Mouse collection just might not appeal to everyone.
1. Fake flowers and plants, If the color doesn’t occur in nature, forget it.