Di Kawell Real Estate Blog

Federal Way Goes Green on March 21st ..

Selling Your Home Or Not, one thing we all need to do is clear the clutter and do some "Spring Cleaning"at least once a year. The City of Federal Way is having it's semi-annual community recycling event March 21st from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the Twin Lakes Park & Ride, 21st Ave SW and SW 344th St.

Residents can recycle a wide range of materials that are not typically collected at the curb, including appliances, scrap metal, clean wood, bulky yard debris, petroleum products, tires, oil, gas, batteries, rigid plastic, holiday lights and select electronics, such as computer keyboards, mice and printers, fax machines, scanners, cell phones and CD/DVD players. Most items are accepted free of charge - however there is a $10 cash fee for recycling fridges, freezers and air conditioners. For more information see the City of Federal website.

Federal Way Sellers - How Can You Compete?

With bank owned, pre-foreclosure & foreclosure properties being approximately 25% of our Federal Way area active listings - besides pricing, what can you do to be in the top 1% of your competitors?

Answer: STAGE YOUR HOME, completely - as in every room, including the garage, from curb to fence lines - completely. Bank owned and foreclosure properties are not everyone's first choice but they do make up 35-40% of the listings that are actually selling right now. You must price to those homes and then you must be staged to be top dog.

I asked Mary DeBella, Accredited Staging Professional, "In your experience, what one room do most sellers overlook, that costs them a sale in this market?"

Here is her response,

" Diane-
That's a good question. I would probably have to say the Master Bedroom (or bedrooms). Most sellers will tidy up their main living spaces such as the Living Room, Family Room, Kitchen, etc. But the bedroom(s) tends to get overlooked because of the challenge of living in the space while it is on the market.

Unfortunately what occurs is that they neglect to showcase one of the most "used" rooms in the house! They forget that they spend the largest majority of their time in this room and tend to say "Well the buyer will just understand my messy bedroom because I live here - after all!"

Most buyers will want to visually see how their bed might fit in the room, or if their clothes will fit in the tiny closets, or where their TV might plug in, etc. If each room is not showcase-ready, sellers have just narrowed down their selling margin. In the current buyer's-market, sellers can't afford to justify the reasons their homes don't look good.

Selling one's home requires a big commitment. Sellers would do well to remember that "the way you live in your house, is not the way you market and sell your house". They are two different things. Your house is now a product that must look better - in every room - than its competition. I always like to encourage sellers who drag their feet about cleaning out a particular room by saying "Are you planning on selling that room with the house?" They smile, and understand the message.

SEE THE BEDROOM AFTER

     

SEE THE BEDROOM BEFORE 

 The second most neglected room (IMHO) would be the garage. In other words, the "man cave". Why fill the garage with boxes and stuff, when many men consider the garage - their haven? Times have changed for sellers and "sweat equity" is the new mantra! Staging Works!"