The Price Is Right! 5 Excellent Tips to Help You Set the Perfect Price For Your Home

If you’re looking to sell your home, you’ve probably already accomplished many of the recommended tasks like sprucing up your curb appeal, giving your interior and exterior a fresh coat of paint, meticulously cleaning your home, and staging your home. When it comes to selling your house, though, money talks. No matter how nice and clean your home is, it won’t matter if you list it at the wrong price.

Determining your asking price is one of the most important decisions you’ll make when you decide to sell your home. If you price it too high, potential buyers will more than likely ignore the listing, and when you eventually lower it, you could be perceived as being a desperate seller and that there could be room for negotiation. On the flip side, if you price your home too low, you could be missing out on the price that you deserve for your home. What’s a seller to do?

If you want your home to sell quickly and successfully, follow these 5 tips below!

Start Researching – Before you even think of writing down a price for your home, you need to do some research. Check out your local market – what are the trends you’ve been noticing? There are many sites out there that can help you find recently sold homes that are comparable to your own, along with home value trends, foreclosure statistics, and price-cut information. All of this information will definitely help you set a solid price based on your local market conditions.

Scope Out the Competition – Now that you’ve got the 411 on the local market, check out the houses that are for sale in your home. Are there a lot on the market? What price point are they being sold at and in what type of condition? Try to find a home for sale that’s both similar to yours and has been sitting on the market for a while. It usually means that buyers don’t think that the home is priced correctly for the market. Once you see that it’s sold, figure out how much above or below the list price it was sold for – it will give you a good idea on how you should set your own price.

Get an Inspection – Though buyers are usually the ones who hire a home inspector, it’s not a bad idea for you, the seller, to consider doing the same. A licensed home inspector will go through and ensure that the various symptoms in your home are working properly, including your electrical, plumbing, heating and cooling, roof, and others. With this information, you can either work to fix the problems or, if your systems are in good shape, you can use it as a marketing tool to pique the curiosity of potential homebuyers.

Ask Your Agent – That’s right! You can count on your real estate agent to help you pinpoint the price that’s right for your home. Your agent will know what buyers are looking for in your market and how much they would be willing to pay. Have an open and honest conversation with your real estate agent – you can’t go wrong!

Be Realistic – When it comes to our homes, we tend to have a very sentimental attachment. It can be easy to put too high of a price on the home, which will wind up deterring potential homebuyers. As hard as it might be, try to put yourself in the buyer’s shoes. Would you pay that much for your home? If not, try to figure out a lower price that is both favorable to the buyer and to you.

Remember tip #4? If you’re not sure which real estate agency to trust, we have the answer – The Massey Team at Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Elite Properties. We’re made of a caring, trustworthy, and knowledgeable team of agents who are dedicated to making sure you sell your home for the best price and that you also get the home you’ve always dreamed of living in. Call us today at (618) 791-5024 or (618) 791-9298 to talk to an agent today, or learn more about us online at www.dianamasseyteam.com!

9 Tasks You Need to Check Off After You Move

When it comes to moving from one residence to another, we often talk about all of the things you need to do to prepare for a successful move. While it’s important to know what to expect before (and during) your move, it’s equally important to know what you need to accomplish after all of your belongings have been carried into your new home.

Get a step ahead of the game with these 9 essential tips!

Get Your Utilities Up and Running – If you haven’t been able to arrange the connection of the main house utilities before you move, go ahead and do this right away. Get your electricity, gas, and running water set up and ready to go. Once these fundamentals are addressed, consider getting access to the Internet, phone, and other important services.

Unpack the Essentials – Now it’s time to unpack the most important boxes – your bathroom and bedroom essentials. You’ll want to have the necessary toiletries available whenever you need to use the bathroom or take a shower, and you’ll also want to assemble your bed and unpack your bedding so you can curl up after a long day of moving and unpacking. Make sure you unpack your toothbrush and toothpaste, toilet paper, bath items, towels, shower curtain, and a bathrobe before you take a shower and head to bed!

Find the Fuse Box and Main Water Valve – These are two of the most important things that help keep your house in working order, and you will need to know where they are in case of emergencies or if you ever need to cut off the water supply or turn off the electricity. Become familiar with how the main water stop valve works and make sure that it functions properly by checking for any running water after the valve has been shut off. Make sure that the fuses are labeled properly as well.

Get New Locks – As soon as you can, make sure that you secure your new home by changing the locks to all the outside doors. This will ensure that you are the only one who can access your new home. Make sure to double-check that the windows and doors can close securely, and put at least one functional fire extinguisher somewhere safe in your new home.

Connect the Major Appliances – If you’ve decided to move your fridge, washing machine, and/or dishwasher over to your new home, make sure that you connect them! For how big and heavy it is, the refrigerator is the most fragile of these appliances, so take extra care when preparing, relocating, and connecting it. Make sure that you leave your fridge upright on its final kitchen spot for at least 3 full hours before plugging it in and turning it on. This allows the oil to return to the compressor, which helps make your fridge work properly.

Keep Unpacking – Now that the big things are taken care of, you will want to keep unpacking your belongings and finding new homes for them all. This is probably the most tedious and time-consuming task you will encounter when it comes to moving to a new home. Just take it one box at a time! If you really hate unpacking, consider asking a few good friends to come over and help you out in exchange for pizza and drinks.

Make It Shine – Now that you’ve unpacked your belongings, you will probably notice all the dust, dirt, and garbage that has accumulated inside your new home. Take the time to get down and clean your home – all of it. Use the cleaning products that you’d packed previously or purchase quality cleaning products to get the job done. Make everything dust-free and sparkling like new!

Change Your Address – If you weren’t able to tackle this task before you moved, go ahead and do this now. Go to the post office (or visit them online!) to change your address. Be sure to update your banks, credit card companies, insurance companies, and other important institutions of your recent change of address. Moved out of state? You’ll want to make an extra visit to your DMV to update your license information.

Enjoy! Now that you’ve completed all of the other tasks, it’s time to do one final thing – enjoy your new home! Meet the neighbors, host a housewarming party, and take the time to kick back and relax in your new home!

When it comes to buying, selling, and moving to a new home, The Massey Team at Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Elite Properties are the experts! Call (618) 791-5024 or (618) 791-9298 for all of your home needs or visit us at www.dianamasseyhomes.com to check out our current listings.