Five Keys To Preparing Your Home For Sale
BY MICHAEL ROBLETO - JANUARY 3RD, 2021 3:16 PM PST
Realtor with Compass Pasadena. Specializing in the buying and selling of Pre-War, Historic, and Architecturally significant homes and lofts in Altadena, Pasadena, Eagle Rock, Highland Park, Silverlake, Los Feliz, and DTLA.
Real Estate in Pasadena, Eagle Rock, Highland Park, and other areas has been moving very fast despite a global pandemic as I have reported on this quite a bit as of late. Yet the fast-moving market isn’t working for every home seller as many houses are sitting on the market without offers or interest.
Why one home sells in seven days with twenty offers and others sit for 60 days with zero comes down to prep and pricing.
Pricing is a whole strategy in itself, and I will cover that in a future article. For this article let’s cover the keys to properly preparing a home for sale.
While my area of focus is Pasadena, Altadena, Eagle Rock, Highland Park, Mt Washington, and the other LA County areas I work in, these steps will apply nationally.
1). You have Way too Much Stuff
A home that is for sale should look like a hotel room; very very few pieces of furniture, a couple of tasteful knickknacks, impersonal artwork on the walls, and empty closets. Even if you are Marie Kondo, you have too much stuff in your house.
Buyers want to envision themselves in your home, your personal belongings are in direct conflict with that. Less furniture makes a home seem larger. Downplayed artwork neutralizes for a buyer’s individual taste (you may have impeccable taste, but it is highly unlikely that it. is universal).
In a perfect world, you have already moved out. If renting an apartment between places is an option, do it, it is well worth the return and the ease of stress.
While staging is always a solid move, it doesn’t have to be the whole home, you can partial stage. If you have zero other options but to live there while you list the home for sale, you should migrate as much of your things as possible to a storage unit.
2). You Know What is Broken, The Buyer Will Find Out Soon
No house is perfect, every single home has something wrong with it. Whether it is a brand new house, a recently restored home, or even Elon Musk’s home, there is something wrong with it.
These flaws, large and small will come up once you are in escrow so you want to know exactly what that list looks like by paying for an independent home inspection. That inspector is going to uncover every flaw that matters. The buyer of your home is going to perform this very same inspection. Anything they find could kill the deal or at the least cost you to repair them or offer credit so they can repair them.
By preemptively doing your own inspection you can take the time to tackle those small and not-so-small things that will come up later and potentially kill your sale or cost you funds at the close of escrow.
Hire a reputable inspector (they are not all created equal) and prioritize the findings with an agent that is very experienced. preferably one that understands buyers and home construction.
3). Should I Renovate the Kitchen First?
Only if you like throwing away money. Major renovations rarely pen out to profits when a homeowner is selling and there are several factors at play. 1. You are going to pay retail for a renovation and contractors are high in demand these days so they can charge a premium. Flippers have full-time crews to control these costs. 2. Kitchens and bathrooms sell houses but are also highly personalized. The odds of you renovating to a neutral state are low. 3. Studies have shown that only a few renovations can show a positive return on investment. Garage doors, landscaping, and paint are those things. Kitchens and bathroom renovations are not.
Deep cleaning like it has never been before being your cheapest option. If the tile is busted or doors are falling apart, you should fix these items and fix them well. You can offset dated kitchens and baths with staging that compliments the period. A good realtor can assist greatly here.
4). Who’s Been Chewing On Your House?
Termites are part of life in California and every home will have some level of termite damage or infestation. Like a home inspection, it is very worthwhile to have a termite inspection completed and the repairs done. A termite inspection clearance will be required for any transaction completed. If the damage is extensive and you plan to sell “As-Is” you will risk an appraiser flagging this to be fixed first or you will need to hope for an all-cash buyer that does not need an appraisal. When the goal is multiple offers, you don’t want to limit your chances. Do the termite.
5). Are They Gonna Swipe Right?
95% of all housing purchases start with an online search. The Covid pandemic put a halt to all open houses and broker preview tours so every agent and buyer is starting the process online.
What makes a buyer want to click on your listing comes down to one single thumbnail image. Use the right image and hundreds or thousands will see your home. Pick the wrong one and you are facing long days on market and possibly a price reduction.
The lead image should be the most flattering picture of the exterior possible. This can’t be done with an iPhone pic or Google Streetview. Using an interior picture as the lead shot tells me your house is ugly on the outside. Don’t do it.
To get the best possible exterior pic to be your lead shot will require some talent behind the camera and some prep on your end. This is why painting, landscaping, and garage doors are the improvements that return a positive ROI.
Selling real estate in Altadena, Pasadena, Eagle Rock, Highland Park, and surrounding areas in 2021 is just as challenging as before. Properly preparing your home will best arm you to make the process a pain free and profitable one.
Need More Info? Get The Whole Guide
I created a whole guide on how to properly prepare your home for sale. You can download it here (just click the image)
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Michael Robleto is a Los Angeles based REALTOR® that specializes in Historic Pre-War residential properties and those with architectural merit in Pasadena, Los Feliz, Silverlake, Eagle Rock, and Mount Washington. Michael uses his vast knowledge of historic homes, residential construction, and modern-day marketing to predict and solve the many problems that arise in real estate transactions. His client accolades of insight, prompt communication, integrity, and hard work support the fact that he is not your average agent.
Michael leverages his personal passion for historic architecture to provide his clients with the unknown insight into the pros and cons of older homes. Michael, the son of a contractor, a California native, grew up in an older Bungalow home and has spent 23 years in Southern California admiring the unique architecture of the region. Michael brings 20+ years of negotiation and sales experience to his seven-year career in residential real estate. He often writes on homeownership strategy, historic residential architecture, and related topics that can be found on Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, and Instagram under the common profile name of his blog; BungalowAgent.
Michael is a committee member and frequent volunteer for the preservation efforts of Pasadena Heritage and the LA Conservancy. When not working you can find Michael on hiking trails statewide with his faithful German Shepherd Axel.
