Home Staging & Home Sale Preparation

First impressions can be deal breakers for potential buyers, especially when homeowners do not grasp the significance of staging the home.  It's like missing the forest for the trees, meaning someone is looking at individual things (trees) and missing the big picture (forest).  In house terms, prospective home buyers can be distracted by odd art, personal belongings or loud things which attract attention.  The human eye is drawn to something that stands out, and a potential home buyer can miss an entire room for the visual impact of something very bright, though relatively small.

The National Association of Realtors reports that staged homes sell 80 percent faster and have offers up to 11 percent higher than non-staged properties.   According to Barb Schwarz, president of the International Association of Home StagingProfessionals (IAHSP), a home staged by an IAHSP member is on the market for an average of 29 days compared to 145 days for non-staged homes.  Another study by the Real Estate Staging Association indicates that staged homes sell, on average, 73 percent faster than unstaged ones.

            

Of course, all the staging in the world doesn't do much if the place isn't professionally cleaned and personally de-cluttered.  Lookers do poke in the oven, closets, dryer lint screen and under sinks.  Fresh coats of paint do wonders, as does carpet replacement, deep cleaning and power spraying the exterior.

Curb appeal (check out our past blog) is the first impression, and yet a fair performance outside can be overlooked for a stellar interior.   The hallmark of a home stage professional is a keen eye for arrangement, organization, function and color.   This person understands the kind of neutral environment that has broad appeal.   It's not about decorating or redecorating, but more about transforming the home from personally-you to impersonally-someone else.

Staging can be expensive, but the likelihood of recovering it and more in the final price is high.  It's akin to the business adage: "It takes money to make money."  According to a Duke University study on home staging, some of the most important things to be removed from sight are:

·      used soap, razors, toothbrushes, etc., in a bathroom

·      pet dishes, toys, beds, litter box, etc.

·      personal photographs

·      kitchen counter appliances including coffeemaker, mixer, etc.

Additionally, each room should be used as designed.  A dining room, for example, should having dining room furniture in it.  A spare bedroom converted to a home office works, as long as it doesn't have both bed and desk.

One of the most common stumbling blocks to staging is emotional.  The homeowner is defensive about his or her decor, and for someone to come in and remove and rearrange things in another way can be disheartening.  The home stage professional is not emotionally-invested in the house and simply sees how to present it in the best light, literally and figuratively.  The objective is to sell the house for a great price in a relatively short time frame, and keeping that in mind makes the home stager part of the sales team, not an adversary.

A home stage professional can take your home to its highest level of appeal to prospective buyers, those potential new homeowners who can comfortably visualize their furnishings and personal accoutrements in your attractive, neutral spaces.  Time is money, even in real estate, and a fast nickel is always better than a slow dime.  Who knows, with professional home staging, you might get one fast dime.

So when you get ready to sell, it may be worth considering a home stager as a valuable part of your team.  You may also consider getting your Tampa area dumpster rental from the folks at Bin There Dump That,  they will help you determine what size you need, their courteous drivers will be on time, they guarantee driveway protection, and best of all, their dumpsters are clean & green, you wont have a rust bucket sitting in your driveway detracting from your beautiful home.

 

Holding a Garage Sale

It's the all-American trash-to-treasure phenomenon that attracts people from all walks of life and socio-economic strata. It's almost, not quite, as much a social event as a treasure hunt, and in a twist on "build it and they will come", the garage sale slogan could well be: "Advertise it and they will come."

While most people are seeking something new-to-them for their home or tools to complement what they have, others are seasoned buyers who might host a flea market table elsewhere and look for cheap stuff they can turn around for a buck or two more than they paid. Whatever their motivation, yours is clear: Get rid of things no longer wanted or used and get a little money in the process, as we say "Clean Up & Clear Out!

You might want to order up a junk dumpster rental from Bin There Dump That at the outset if you have a deep clean-out from an overly-cluttered garage, basement or storage unit. That makes it easy to toss the non-saleable junk and debris items right away into your Tampa dumpster rental. As you price stuff, bear in mind you'll probably get offers for half the asking price, and haggling over dollars and cents is the hallmark of garage sales.

A first order of business is to check with your homeowner or neighborhood association, town and county for rules and regulations governing garage sales. Some have permit requirements, limits on how many per year, sign ordinances, etc. If you have covered space, then you don't need a rain date, but you might consider it if your driveway and front yard are the only showroom areas for your trash-to-treasure things. You don't need much to hold a garage sale, but it goes much smoother if you have thought ahead and assembled a few basics, here is a quick list to get you started:

• Markers
• Signs
• Staple gun/tape to put up signs (as allowed)
• Paper bags make good, stand-up signs with thick marker with weight to hold them down
• Money box
• Lots of $1 bills and change
• Stickers for prices
• Plastic bags for small or multiple items purchased
• Dolly to move furniture, grill, heavy stuff
• Hangers for clothes, rack or tree limbs
• Calculator
• Tables and a couple folding chairs (one for you)

Advertising on craigslist is a no-brainer, and the Garage Sale category is under the For Sale section. Garagesalestracker.com and local community newspapers may also be good for publicity.  

And here are a few little tricks of the trade.

• One rule of thumb for pricing is to consider one-third of what the item would cost new, assuming it's in great condition.
• Go through the pockets of all the clothes.
• Have an extension cord to test lamps, appliances, etc.
• Put tools or a lawn mower out front to entice men to willingly stop.
• If there are several people selling things, use different color stickers and have a notebook handy to record the sale.
• Go through each item yourself to tally a total.
• Have fun!

Flipping Houses and Pocketing the Profit

House flipping ranges from picking up a one-time property deal and turning it around for a tidy profit to making a living at buying distressed, foreclosed, run-down or other properties, repairing, cleaning up, renovating, painting or all of the above.  It can be an occasional hobby or a bona-fide vocation.  It's not for the faint-hearted, as much planning, financial investment and hard work goes into house flipping ~ including, but not limited to, having a good relationship with a dumpster rental company that is reliable and can move quickly once you close on your deal and are ready to get started.  Reliable partners that can move as fast as you need are a major key to this game.

People buy, sell and move all the time, but house flippers are generally considered "in the business" when properties change hands in less than 12 months.  The serious ones may have several properties in various stages of fix-up at the same time, and others might do one a year on the side. 

The greater Tampa, St. Pete, & Clearwater region is prime for house flippers from the old beach condo to the foreclosed mansion.  The older homes in South Tampa and St. Pete seem to be hot areas of interest today.  Buying any property and re-selling it without doing anything happens, but real value and higher profits are found in the renovation or at the least major sprucing up of a house or condo.  


To get started, you need a few things besides a toolbox ~ 

• Knowledge of neighborhoods, real estate prices, demographics, current market trends
• Financial expertise in fees associated with home buying and selling, like Realtor commissions, appraiser, home inspection, bank financing, building permits, closing fees
• Vision of what can be and the repair and renovation work and associated costs
• Negotiating skills
• Good relationships with a dumpster rental company, plumbers, painters, electricians, landscapers and roofers, among others
• Management capabilities to prioritize, track expenses, deal with suppliers, etc. 

Earlier this year in the Tampa Bay times, reported in their article Tampa Bay Ranks Among Nation's Leaders in House-Flipping Profits that local flippers were averaging 57% gross profit during the first few months of 2015.  According to www.realtytrac.com, a leading source of housing data, close to 27,000 homes were flipped nationwide during the third quarter of last year with an average profit of $75,990. "The record-high average profits per flip in the quarter demonstrate that flippers are still filling an important niche in an aging housing market with historically low levels of new homes being built," states Daren Blomquist, vice president at RealtyTrac. "The most successful flippers are buying older, outdated homes in established neighborhoods and rehabbing them extensively to appeal to modern tastes."

House flipping has increased in popularity among the less experienced with a many TV shows dedicated to buying and selling homes.  You can see Bin There Dump That on a few TV shows like Property Brothers & Holmes on Homes.  Check out our "seen on TV" page on our website.

You cannot flip houses as fast as pancakes, but it is still a fast-paced endeavor that has financial risk as you have money tied up in the purchase price as well as labor and materials.   If you are a contractor and can do the work yourself, the profit is even bigger.  If wiring and roofing are involved, and you are neither an electrician nor professional roofer, it's wise to get an estimate from a licensed contractor before bidding on the property.  Having reliable partners is a must, without them, time is wasted, money is lost and your profits dwindle.  Many flippers use a combination of professionals alongside their own work.  When it's all said and done, there is probably blood, sweat and tears along with that tidy profit, and you can smile all the way to the bank.

If you are flipping a house, check out Bin There Dump That for your Tampa area projects.  They offer same day services, delivery on Saturdays, and help keep you moving.