Getting the Best House "Tags" at Selling Time

As a realtor for nine years I’ve seen every market, including the perhaps now forgotten “crash” of the 1990s. It took a lot more imagination to sell homes then. When the economic lifecycle of home sales is high on the charts, it may only take a “for sale” sign to get the job done. Now that the housing market has dipped, we are once again finding it necessary to do more. And buyers rank houses by what I refer to as “tags.” A good tag usually means a sale. A bad tag . . . well that’s something no one wants. Imagine your home being ranked by the way a buyer was impressed. You might hear a buyer identify your home as “the one with the awful smell in the basement.”

Some of my advice to my clients may have seemed bothersome, but they were designed to garner them a good tag and potentially a sale. The kinds of tips I’ve provided are now cropping up in real estate magazines. Home staging companies are using the tips realtors have provided for years. Right now those tips include sprucing things up around the house, before putting out the for sale sign.

Yes, it’s time to think “home improvement.” But that doesn’t have to mean a lot of money that you don’t have going into a home you no longer want or need. And heaven knows you need all the proceeds you can get for that next bigger and better home. Plus, more and more baby boomers are hitting the retirement scene, so retirement is high on the list for reasons to be selling a home today, and for needing all you can get out of the sale.