When people go looking for a home, there’s the usual metrics and information they can access via the Internet when the search gets started. San Francisco, like any other real estate market, is tracked and sliced and measured in multiple ways to give buyers, agents, brokers, industry watchers and sellers up-to-date information about what’s going on with homes and their valuation. That said, all the reports available only give a general perspective of whether properties are viable picks or not. At some point, a buyer in most cases will still physically go and visit a home to see what it looks like in person. That’s because of humans a generally tangible creature. People need to see, smell, hear and feel what a place is like, especially if they going to be paying a good amount of money for it and calling the place home for the next few years.
As a result, while many might think that open houses San Francisco displays are a waste of time or extra marketing effort that a few good photographs could do the job of, those in the know swear by a good appointment or open day display. Most people wouldn’t go and buy a car without at least test-driving it. Homes go the same way, but with even less time to do so, which means the few minutes spent walking inside the domicile really matter a lot with buyers.
If you’re considering a sale of a home in San Francisco, there’s no question that the neighborhood location, school district, and the home structure type are all going to matter. But once the decision is made that the neighborhood is the right one, then the inside of the home begins to matter a whole lot more with selections. And sellers can really work an advantage with a few well-placed changes and minor costs of staging a home for display. Because at the end of the day, people remember the home that wow’d them and stick in their memory. They don’t remember the boring, bland option, and they negatively remember the one that needs more work as a fixer-upper.
Here are five easy ways for any San Francisco homeowner to gin up a home a bit better, especially if an open house display in the mix and coming up soon for buyers to see:
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1. Clean the house. Yes, that does seem like an obvious requirement, but most people think it just means a good vacuuming and mopping. Not quite. A serious cleaning means literally going through every inch of the home and cleaning it up as close as possible to new status again. That means old tile needs to have the grout scrubbed and bleached out. Flooring that is damaged needs to be replaced. Marks on the walls need to be patched and repainted. Windows needs to be made clear again. Every bit of dust needs to be removed, no matter how obscure. It’s amazing what buyers will notice, but that’s because the entire place is foreign to them, so all five senses are on high alert for something wrong, unlike the seller who has habituated to the home for years. A good cleaning is relatively cheap and should almost always be spent for any sale.
2. Clean up the smell in the house. Remember we talked about habituation? That’s the psychological pattern of getting used to something. And the smells in a home are things a seller has easily gotten used to over the years, but an outside person will pick them up immediately. So the next best thing to do is change the smell. Baking is the tried and true method for a quick insertion of good smells in a home. Many a sales agent has suggested baking cookies and having them out for display on an open house day. That’s because a baked cookie smell attracts people and is favorable. This is an absolute must for homes that have had pets, such as cats or indoor dogs. Even a fish tank can make up a subtle stink after a while. Another quick good-smell option is the simmer cinnamon sticks with wine in a small pot. The cinnamon provides a wintry sweet smell, masking otherwise stagnant air. Other alternatives include fragrance oils and similar such as lavender or orange essential.
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3. Give the house a makeover. Let’s face it, as a homeowner some sellers are quite comfortable with the furniture and decor they have, but it can be very dated and out of place to the rest of world visiting on open house day. Everyone may agree that a seller’s home clearly shows he is a big 49er’s football fan for San Francisco, but that doesn’t do much for selling the home. Get rid of the clutter, the less-than-stellar furniture, and decades-old cabinetry. A few dollars spent on upgrading the bathrooms, kitchen and main furniture units can go a long way in making a home look attractive to a buyer, and you may even be able to sell the new furniture bought with the home as a package. Assume that least a repaint of most of the common area walls is a necessity, and stock white is probably the safest bet for color.
4. Get rid of the junk. Yes, most homes lived in have a lot of junk. That’s not to say it’s bad stuff, but it’s definitely a lot of clutter. Anything that has nothing to do with helping the home sell needs to be removed. Pack it up, box it and but the extraneous belongings in storage. This will make the home look like it has a lot more space, the move will eliminate anything distracting to visiting buyers, and it will allow the seller to stage the home better with temporary nice furniture and accessories. So that collection of stitch work framed and covering the living room wall needs to go. Instead, paint the wall white with fresh paint and replace the accessories with one large economical but nice, framed wall print from IKEA, for example.
Source:wikimedia.org
5. Don’t forget the outside. For San Francisco homeowners, many don’t have front lawns but neighborhoods do have driveways, walkways, a home exterior and a backyard. All of these should be cleaned up. Remove any roots between cement crack steam clean all the surfaces. The home outside should be repainted if it’s looking a bit dingy. New bark should be placed in all landscape areas and flower/bush beds. And any piled up garbage or similar should be removed to the dump as fast as possible. A buyer only considers a home a dump if it looks like one.
Finally, as buyers come in, make sure they get a one page hand-out flyer with good photos and all of the home’s big details as well as contact information for an offer. Many a buying decision has been made looking at a flyer on the way back and comparing the pros and cons of different home choices.
