Glenn A Roberts 206-524-3665

At the first inkling that you might want to sell the home you currently own you should make an effort to distance yourself enough from the house so that you see it as a potential buyer might.

• EXTERIOR
1. Put several sheets of paper in a clipboard and take up a pen. Rate each of the following items honestly on a scale from one to ten, ten being how beautiful it would look had you been able to make every improvement that had crossed your mind.
2. Position yourself across the street from your home and write a description of what you see including the color and condition of the building(s) and the landscaping.
3. Get in your car and drive by your house from every direction possible. After each pass, park the car and make notes about what you could see and not see.
4. Rate your landscaping.
   • If you have lawn, are the edges between the sidewalks and lawn, and between the planting areas and the lawn crisply defined?
   • Are the planting beds free of weeds?
   • Are the plantings overgrown, or neatly trimmed?
   • Is the lawn free of dandelions and crab grass? (Use of environmentally friendly yard care products may be important to a prospective purchaser.)
5. Examine the exterior of the home from the foundation to the roof and include siding, windows and doors, paint, and cleanliness.
• INTERIOR
1. Enter at the front door, as a buyer would, and walk through each room of the house writing down your reflections on the current condition of each room. It may be beneficial for you to use a separate sheet of paper for each room.
2. Examine each appliance and determine if you will sell it with the house or move it with you.
3. Examine the heating system. If a gas or oil furnace has not been serviced in the past two years, make an appointment to have it done.
4. Examine the electrical system. Do you know of any problems? Do you have knob and tube wiring? (This is now an insurance issue.)
5. Examine the plumbing system. If you have any leaks, drips or sluggish drains, make an appointment to have them fixed now.
• PAPER WORK
1. Do you have any records from when you purchased the property?
2. If you have done any remodeling, did you acquire permits, and if so, do you have signed copies of final inspections?
3. Do you have installation and operator manuals for any systems and appliances which will remain with the property?
4. Consider getting your C.L.U.E. Report or Insurance Score. Here is one good place to do so: Insurance reports
5. Call me to come over for a First walk through. I will help you to determine which items on your to do list will be profitable, and which will cost more to do than they add in value to your home. I will also bring you a disclosure form, the form that according to Washington State Law must be provided by a seller and given to a purchaser of residential property? Ask me for a Form 17.

Now you should be in good shape to begin preparing your home for the resale market.

In this section I will try to give you an idea about which things a buyer's inspector will point out to the buyer. Often buyers with no experience in a particular area will ask for those repairs to be completed prior to closing. The wise seller has already repaired such items and inspections and negotiations flow more smoothly.

Zoning requirements vary from area to area, so I will not use exact figures in any of these recommendations. When in doubt, call the profession in the field to give you the details for your home.

• EXTERIOR
1. If your roof is more than fifteen years old, call a roofer for a professional opinion. You might even call two or three and weigh the opinions against each other.
2. If your paint is cissing, peeling, blistering or otherwise in bad shape, call for bids and available dates of painters, or prepare to do it yourself. Painting a house is a large undertaking and time consuming as well. Buyers not in the "fixer" market are willing to pay more for a home with a recent, high quality paint job.
3. New landscaping generally takes two to three years to look established. Don't expect miracles if you have not yet begun. Plain, simple and nicely trimmed may be better than trying to stretch for extensive but not complete.
• INTERIOR
1. Beautiful hardwood floors are one of the most desired features in homes at this time. If you have hardwood floors which are in poor shape, or covered with carpet, make an effort to find out what the cost would be to restore them to their original beauty.
2. Worn vinyl flooring should be replaced, cracked tiles should be replaced, damaged plaster and wallboard should be repaired.
3. De-clutter every room in the house. Buyers often move from their current locations because they need more space. Making your home appear to have more space is a time-tested method of increasing the perceived value to buyers.
   1. Recycle.
   2. Throw things away.
   3. Put things in storage.
4. Windows that are painted shut should be freed, doors that stick should be made operational. Latches, catches, hinges, and knobs on all moving house parts should be in working order.
5. Interior colors are stylistically influenced and you should consider going to several Sunday open houses of expensive homes to find out what colors are currently in vogue. Interior painting is often within the capabilities of every homeowner. One should not skimp on the quality of the paint used. There is a vast difference in the result, and often, more expensive paints are easier to apply.
6. Email me and ask for my detailed list of the most commonly called, but easy to fix items in inspection reports.

By working from a viable plan, you will become more and more pleased as each item gets marked off on the to do list. Once your home is in great shape you will probably have second thoughts about leaving it. This often happens. Possibly the reasons that once encouraged you to move have been resolved by other means. In any case, the home is now ready for the market.

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Sale Strategy & Market Time

• Sale Strategy

  There are better times of the year to sell, and better days of the week to bring a new listing onto the market. Getting exposure to all buyers in the market is the key to having a successful sale. After all of your hard work, you deserve this part of the process to be as trouble free as possible.

  This part of marketing seems to change slightly from year to year. Contact me for a discussion of current trends.

  Unless your business is buying and selling homes, the best time for you to buy or sell a home is when it seems right because other factors in your life have changed.

• Market Time

  While your home is on the market keeping it as easily accessible as possible allows for more quality showings by brokers. It is not necessary for you to be present, nor is it necessary for you to explain the many wonderful features of your home. Agents are experienced in doing this and they also are cued in to what their particular buyer is looking for in a new home. Your leading them to notice a particular favorite feature of yours may distract them from discovering the key item they hope to find in their new property.

  Anytime an agent is returning for a "second look" with their buyer, the best policy is to be away from the property and allow them to thoroughly examine the home in as much detail as they wish.

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  Move Out

  Congratulations. Out of the old and into the new. Soon life will return to normal and all of the hard work, the intrusion, and the demands from "other parties" involved in your sale (and probably the purchase of your next residence), are behind you.

  An appropriate departure will include the following things.

  • Reading of the water and electric meters and calling various utilities to terminate or transfer your services. I have specific directions and phone numbers to make this easy. Contact me for the information.
  • The house should be clean in the manner you would like to receive it were you the buyer. This takes some planning and some money. It may not be anywhere near the day when garbage collection services your neighborhood and overflowing trash cans are not the most welcome sight for the new owner. Hiring a cleaning service to do a "whole house" cleaning isn't necessary, but it is not as expensive as you may think. You are definitely going to be busy with the moving experience yourself. Wouldn't it be nice to leave for your new digs without having to first reach for the cleanser? Contact me for names and numbers of trash haulers and cleaning services.

  How to Prepare for Multiple Offers
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  GLENN A ROBERTS
  Lake & Co Real Estate
  PHONE:206-524-3665
  EMAIL