There are two sides to a feasibility study and in an earlier article I discussed the cost side of the format and:

Now Let’s Discuss The Income Side

Without the Sales Income, All You’ve Done Is Spend Money, And Anyone Can Do That.

So that we are clear in what I am going to define for you, let me say that there are two forms of Income.

We shall be dealing with Sales Income, in this article, which in our case will consist of large amounts of money being received as a developer in exchange for the property units we have created.

The other form of income in a feasibility study, is Rental Income and will be addressed at another time when I write an E-book on Commercial Development.

Sales Income

Because of the make up of our feasibility study sheet, there will be no deductions from out Gross Sales Income, because we have allowed for those costs on the Cost Side of our feasibility study.

Items such as sales commissions for sales agents and various marketing costs have already been allowed for previously.

Now I have seen some formats of feasibility study, which deducts marketing costs from the Gross Sales Income to produce a Net Sales Income.

It achieves nothing – “all costs are costs” and they should be put on the cost side of the feasibility study, which is what I do and have always done.

When Can You Get Your Hands On The Sales Income.

Getting the sales income into your account is very important, yet many people never ask the question as to what the procedure is "exactly" in their neck of the woods.

Get to your Conveyance Expert and have them give you a schedule of events "with an estimate of time for each stage."

This information is important in preparing your cash flow feasibility study format, as it results in reducing your interest cost.

So by knowing this information at the beginning of a development investigation, you are adding a little bit of "certainty" to the early stages of your feasibility study.

Let me give you an example:

At the end of the construction phase the builder moves off site, there are a whole range of things that have to occur, any or all of which can delay, settlement taking place and so delay you getting the Sales Income.

Some of these things are:

? Architect’s inspection of the entire project.

? Architect preparing a Defects List.

? Builder calling back subcontractors to correct defects.

? Architect’s final inspection.

? Architect issues Completion Certificate

? Surveyor (engineers in some countries) does final measurement of the individual residential accommodation units and compares to Unit Plan that is included in the Sales Contract.

? Preparation of the Final Unit Plan (as used by conveyance office) for settlement.

? Lodgment of the Unit Plan with the Titles Office.

? Registered Title Issued by the Titles Office.

Can you see that any delay in these items will impact on the settlement date and also on your interest calculation in your feasibility study?

Body Corporate / Management Plan

It is hard to keep up with all the different names that are used around the world for the Legal Entity that runs the complex of units you have developed, however your legal advisor will let you know.

Just as out Towns, Cities and States need Rules & Regulations for all its citizens to live in harmony, so too does a small complex of units, condos, apartment etc.

What ever it is called in your part of the world, is necessary for you to engage a legal advisor to prepare one for you, which will include the preparation of a Budget to which you, as the developer, will have to pay in a certain amount of money.

The reason I am giving this brief explanation on Body Corporate / Management Plans is because at Settlement you will get back some of the money you put in to get the Budget off the ground.

In addition you will have paid the Local Council, Utility etc other amounts of money that cover a set period of time. Once again you will get some of this money back at Settlement. They are generally referred to as "Adjustments at Settlement" and act as a reduction on the cost side of your feasibility study.

So What’s Next?

Remember I told you earlier about the Unit Plan that was lodged with the Titles Office, well has it issued yet? Phew – we just got it today – great!

Now your conveyance expert has to let the Buyers’ representative know in writing that you are ready to settle.

In addition the buyers have to let their individual Finance Lenders know to have the Mortgage Documents completed on time and finally a date has to be agreed on which all these differing parties can meet and settle.

Now I don’t want you to be concerned about all this stuff, but I do want you to know about it, so that you can understand and manage (yourself) and others who have to do all this work for you. Blowing your Top (blood pressure up) achieves nothing.

But understanding, on your part, achieves a great deal. Blowing your top, when you haven’t taken the trouble to find out, makes you look foolish and unprofessional, to the professionals you have engaged to do the work for you.

So Do I Get The Money Now Or Is There More Colm?

Well, the Lender Gets the money actually – yep, the lender gets his Capital Debt and Interest paid off first. And when there is no debt, all the rest is yours. That is, your equity is returned to your account and that lovely Profit, you worked so hard to get.

Author & $1.2 Billion Developer, Colm Dillon, Has Written The Best Selling ‘How-To’ E-book, “Residential Development Made Easy,” With Readers In All States Of The USA, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, UK, Ireland and 79 Other Countries.

His Independent Web Site is: http://www.realestatedevelopmentcoach.com/ez

Real Estate Development Feasibility Study (Income) – $1.2 Billion Developer Tells You How To Do One

There are two sides to real estate development feasibility study: The Cost Side & The Income Side.

I am going to concentrate in this article on The Cost Side.

Having told you that a feasibility study is vital when applying for finance, it is however, just another cog in the wheel of the property development process.

To help you come to grips with the term, feasibility study, it might help you if I call it a, Financial Analysis, of all the costs and income revenue that tell you if your development will produce a profit.

Where To Start?

When you are at the very beginning of preparing a feasibility study – I mean when you are just thinking about buying the land on which you propose to develop a building, your initial cost figures are liable to be a bit ‘rubbery.’

They’re general – they are not exact and can’t be exact, because all you know at the beginning is the ‘asking price of the land.’

Hopefully the land cost will be less than the asking price after you complete the buying negotiation. Can you see that there is going to be a difference in just that first item of the feasibility study – land cost?

OK – if you accept that, you’ll also accept that the associated land costs will also vary. Items like conveyance costs, legal charges, stamp duty, adjustment of utility charges and other costs.

That should demonstrate to you that a feasibility study goes through several stages.

The first stage uses figures that are the ‘best’ figures you have available at the time. The last stage is when all your cost figures are firm and final.

But as you are only at the stage of deciding to buy the land or not, you figures are “general and loaded with safety” – in dollar terms.

Let’s be clear about what I mean here. For the land cost you would use the full asking price and all the associated costs, at full calculation for your initial entry in the feasibility study. Then if you negotiated a lower price you are safe.

If you first feasibility study shows a satisfactory profit return for the risk of doing the development, you will proceed and gain legal control of the land.

Well, to gain control, you must have concluded a negotiation on the land sale price – so you have now "firmed up" on one of the cost items. Hopefully it is lower than, or the same as the figure you allowed in the feasibility study.

In the first feasibility study you will allowed a figure for the fees of the design consultants.

People like the architect, the engineer and so on. Well now you have to engage them to create the initial design for you and again this is a negotiation that will either be within your feasibility study allowance or not.

The next major item in your feasibility study will be the constructions cost.

If your development comprises ten town homes, that are aimed at the luxury end of the owner occupier market, your market knowledge may tell you that you should allow $180,000 per to town home or $1.8 million to build all ten.

Your design team will have to design well within those cost parameters and after the initial design is complete in preliminary format, you will need to get a few master builders to give you a price.

If you are well within the $1.8 million, then you may decide to leave the $1.8 million figure in your feasibility study. This would be smart if the buider’s figure was say, $1.7 million.

The extra $100,000 acts as a safety buffer as you are only pricing off non-detailed preliminary design plans.

Now. let’s say it’s your intention to sell all these town homes at a profit, so you have allowed some marketing costs to cover sales commissions, brochure printing etc. in your feasibility study.

At this stage the biggest figure is the sales commission and so you have been out talking to agents and so you have a good idea that your figures are OK.

At this stage we have wrapped up all of the “major” costs except the finance costs or interest on you borrowed development finance.

By now, hopefully you will have bought my e-book, and know how to go about seeking development finance the correct way and not the dumb way.

So you will not only know the best interest rate, but more importantly, have the correct type of loan and on the correct "terms" – you know the small print stuff.

At this stage everyone I teach wants to buy a software program so that they can get all the calculations done "easy like."

Well I have a problem with that – I know, and believe, that for you to get to know your development intimately, you have to go to the trouble of doing the feasibility study figures manually – it is only adding, subtracting and multiplying some figures.

It is not difficult and the benefit is that you get to "know" the importance and interplay of each figure on the end result, being profitability.

So a simple spread sheet broken up into months on an XL is all you need.

In month one you buy the land for $286,500 and associated costs of say, $21,700 so you enter a figure of $310 ($308,200 rounded up to $310,000 – you have added a bit of safety in this one item)

Note: never use the full figure allways round up and take off the last three zeros – so $310,000 becomes $310l; $3,500 becomed $3.5 and $800 becomes $8. This makes it easier to read and creates less mistakes.

You then spread the design costs across the page to reflect the negotiated deal you did with the designers.

Then the construction costs – marketing costs and so on. You can divide these individual costs up into a many smaller items as you wish.

But the real thing you are doing is setting out your best estimate of the flow of cash that is required from the Lender and also from your own equity funds – the Cost Cash Flow.

Once you have these figures spread across the page you add then vertically for a total monthly figure – and also horizontally for each item total.

Hopefully the big development cost total in the bottom right hand box is equal to the vertical and horizontal totals.

It is – great; go to the top of the class.

Earlier I mentioned that you will have concluded the terms of your development loan.

Well, let’s say that the Lender has agreed to lend you 80% of your costs. This means you have to provide 20% from your own capital resources.

Having got the monthly totals you can now calculate 80% of each figure, because this is the amount on which you will pay interest.

It is these figures that you now calculate interest on each monthly cash flow and arrive at a total cost of the finance for your development.

You now add the total interest figure to the Cost Total and arrive at what we call the Total Capital Cost of your development.

There are a total of about 44 item headings that make up the Cost Side of a Feasibility Study.

Author & $1.2 Billion Developer, Colm Dillon, Has Written The Best Selling ‘How-To’ E-book, “Residential Development Made Easy,” With Readers In All States Of The USA, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, UK, Ireland and 79 Other Countries Of His Independent Web Site,http://www.realestatedevelopmentcoach.com/ez

Real Estate Feasibility Study (Cost Side) – $1.2 Billion Developer Tells You How To Do One

An example of seller financing: Years ago I bought a rental property, and nine months later sold it for 15% more, without fixing or improving a thing. The easy terms are what sold it. I took $1000 down, and I still get a payment every month, with 9% interest.

Reasons To Offer Seller Financing

1. To get a higher price. As you can see from the example above, buyers pay for easy terms. From the buyers perspective, he gets a place for almost nothing, that the renters will pay for. He comes out okay even if he later sold it for less than he bought it for.

2. To get a decent return on your money. The 9% I’m getting is nice, but the true return was much higher, since I also sold the property for 15% more than I paid, and I get 9% on the entire balance. In fact, for a great return without the headaches of being a landlord, you can simply buy low for cash and sell high with terms.

3. To sell faster. Anytime you expand the potential market for a property, you increase the odds of selling it fast. Selling with easy terms definitely invites more buyers to look at your real estate.

4. To sell difficult properties. If you have a property that is difficult to finance conventionally, offering seller financing may be the only way get it sold, and at a fair price.

Of course the ways you can sell are limited by mortgages and other loans. I owned the rental free and clear, which meant I could sell it any way I wanted. There are other ways to use seller financing though, even if you owe on the property. There are ways to do this safely too. Those topics are for another article.

Steve Gillman has invested real estate for years. To learn more, and to see a photo of a beautiful house he and his wife bought for $17,500, visit http://www.HousesUnderFiftyThousand.com

Four Reasons To Offer Seller Financing

First impressions count, buyers will have already formed an impression before they step into your property. A well-kept garden, pathway and fence, plus a freshly painted front door are immediately appealing, whereas a scruffy outdoor space with a litter bin outside the front door may turn many prospective buyers away.

De-clutter – don’t underestimate the appeal of a tidy property. Throw out the junk – use moving as a good excuse to get rid of old, unwanted and unused items.

Clean – dust and clean the whole house thoroughly, from cobwebs on the ceiling to crumbs and stains on carpets and rugs. Remember to wash down paintwork and clean windows.

Natural Colours – research shows that, most buyers prefer natural, earthy colours to bright, bold shades. Although there is a wide range of paint colours available, magnolia is still the top-selling colour.

Add a bit of colour – to prevent rooms looking too bland, use strong colours for accent walls or cushions and accessories.

De-personalise – remove personal items, such as family photographs and children’s drawings, which may distract potential buyers.It may sound harsh but it really helps sell property

Maintenance – Complete all minor repairs.

Major Jobs- If you don’t spend out on home improvements to complete major repairs it could have a disproportionate affect on the value of the property.

Lighting – the right lighting can improve the mood of a room. A room looks cosier with a few table lamps rather than bright general lighting.

Create a scent – it may be a bit of a clich

Buying overseas property is not always for the fainthearted but we think Dubai is an exception to this. Here are eleven reasons to buy in Dubai:

1. Property prices look cheap by International standards, and rental yields are still high in Dubai.

2. Rental Market: Long-term residents of U.A.E. are considering buying to replace rental payments and to take advantage of the ever increasing market demand for property in Dubai.

3. Future Development: There is a big change in the city’s geography underway with huge plans for the future. What is the fringe of Dubai today, the Dubai Marina, will be uptown Dubai of tomorrow. Thus property values will follow this curve upwards, as people relocate to the new “Centre”.

4. Good Prices: Comparatively property is cheap compared to other major cities in the World. Dubai villas cost around $1,000 per square metre. London on the other hand are selling apartments in London Docklands area at $5,000 per square metre an amazing difference.

5. Prime Locations: Oversupply is the main fear highlighted by skeptics. But there can only be so many properties in prime locations and the time to buy them is now. Most projects are now fetching three times their original price.

6. Freehold Laws: Legally, there is no law to prevent freehold purchase in Dubai, and a new federal law should shortly frame legal rights into a form acceptable to international banks for mortgages this will push demand and prices up even higher than they are now.

7. Demand for freehold property in Dubai is much higher than most people can comprehend and understand. Certainly an economy growing at 10% plus a year has a dynamic effect of its own that reflects a huge demand for accommodation.

8. Sound Market: Any property market is going to have its ups and downs, and Dubai will be no different. All the same, Dubai has a habit of frustrating those who wait for bargains. In 1998 some thought rental prices would collapse. It did not happen they are still on the up as is Abu Dhabi.

9. Dubai wants you: Dubai is in the process of creating an international property market from scratch. As a result buyers are being given an exceptionally good deal to encourage them to be the pioneers of this market with very low deposits.

10. Resale Market: As the second-hand market emerges and the legal position of owners becomes absolutely clear, the element of risk will go, and lower risk will mean higher property prices.

11. Economic Growth: Dubai is a city where a lot of people earn high tax-free salaries and are in a position to support higher house prices. This is a city with a 20-year track record of strong economic growth and will continue to attract foreign and regional inward investment for many years to come.

So why not buy in Dubai – it could be the best thing you ever did!

Nicholas Marr
Director of Marr International Ltd a property marketing compnay based in London UK.
Marr International selling property on behalf of private sellers and estate agents worldwide – http://www.homesgofast.com/dubai/

Just Give Me Eleven Reasons to Buy in Dubai

Do you remember when real estate financing meant you saved up enough to put 20% down on a house, and then you got a mortgage loan for the other 80%? Well, you can still do that, but there are many more options now. Here are ten of them.

1. Gifting programs. In some parts of the country, builders fund foundations that give you a portion of the downpayment, so you can get into a home with as little as 3% downpayment from your own pocket. FHA and other lenders have so far approved of or allowed this.

2. No-doc loans. These and “low-doc” loans, meaning no or low documentation requirements, are back, and you can find them through online banks. These are for those of you with bad credit but 20% to 30% to put down on a home. You don’t even have to have a job.

3. FHA loans. The Farm Home Administration doesn’t actually loan the money, but guarantees your loan for the bank, so they can loan up to 97% of the purchase price, depending on the particular FHA program.

4. VA loans. If you have been in the armed services, have a decent job, and can save two or three paychecks, you can probably get a home with a VA loan.

5. Land contract. Also called “contract for sale” and other names depending on the part of the country you are in, this just means that you make payments to the seller instead of a bank. It’s up to you and them to negotiate downpayment amount, interest rate, and the term of the loan.

6. Seller-carried second mortgages. Some banks will allow you to have as little as 5% into a home purchase, but will then only loan you 80%. The seller can take payments on a second mortgage from you for the other 15%.

7. State housing programs. Almost all states have some sort of financing help in the form of a loan-guarantee program or outright loans for low-income buyers.

8. Family loans. It may not be out of charity that a brother or a friend lends you the money to buy a home. A 7% return might look awfully good if their money is sitting in the bank at 2%.

9. Manufacturer loans. Some manufactured-home companies are arranging financing with 5% or less down for their buyers. They must feel their money is secure, since a good modular on a piece of property is nothing like a mobile home on a rental lot.

10. Credit cards. This is a risky one, but if you have a low-interest credit card, you can use it to come up with the downpayment, especially if you can pay it off soon with a coming tax refund, for example. Banks generally won’t allow this, but you can combine this with seller financing.

Are there more ways to approach real estate financing? You bet. This was just to get you thinking.

Steve Gillman has invested real estate for years. To learn more, and to see a photo of a beautiful house he and his wife bought for $17,500, visit http://www.HousesUnderFiftyThousand.com

Real Estate Financing – Ten Ways

The latest investment property headline is this: Popular and well trodden markets such as France and Spain are out, Bansko is in.

Where?

Bansko, Bulgaria. Fast becoming one of Europe’s hottest ski resorts and showing no signs of slowing down for beginners, Bansko is where the smart money is being invested. From as little as

These are real builder questions that I got from readers of my e-book, “Residential Development Made Easy” with answers from a major USA Master Builder operating in 48 States.

Question 1.

My wife and I are planning a new home. We intend approaching a builder or two in this area, and I plan on asking them these questions.

My wife is very adept at planning and researching. Under what circumstances do you recommend we hire an architect? And Why or why not? (This is not a loaded question. I am not an architect and neither is my brother-in-law. We would prefer to construct without hiring an architect.)

Reply

It would depend on your budget. Some architects in the US charge as much as 10% of the budget of a home to do the plans. Master Builders, as opposed to “Local Builder Bob,” don’t like to place their clients in a position of hiring an architect until they really need one.

The best advice our clients get is to prioritize their actions as follows:

First: Get the loan;

Second: Get the land;

Third: Get the Interior Designer;

Forth: Get the architect.

In our case, we have in-house architects and structural engineers.

It is best to hire an Interior Designer (ASID) and have them work with you to design the floor plan, which is uniquely suited for how you and your family use space and the style you like.

Armed with this floor plan you would then send it to us and we would create your architect blueprints from it.

Blueprints are part of the quote we provide our clients. This way they don’t have ‘Sticker Shock’ from a local architect.

Question 2.

How much price and quality research re materials can we expect our builder to do or to have done?

Reply

This depends on the builder you hire. For the most part, you can’t expect too much. Most builders work in their comfort zone.

They use materials they’re used to working with. They usually won’t try something else unless insisted upon by the home buyer or developer. And, then they usually hire an outside source to do this.

As Master Builders, we use current technology and one of the reasons why we are both profitable and successful is that we keep abreast to new technology and want our buyers and developers to have this benefit in their homes.

Question 3.

Is it reasonable for us to ask our builder to identify his subcontractors and allow us to talk with the primary subs before we enter into a contract with him (and after)?

Reply

It may appear to be reasonable from your point of view, but, not very realistic. Subs come in and out of a job site. If one is not available another one is called in.

Once you have signed a Contract with a builder, he is your ‘one point of contact.’ The subcontractors are his subs – not yours. Remember you have engaged him for his building management expertise to complete the job on time and on cost.

That means he must have full control and so by you talking to the subs directly you are creating confusion. You can’t have two bosses on a job.

Confusion costs you more money. When you or your wife talk to a sub, you are not engaged in a social conversation. Let’s say you made an innocent comment about some aspect of the subs work – like you regret picking those tiles in the bathroom and have seen some nicer ones. That is all you said!

Can you see how a sub could use this against the builder when asked why he hasn’t finished the bathroom yet. “Well the client told me two days ago that they were changing the tiles to another type.” It doesn’t matter that you did not say that – but it caused confusion and delayed the job by at least two days or more.

Instead of wanting access to the subs, with whom you have no expertise, you should concentrate on ensuring the builder has the proper permits and insurance for building. Especially for workman’s comp and for liability.

Few clients realize that they can be held accountable, if the builder doesn’t have the correct insurance.

Let’s say that a child comes on to the site after the builder has left for the day. Decides to climb to the roof and jump. Guess who’s liable? Check the references of others clients he’s built for.

A Final point on access to subcontractors.

Many house building clients have very poor spatial ability and cannot imagine an overview of the space being designed for them – they just cannot imagine the finished house, never mind what the finished colors and tiles look like.

Because of this, they feel the need to be able to make changes at any stage of the project. This is what is behind this question of being able to speak to the subs. You can make changes to your house design at any time as long as you realize that each change will cost you heaps and blow your budget sky high.

To make these changes you ask the architect to request a cost estimate from the builder for each change. You then can decide if you can afford it or not. If your request is made at the worst possible (most expensive) time, you will be told that as well.

What’s the answer to all this? Make all the decisions about what you want and have them included in your plans and specifications.

Question 4.

What does a builder, expect the homeowner to do (other than to pay you as and when agreed).

Reply

A builder expects the home buyer to be reasonable and realistic in their expectations. The time you spend in planning and thinking about what you want in you home is worth real money to you. If you are not good at planning, an Interior Designer will be critical to your final happiness.

If you can’t make up your mind on the important aspects of the design, go and inspect examples of what you do like and get the Interior Designer to incorporate what you want in the plan.

The biggest problems that most builders run into is home buyer who change what has been agreed to or is unrealistic in what they want. This is why we have our home buyers sit down with an Interior Designer.

The ASID can sit down with you and help you visualize exactly what you want and help you make any compromises you may have to make.

It is very expensive to make changes during a project. Let’s say that you wanted a 17×20 kitchen. Sounds like a big kitchen. Probably too big. However, once the cabinets and appliances start coming in you realize that it’s too small and want the kitchen to be bigger.

This may cost you an extra $50k to make those changes. You can save yourself a small fortune by first working with ASID on floor space, storage, placement, design, and style.

Author & $1.2 Billion Developer, Colm Dillon, Has Written The Best Selling ‘How-To’ E-book, “Residential Development Made Easy,” With Readers In All States Of The USA, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, UK, Ireland and 79 Other Countries. His Independent Web Site is: http://www.realestatedevelopmentcoach.com/ez

Building A Home? Want To Ask A Builder The Right Questions – Not The Dumb Ones!

Why offer seller financing when you sell? A higher price, a good return on your money, a faster sale and to sell a property that is otherwise difficult to sell. Some good reasons, but how do you do it safely?

1. Get a large downpayment. The most obvious way to be safe, and not always possible.

2. Get other security. If they want it with little down, and you like the return you’ll get, make it safe by putting a mortgage on other property the buyer owns, to be released when they’ve paid down the balance to a certain level.

3. Check their credit. Have them pay for and bring you a credit report. Bad credit may be okay, but type of bad credit is important. Unpaid hospital bills they’re disputing are not as relevant as unpaid loans.

4. Trust your instincts. If you are usually right about people, give some weight to your judgement of their character. I’d trust a man who felt morally obliged to pay his debts over a playboy that happens to have decent income at the moment.

5. Consider the whole picture. Suppose a bank will loan 90%, and is okay with you taking back a $5,000 second mortgage, allowing the buyer to get in with what cash he has. If you’re getting $6,000 more than you expected by accomodating the buyer’s needs, where’s the loss? You’re okay if he never pays the $5,000, right?

6. Talk to a lawyer. Maybe in your area it takes two years to get a foreclosure on a mortgage through the courts, and only six months to foreclose on a “contract for sale.” Knowing these things can help you sell in the safest way.

Offering seller financing makes it easier to sell, and to get a higher price. Just be safe about it. Have a real estate lawyer review your paperwork, and use the tips here.

Steve Gillman has invested real estate for years. To learn more, and to see a photo of a beautiful house he and his wife bought for $17,500, visit http://www.HousesUnderFiftyThousand.com

Seller Financing – Six Safety Tips

So, your selling your home. Prepare yourself both physically and mentally for the agony of the endless phone calls and interruptions to your daily schedule. But more importantly, prepare your home for the ever critical eye of each person walking through the door. For it is not their goal to see the good in your home, but to see each and every flaw that has ever been. What can you do as a seller to minimize these flaws and highlight your homes best features? Let’s take a look at several reasons why your home may not be selling and some easy-to-do remedies.

Reason #1 – Curb Appeal. Stand across the street and critically evaluate your front yard. Is it weed free? What about the “For Sale” sign? Is it easily visible from the street with current information? Do you have flyers available? Seems small, but this is actually a “biggie”.

Reason #2 – Clutter. From the front yard to the back gate, get rid of everything that takes up space (everything that you can live without). You’re moving into your new home (soon), so why not start packing now? Home buyers are looking for cabinets, closets and kitchen space. Home sellers need to reduce, reduce, reduce!

Reason #3 – Clean. How long has it been since you had a professional cleaning service do the job right? Having the property cleaned by someone who is not emotionally attached to the property is the only way to go. Not only do they see things that you don’t, they’re especially detailed oriented in cleaning the home.

Reason #4 – Color. “Real Estate Beige” comes in many different shades these days, but whatever shade of neutral you decide to go with, make sure it is properly applied. If painting over dark colors, be sure to use a primer. Hiring quality contracts to paint for you is worth the money. Walls in good condition are important, but so are walls that buyers can see.

Reason #5 – Compromise. Pick challenges with your children based on what is truly important. The kids room need to be organized, but it’s more important that the dirty clothes are out of sight.

Reason #6 – Creativity. Setting matching accessories together and displaying nice towels are not labor intensive or expensive. It’s using what you alreayd own to highlight the home.

Reason #7 – Consistency. Make sure the home is prepared daily for buyers. Put wet towels in the dryer during the day (running the dryer before heading off to work). Dirty clothes need to be picked up and put in the laundry basket. Used dishes should also be put in the dishwasher each morning. Remember, people will recall what they saw, more than what they didn’t see.

Reason #8 – Check Your Senses. How do the house smell? (Cinnamon? Vanilla? Wet dog?) What do you hear? (Leaky faucets? Soft music?) What’s the first thing you see when you open the door? (Nice entry, clean floors? Walls with cracks? Stained carpet?)

Remember, buyers will make their decision within the first few seconds of driving up to your house. It is your responsibility to give them an invitation to come in!

Calie Waterhouse is an experienced Accredited Staging Professional Master and President & Co-Founder of The Arizona Regional Chapter of the International Association of Home Staging Professionals. She was trained by the Staged Homes program, which was founded by Barb Schwarz, the pioneer of real estate staging. In 2004, after receiving certification as an interior decorator, Calie added interior decorating & builder assistance to her list of specialities. Visit her websites at http://www.azstagedhomes.com or http://www.decoratedtosell.com

Home Not Selling In Todays Hot Market? Tips and Ideas to Help You Sell