As San Mateo Coastal Real Estate agents; we understand the importance of hosting a great open house.  Buyers want to see the ins and outs of your home and there are six key ways to help your home have a successful open house!

1. Make it Generic- While it’s great to make your home personal, your pictures, children’s art or your to do list on the refrigerator can be a large distraction to potential buyers.  They need to be able to envision themselves in your home, so putting away those personal items will help buyers picture their life in your coastal home.

2. Clear Counters- Look at your kitchen or bathroom counters from a outsiders viewpoint.  Do you have too many appliances cluttering your kitchen counter?  Clearing this space will make their appear to be more room for cooking or their own storage.  If your bathroom counters are filled with perfumes, toothbrush holders, etc… take time to put them in cabinets or drawers so buyers can see the actual size of the space.

3. Set the Table- This may not seem necessary, but having your dining room table set with nice place settings add a touch of class and can help the San Mateo Coastal buyer envision hosting their own dinner parties.

4. First Impressions- Believe it or not, a nice doormat or attractive porch can really set the tone for the entire open house.  If there’s an old doormat , chipped paint or nothing special about the entrance to your home, buyers may feel that you don’t really care.  A welcoming setting from the start will instantly let buyers know that your home is well-maintained and that each area of your home is cared for.

5. Get to the Heart- The best way to appeal to the buyers’ heart is through offering something special when they walk in the door.  Whether you bake fresh cookies, have hot chocolate or coffee in the cooler months, or have lemonade for them on your counter as it starts to get warmer; these added touches will set your home apart.

6. Don’t Stick Around- While it may be tempting to want to hear what the potential buyers have to say, it can be awkward when the seller is present.  They will feel that they can’t openly express their thoughts to the agent and will not feel as comfortable when looking throughout the home.  Even if you take a walk through the neighborhood, being away from the home during an open house can make all the difference.

Hosting an open house can seem like a nerve-wracking process, but it’s the best way to get your home sold.  By taking note of these tips; you’ll be well on your way!  If you have questions about selling your San Mateo Coastal home; please let us know!  You’ll want someone who knows the area, has experience in selling homes on the coast and can be with you every step of the way.  Feel free to contact us with any questions you have or to learn how we can help sell your home!

Start by communicating with them. You may uncover a problem that you can help to solve.  it may be that your neighbor is elderly or ill and unable to do things for themselves. Perhaps you could help out with lawn care or basic maintenance. You might even get other neighbors involved to lend a hand.

If you have an HOA, you can go to the president or governing committee. Most HOA’s have strict requirements for upkeep, and they take quick action to correct violations. Also contactl the city code enforcement. If your neighbors’ grass is knee high and they have a rusted out cars in the front yard, they are probably in code violation.

Use a fence or landscaping to hide unsightly side or back yards.

Some home sellers who are serious may offer to pay to haul off trash or try to work out another option to try to help the situation.

Another property de-valuer, especially in today’s economy, is the foreclosure. While you can’t personally do anything about a foreclosed home in your neighborhood, you should be prepared to take a hit on your home’s appraisal value. Be aware of the home values in your neighborhood and what other sellers are listing their homes for. You may need to consider discounting your home or offering incentives to counteract the foreclosure.

Foreclosure is so commonplace now that it probably won’t affect people coming to your neighborhood – in fact, it may draw potential buyers. You just have to be ready to compete with the ‘bargain’ a foreclosure may present to your potential buyers.

Your realtor may have dealt with this before, ask them for their advice if you find yourself in this situation!

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So what is staging? It’s literally showcasing your home in its absolute best light. You draw buyers’ attention to your home’s most appealing features–and skillfully divert their attention from those that are less-than-stellar.

In short, staging is creating visual “eye candy” that emphasizes your home’s positive features. It’s part art, part science–and all marketing. It can involve everything from fresh paint to clever carpentry, new lighting to new window treatments. And don’t forget the borrowed (or rented) furniture to define and enhance each room!

To see staging in action, watch an episode or two of
HGTV’s Designed To Sell
The Stagers 

Should you try to stage your own Half Moon Bay home–or hire a professional? Here are two tricks anyone can do:

• Clear it out. You have stuff–lots of stuff. And your house is overloaded with all that stuff. Go through each room and get rid of the clutter everywhere you see it. Your rooms will look bigger, more restful, and more inviting. And all you did was pick up!

• Clean it up. Make sure everything shines inside and out, from windows, floors and countertops inside to the deck, garage and yard outside. Pay particular attention to the kitchen and bath. A little well-applied elbow grease will go a long way in selling your Coastal home and it’s free!

Do these two simple things, and you’re already ahead in the staging game.

But should you keep going and stage other aspects of your own home? That depends on whether you have the eye, the skill–and the objectivity. Can you put yourself in the buyer’s shoes and see your home as the buyer will see it–positive points and negative points? Are you prepared to tackle those negatives? Do you have the “designer’s eye” for color and other design elements? Do you have the technical skills to complete improvements?

If done correctly, staging can definitely help you to sell your house. Your real estate agent would be able to share ideas with you and recommend a professional if you think that’s the best route for you!

/kh

So what is a Goddess doing in a dumpster? “To educate, inform and show the world a new way to approach recycling using recyclized products and reuse as a worthwhile unique design style for interiors.” What a great mission!

As an award winning Interior Designer, Carol Tanzi, The Goddess of Garbage, creates recycled items that are beautiful. You won’t find The Goddess turning junk into fancy junk. The creations made by the Goddess will be hard to identify as junk, garbage, recyclables or anything other than the beautiful accessories that can be showcased in any home.

Check the many items that you can get started with today by going to www.goddessofgarbage.com

The Goddess of Garbage from Kathy & Michael Rain on Vimeo.

When you go by the showroom, you will find American Clay and Tobias Stucco made of natural materials.  All of the products in the showroom are chemical free for use in your home.   You won’t want to miss the beautiful counter top materials, recycled glass tiles, flooring materials, gifts, fireplace alternatives, and chemical free line of custom paints and supplies.

A unique business with a knowledgeable staff, Green Intention Design can be contacted at www.greenintentiondesign.com.

Green Intention Design from Kathy & Michael Rain on Vimeo.

Greening projects are often an afterthought. It is easier and most effective to “Green by Design”. No matter how green your design, without a Green Contractor to implement, you can find a traditional contractor falling back on their old, non-green ways. Think about deconstruction in your project. Deconstruction is not only costly to you but to the environment by putting products into landfills that take a long time, if ever, to decompose. Harrell Remodeling removes materials in a way that doesn’t destroy them in the process. They identify the things that can be reused in your project and route salvageable items that can not be reused to a company that will treat them in a use-able product. An example of this is the often leftover small pieces of wood that get thrown away. Instead, these pieces would be crunched for use in composts and ground cover. Even metals in electric and plumbing waste can be melted down and recycled.

Green doesn’t mean unattractive. You’ll see quite the contrary when you got to www.harrell-remodeling.com and find out how beautiful green can be.

Harrell Remodeling from Kathy & Michael Rain on Vimeo.

Teaching how to create “Healthy, Hi-Vitality Homes with a Heart” is the impetus for this wonderful educator and her company. Physical psychology/bio-philia is how people relate to their spaces on an unconscious and sub-conscious level. Designing, remodeling and decorating will benefit from having this awareness and will result in a space that is more appealing both visually and emotionally.

Linda Lenore has been an interior designer for 45 years and has incorporated the art of Feng Shui in her business for the past 25 years. In 2002 Linda acquired the unique honor as one of three non-Asian Feng Shui Masters. A Feng Shui Master has the highest percentage of results as they have had to master a dozen different schools of Feng Shui. Adding to these credentials including 15 years of Sustainable Green Design, Linda is the only US Feng Shui Master also certified in Green Building Design.

Busily teaching ASID continuing education classes and working with Fortune 500 companies, Linda’s personal goal is helping people create spaces where they can thrive and promote health, energy and prosperity.  Contact Linda at www.lindalenore.com.

Green Chi Design from Kathy & Michael Rain on Vimeo.

COME TO THIS FREE FAIR LOCATED AT 248 MAIN ST., HALF MOON BAY

SOLAR UNIVERSE

SOLABRITE-TUBE SKYLIGHTS

SOLAR HOT WATER HEATERS

RADIANT HEAT

TANKLESS HOT WATER HEATERS

HOT WATER RECIRCULATING SYSTEMS

EMERSON ENVIRONMENTAL-ENERGY CONSULTANTS-”WHERE ARE YOU LOOSING ENERGY”

GREEN INTENSION DESIGNS-GLASS TILES, CORK FLOORS, RUG/CARPETING-USING RECYCLED MATERIALS

PAINT WITH NON-TOXIC PAINTS

CARPET CLEANING WITHOUT TOXIC CHEMICALS AND QUICK DRYING TIME

REMODEL GREEN-HARRELL REMODELING

THE SUSTAINABLE CENTER OF SOUTH SAN FRANCISCO-ONE AMAZING PLACE

CAROL TANZI, ASID “THE GODDESS OF GARBAGE”  YOU WON’T BELIEVE THE GREAT INTERIOR DESIGN  as seen on CNN,Rosie O’Donnell Show, Sunset Magazine, The Wall Street Journal, etc.

As an Accredited Staging Professional (ASP) I “stage” all our listings.  However, much of what I do is actually a “redesign” of the home.  Redesign consist of using the existing furnishings and subtracting or adding elements.  It also includes changing wall colors, flooring, cabinet colors/finishes and landscaping to name a few things.  All the while the goal is to create a lifestyle impression with design and color that is most advantageous to the home and with the broadest appeal.   The challenge is to keep the cost at a minimum for any new elements that need to be purchased.  And, yes, they should be things the homeowner really likes so they can be used in their new home.

So, back to the neighbor who wants to rent her home instead of selling it.  As we talked it became obvious that redesign would maximize her rental property in several ways.  The obvious way was getting higher rent.  The less obvious was in getting a renter to take better care of the house while they lived in it.

Let’s look at the same house in two different scenarios.

Scenario #1.  You decide to rent your house and figure that new renters will mess up the walls and carpet and generally put wear and tear on the home.  When they leave you’ll have to put some money into it to fix it up.  So you don’t bother doing much to it.  You leave it just the way you have been living in it.  You put an ad in the paper and online right away and start to show the house.  The yard needs some work so it’s not really a problem for you if the tenant has a dog.  The inside could stand to be painted, the carpet has a few stains and a good spring cleaning hasn’t been done in awhile.  You ask for a reasonable rent but negotiate it down a little if the tenant keeps the grass cut.  Your security deposit is one months rent.  You thought of asking for more because of the pet but decide not to.  Whew!  That got done and you now have a renter.  Time for you to move to that new house you want.

Scenario #2.  You want to buy a new home and rent out your current home.  You want the best possible renter who will pay the highest rental price and will take care of the house like it was there own.  Now some people don’t take care of their own things very well and since you can’t go and see how a prospective renter is currently living, what do you do?  You decide that you will invest in your soon to become income property and do a few things to hedge your bet.  You repaint the inside of the house in neutral, soothing colors.  You get the carpet cleaned and replace the areas that are worn.  You organize all your cabinets and closets as well as the garage.  Yes, you might have to rent a storage unit just like people who are trying to sell their homes.  You don’t want to show off your clutter.  The yard gets the TLC that you have been putting off and colorful bushes and flowers are spread throughout the front and back.  You’re not done yet.  It’s time to stage or redesign your home.  Why do this when you just want to rent it out and not sell it?  Remember that creating a lifestyle impression is the goal.  You redesign the house making it look larger, newer and upscale.  The house becomes a version of the new one you want to buy.  Everything is done and you’re ready to find the perfect tenant.  You price your rental at the very top end of similar size rental properties.  You don’t allow smokers or pets and require a security deposit to equal 2 months rent.  You’ll include a gardener who will take care of the yard.

The day comes where you place your ad in the paper and online knowing that this house is very different than the house you would have offered without doing any work to it.  The two house aren’t even looking for the same renter!

There is a psychology in play that most people are unaware of.  When you stay at a hotel or vacation rental you will notice the condition of the property.  If the door frames have nicked paint and the walls are dirty it not only changes your mind about the quality of the place but also about how you will behave when you are there.  No one wants to be the obvious one to nick the wall or stain the carpet or furniture.  The operative word is obvious.  The nicer and cleaner a place is the better a “guest” or tenant will behave.

When renting your investment property, you can’t minimize the importance of presentation.  As our neighbor said, the difference in rental income can pay for the property tax bill not to mention the peace of mind knowing you have done everything to protect your investment.