How to sell your home for more money

HOW TO SELL YOUR HOME FOR MORE MONEY DENISE HAYNES

CONTENTS 03 04 06 07 08 10 12 16 17 18 19 20

Denise Haynes Start Packing Presentation & Fresh Eyes Repairs & Maintenance Yards & Gardens Tenanted/Leased Properties What is Home Styling/Staging?

Get Photo Ready Professional Photography is a Must!

Is Marketing Important?

Floor Plans / Video 10 Free Interior Styling Tips

Disclosure – helpful information only. All home Owners & Buyers need to make their own enquiries and complete their own checks for legal requirements.

Denise Haynes is the woman at the heart of the thriving & energetic all women Real Estate Agency - R & R Property.

R & R Property Team currently consists of nine amazing ladies working together in an energetic business to be proud of, becoming well known around Australia for their innovative marketing techniques.

Denise is experienced and licensed in selling both Rural and Residential Real Estate and has not only trained extensively but has worked from the ground up within her Real Estate Career.

DENISE HAYNES Business Owner Real Estate Agent Wife and Mother

Denise has been investing in property personally for many years and knows firsthand the emotional roller coaster a property sale, purchase or tenancy can be.

Denise’s thoughts on the current Real Estate Industry are that it is changing at an incredibly fast pace on multiple levels. You need to have the ability to weed out the beneficial new systems and marketing implements; embrace change & become a part of it.

One of the biggest changes I have seen is the huge percentage of people searching for their next Real Estate purchase online.

As homeowners dealing with all the fast paced technology changes happening, you certainly need a young, fresh and tech savvy Real Estate Agency on your side!

“In writing this book I’m endeavoring to help you in your own Real Estate journey. I hope that you can learn and profit from my own personal and career experiences, making Real Estate transactions just a little bit easier for you.”

“Now, let me share with you some of the knowledge that I have gained over the years through this journey of training, experience and hitting the ground running.”

Denise Haynes

03

START PACKING! That’s right, go through all your belongings, personal effects and furniture.

Pack away anything you haven’t used and are unlikely to use in the very near future. It will feel better for both yourself to be clutter free plus it will also make your home far more attractive to buyers. There will be a better flow through your home and it will have a lighter and less complicated feel. A blank canvas for your buyers to work with.

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Pack away anything you haven’t used

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PRESENTATION & FRESH EYES The presentation of your property is absolutely crucial. Never ever under estimate its power.

Look at your home with fresh eyes – try to actually look at it like it’s the first time. I suggest you go outside, concentrate on seeing the exterior of the house for the very first time. Stand out on the street and do it. Then walk back inside as if you are walking into it for the very first time too. Really take notice of what the first things are that you see upon entering. If you are unable to do this seek a friend’s assistance. You need to look at what needs to be packed away, removed, tidied, cleaned, mended or painted.

A great idea is to pretend you are the potential buyer, grab a notepad and pen, go outside, walk out to the street. Start writing down what your first impressions are, what can you see that needs doing? Then walk inside as if you’ve never been in there before and do the same thing.

I will share some more tricks of the trade plus checklists with you a bit further along.

REPAIRS & MAINTENANCE

Have any small jobs around the home that make the property look untidy or shabby repaired.

Lots of little things like doors and gates that don’t open properly, stains on ceilings from old leaks since repaired and broken kitchen cupboard handles are all things that are easy and cheap to fix but could potentially turn a buyer off or give them reason to try to negotiate your asking price down. You may think they are just little things that don’t bother you and therefore shouldn’t bother anyone else. The truth is that they do bother most potential buyers. Don’t leave it to chance and just fix them or arrange for someone else to do it for you.

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YARDS & GARDENS Keep the exterior of your home clean & simple. Wash down the exterior walls of your home as this usually makes it look so much better, sometimes it appears to have had a fresh coat of paint. Of course if the exterior is really bad, ie peeling paint, badly marked, stained or a really terrible colour, an actual fresh coat of paint is desirable. Ensure the front fence looks neat & tidy too as it really is the first impression buyers get and a fence also frames & finishes off a yard nicely.

When it comes to gardens keep them simple. Beautifully manicured gardens are divine but they just scream high maintenance and most people are time poor these days and despite your best efforts and the money you’ve poured into it a hard work garden could well turn them off. Weed your gardens and mulch the beds to ensure they are as low maintenance as possible but still look attractive and frame your home beautifully. At the other end of the equation having no gardens is a no-no too. A home really does look better with some form of garden to finish it off or frame it.

A home really does look better with some form of garden to finish it off or frame it.

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TENANTED/LEASED PROPERTIES When listing a tenanted/leased property for sale unless your tenant is exceptional in their style, presentation & easy going nature, I always suggest that the home owner request vacant possession.

The other exception of course is if it will definitely sell as an investment property and you do have a reasonably good tenant.

I usually get the objection that the home owner can’t afford to remove the tenant/s as they need the money from the rent to pay their mortgage.

This may be the case and I understand if you simply cannot survive without it, but if you can, do it. I have seen so many home owners lose thousands & thousands of dollars due to the Tenant not wanting the home to be sold for varying reasons. Many, many times I’ve seen them sabotage the sale deliberately with terrible presentation, rude behavior or simply refusing access.

This does not always apply & should be judged property by property but sometimes thinking beyond the present can save you a considerable sum of money and stress. There are fewer things more frustrating for a sales agent than having a property which they know can be lovely and would present well and/or that they simply cannot get their buyers through.

One example that comes to mind for me was a lovely historic weatherboard home that we had for sale. Unfortunately this lovely home had a tenant who did not want to move, which became more and more apparent as time went on. We had professional photography completed, we marketed the property well and had lots of requests for inspections. When it came time to actually do the sales inspections, the tenant would never allow us access, it was always a battle, and then when we could eventually get in, she would then follow the agent and the buyer around complaining about all the things that she could think of about the property.

The home owner, let’s call him Lesley for the purposes of this book, said that he absolutely could not remove the tenant, as he needed the rent money to pay the mortgage. Ok, so we persevered time and time again with this troublesome tenant.

I was praying that I could find a buyer who could understand and see what she was up to. But of course even if they said they could, it of course turned them off purchasing.

This went on for months and months.

I eventually talked the homeowner into giving the tenant notice to vacate.

Hallelujah! I then made a plan (whilst we were patiently waiting for vacate time) with the owner to do some repairs and

maintenance once the tenant was out, to style the property and re-list it for sale.

All went well, tenant vacated (with huge drama of course) and then the homeowner took it off market, completed everything I had advised him to do, including the styling. The property was promptly sold after that.

Treat your agent with respect, listen to their advice. Don’t make out that they’re bad at their job, when they were the ones trying to guide you in the right direction all along.

When your agent advises that a tenant is holding back a sale and that they need them to vacate – listen! Do it without delay.

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WHAT IS HOME STYLING/ STAGING?

You can hire a home stylist to come into your home for an assessment.

They can either give you advice about what to do with your current furniture & décor and you then complete this yourself or they can have your furniture removed & stored, either fully or partially and implant hired & staged furniture so that the home looks its absolute best for both photo’s and inspections. You can choose a set amount of time for the furniture & décor to remain or just pay week by week.

Staged homes work particularly well if you are trying to sell an empty home.

Sometimes an empty home can be even harder to sell than one with ugly furniture. They tend to be soulless and any design faults seem magnified.

And don’t forget the exterior staging is vital too, after all it is what buyers will first see from the street. Beautiful gates, front fences, front doors, gate & door hardware, garden art, outdoor entertaining etc etc. You get the picture!

A great stylist can minimize any faults and maximize the homes best assets all with furniture and decor.

A lot of the time the initial cost of staging is returned tenfold because you will receive higher offers for the property.

It truly can make the difference you need and some stylists are pure magicians!

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Our Selling Houses Australia Adventure Is The Perfect Example As mentioned earlier I believe that presentation is absolutely crucial.

R & R Property were involved with an episode of Selling Houses Australia on Foxtel’s Lifestyle Channel and this is the perfect example of what a massive difference presentation of your property can make.

What happened…..

We’d had a residential property on the market for sale on and off for some years to no avail. Nobody wanted to buy this home.

The owners had purchased it because it was a good solid brick & tile, 2 storey home, spacious enough for a family, in a great location in town. The home also had a lovely outlook and a generous sized fenced yard.

Because of work commitments, a relatively short time in, the owners had to move to another location, so rented the property out. After having been settled into their new location for some time, they decided to buy there and therefore placed the original property on the market.

The market had taken a bit of a dip, plus the property had been tenanted continuously during this time so that the owners could cover their mortgage and rent at the new location. They also didn’t want to spend much money unless necessary, so very little updates or major maintenance had been completed. It was looking more than a little tired. All of this and the property market in our area was taking a backward step so the owners were faced with making a loss on this sale. They still wanted to sell, to enable them to purchase in their new area though.

As a side note we had presented the owners with an offer within the first couple of weeks of being on market of the same sum as what they themselves had paid for the property. Because it was new to the market and they had outlaid some money on it already they declined the offer. Big mistake, as I said before sometimes an offer straight away, from buyers who have been looking for a while is the best offer you are going to get.

Anyway back to the makeover. As the selling agents we had continuous access issues, never being able to show the property quickly and easily and the presentation varied from tenancy to tenancy. All the while no maintenance was being completed, unless it was an urgent repair.

Selling Houses Australia came in and after assessing the property and the current tenant very graciously vacated for them, they proceeded with a makeover on the home.

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“First Impressions are absolutely everything!”

– Denise Haynes

It was mostly all cosmetic, such as; painting walls/ceilings/timber doors, replacing shag pile carpet, spray painting the “timber look” laminate kitchen cupboards and replacing the benchtops. All of this cosmetic makeover was completed in whites and neutral tones. The extensive back deck area was repaired and exterior trim colours on the home were changed from Mission Brown to Black. The single car garage at the rear of the home was attractively screened off from the deck and the house. The rest was styling. Beautiful furniture, soft furnishings, light fittings, art and decor were placed in the home, again all in whites with just selective pops of colour throughout. Outdoor furniture and flower filled planters were added to the back deck area to create an outdoor room.

What a difference it made! The house looked beautiful, clean and stylish. And nothing beats that fresh paint smell for saying “recently renovated!”

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We had new professional photography completed, loaded it up on the internet and from that we had an offer accepted within the next day or so and it was sold a short time later. The purchaser loved the property for all the aforementioned reasons why the previous owners did, plus it presented as neat and tidy with nothing much to do.

We achieved the fastest sale in the history of Selling Houses Australia’s 9 season reign at the time, on a house that had sat on & off the market for years with no sale.

A combination of the power of presentation as well as immediate access to a vacant or owner occupied property.

Wow – what a difference!

When to not bother with a Makeover Sometimes it’s just not necessary, but when is that?

In certain circumstances I will let home owners know that it’s ok not to bother with repainting, re-carpeting, refurbishing etc. This could be if a home is a knock down or completely needs renovating. Also if the purchasers will not be interested in the house but in the property. ie: Is the sale all about the block of land/location etc etc?

For example I’ve had equine enthusiast purchasers on a number of occasions, get out of the car & head straight down to the sheds, stables & paddocks etc, stating

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I’m not at all interested in the house, where are the stables?.

Or if it is a waterfront property where the house has magnificent views but will be a knockdown & rebuild, just as another example.

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GET PHOTO READY A neutral colour palette, open and light spaces, minimal furniture and key wall art pieces are your best friends.

The less clutter when its photo time the better. Clean off kitchen bench tops, work spaces and tables. Put family photographs away and opt for wall art and stylish sculptures instead. I’m always amazed when I go shopping either in-store or online at how much gorgeous décor is available at such a reasonable price! Not like the old days when something stylish cost and arm and a leg. Now you can fit out your whole home for a reasonable amount of coin.

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Christmas time – please do not have Christmas decorations up whilst you are having property photographs taken! They look terrible (sorry, not sorry) and they also time stamp your photo session. So everyone knows when they see your property on the internet and other marketing material that you listed it in December. Surely you can manage one day without your decorations for the sake of amazing photographs to enable you to sell your largest asset.

PROFESSIONAL PHOTOGRAPHY IS A MUST!

You are competing with hundreds of other properties on the internet (where most of your buyers are hanging out) so you need your property to stand out and look amazing! I don’t know how many properties I see on the internet with happy snaps that are truly horrible.

Present your home to the World Wide Web beautifully and stand out from the crowd..

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IS MARKETING IMPORTANT? Absolutely! A good marketer knows what works and also attracts people to your area. They will attract buyers firstly to your area, then to your home. The old saying – “You can’t sell a secret” - is absolutely true.

Simply put, a great marketer gets your property seen by more buyers. Ask your agent what websites they use, do they use social media & if so how do they use it? Sharing recipes or funny cat videos does not count! Do they have brochures, flyers, window displays, video, blogs, podcasts etc etc. It’s all relevant & super important.

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FLOOR PLANS Floor Plans are really beneficial to your purchaser. It allows them to view the layout of the home to decide if it is going to suit their lifestyle and their furniture too. A floorplan also allows them to try to work out whether they can work with a layout which may not 100% suit now but maybe they can adjust with a renovation.

VIDEO A video walk through of the property gives the buyer another perspective of the property that photographs just cannot.

Even with a floor plan sometimes it’s difficult to judge how the property layout flows.

Videos of a property’s area are helpful also. If a buyer hasn’t been to the property’s location prior to seeing it for sale on the internet then they may find these area videos helpful and make the property seem even more enticing.

Here is an interview I had with Lisa B from The Real Estate Marketing Hotline in 2017. This will give you an insight into what we do as an agency and give you some ideas on questions you can ask your agent regarding marketing.

You can listen to the full interview from our website podcast section: http://www.randrproperty.com.au/ podcasts-with-randr/

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10 FREE INTERIOR STYLING TIPS FOR HOMES ON THE MARKET!

01

For interior wall colours I have personally used Antique white USA paint at half strength on a number of my properties.

It is a great fresh colour, not too white and not too creamy.

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02

Invest in some nice scatter cushions. Use these as pops of colour or features. Good ones may be rather expensive, but are so worth it as they are beautiful and can finish a room off perfectly.

You can also bring colour in with key pieces of furniture, decorative items or artwork.

Remember though if you have stunning views, let them do the talking. Take advantage of any gorgeous picture windows by making them the key feature of a room.

03

Floorboards are lovely, natural and neutral. You can break up areas with floor rugs. If floorboards aren’t possible or are impractical then a neutral coloured short pile carpet is best. Latte, charcoal or chocolate colours look great and blend well with most decors.

04

Keep your furniture small and minimal. It will provide space. For example if your spare bedrooms are small then have a single or double bed in them instead of queen size. And try not to have a massive chunky lounge which will take up the whole living room.

Or too many seats and coffee tables etc.

05

In the kitchen put your appliances out of sight, even if it’s just into one of your cupboards. Have cleaned and clear bench tops with maybe just a beautifully stocked fruit bowl or vase of flowers.

06

Light fittings can make or break a room. Replace daggy old light fittings and ceiling fans with stylish ones. Light your rooms for inspections.

Have your lights on if the rooms are naturally dark and have bright bulbs in your light fittings, I have found the save energy ones are not suitable. If your rooms are permanently dark consider installing sky lights.

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Take note of the seasons for inspections. In summer have your air conditioner on prior and during the inspection and also in winter have the room at a comfortable temp. If you have a wood fire have it on to provide the ambience and cosiness people love.

Beautiful art work can finish a home’s décor off perfectly, so have some stylish pieces at eye level or in strategically placed spots throughout the home. Again don’t overdo it though.

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Decorative items should be kept to a minimum with nice quality pieces as points of interest only. Don’t make the rooms look cluttered. You need a blank canvas for your buyers to be able to visualise their own decorative pieces and furniture in the home they may potentially purchase.

If you are not sure about styling your home for market then engage a professional stylist. They can be worth their weight in gold and quite often return so much more money than what you initially invested for their services.

The old tag line of – “Move in – Nothing To Do” has been used for years for good reason.

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For more helpful information on selling your property, to listen to podcasts or read Denise’s Blog please visit http://www.randrproperty.com.au