Sunset Beach and Beyond Realty

Home » sellers

How to Improve Your Real Estate Listing Photos

by Leave a Comment

How to Improve Your Real Estate Listing Photos

Selling a home successfully has many different components that all work together like a well-oiled machine. From the location, school district, proximity to shopping, recreation or parks, and much more, there are dozens of things that a buyer looks for before choosing to view, tour and even buy a home.

One of the best ways to make sure your listing stands out and thus attracts more potential buyers is to ensure you have the best photos possible in your listing. Real estate listing photos should showcase your home’s best features and allow buyers to get a glimpse into the way the home feels and give them the ability to picture themselves living there. A good home can be ruined by poor photos and you may miss out on selling your home for top dollar simply by the quality of photos in your listing. Luckily there are many different ways to ensure your home has high-quality photos that enhance features and attract buyers.

When hiring a photographer, be sure they are seasoned in real estate photos, you can even ask to see a portfolio of their previous work. There is a huge difference in hiring a family photographer and a real estate photographer. While both require specific attention to details and a special set of skills, you want to ensure that you are getting the best quality photos as these are what will ideally sell your home.  

staged living room

There are a few different tips and tricks to taking real estate photos, and some homeowners have opted to try their hand at taking the photos themselves. Whether you are hiring a professional or taking the photos be sure to follow these few tips and tricks for awesome real estate listing photos.

Angles-a beautiful room can be ruined simply by taking a photo from the wrong angle, always try to use a wide-angle lens and get a little height to your photo. Taking a photo from too low can result in the room looking smaller whereas taking a photo from a higher angle can showcase the full room.

Light-natural light is going to be your best friend. Make sure photos are only being taken on a sunny day if possible and open up all the blinds, drapes and curtains to let in as much natural light as possible.

How to Improve Your Real Estate Listing Photos

Neutral Tones-while you may like a pop of color or a bold look, most buyers want to see neutral tones. Prior to photographing, paint accent walls back to a neutral tone, remove brightly colored objects from the room and replace them with lightly colored accessories, try sticking to tan, grey, and pastels to have the best looking photos. The exception to this rule is to have a vase with colorful flowers if you want a pop of color or to have a few yellow items, the color yellow appeals to buyers as a “happy” color and thus can draw attention.

Clutter-you want your home to be free of any and all clutter. Prior to taking photos or even showing your home, go through the house room by room to remove any clutter or family photos so potential buyers can visualize themselves living in the home. They want crisp clean photos and clutter will distract them from seeing the features and rooms you are trying to highlight.

Reflections-a beautiful photo can be ruined by a small reflection. Whether it be a window, sliding glass door, mirror, or shower, be sure that all surfaces have been recently cleaned of all smudges or watermarks and position the camera in a way that will allow no reflections to be seen. Having reflections is one of the easiest ways to distinguish an amateurs photo from a professional photo.

2505 E. Beach Drive Oak Island, NC 28465

Once you have your Real Estate Listing Photos taken, whether by a professional or yourself, go through the photos to find the ones that showcase your home successfully. One of the biggest mistakes you can make when taking listing photos is to “over edit” or overexposed photos. Buyers want photos to look as raw and real as possible and often when they see a photo that has been highly altered it gives off the idea that the room needs work and thus that is why the photo was edited. Lastly, be sure to have a minimum of 10 photos on your listing. Listings with less than 10 photos tend to get less views, the more photos the better! Happy photographing!

More Great Tips for Home Sellers:

 

Why COVID-19 Could be Good for Selling Your Home

by Leave a Comment

Why COVID-19 Could be Good for Selling Your Home

With the current pandemic spreading across the globe, it is only natural that some people are experiencing a sense of panic, especially those who were planning on buying or selling a home. Luckily despite the current situation we are facing, COVID-19 could actually be good for the housing market. If you are planning on selling your home in the near future, or maybe already have it listed, there are things you can do now that you may not have been able to do before. Related: How to Feel Safe Buying and Selling During the Virus

 

  • Curb Appeal – When buyers are searching for a home, the first things they see matters tremendously. With being stuck at home now is the perfect time to grab a shovel and a rake and spruce up your yard. The best part is that most of the time you don’t need new materials to make a big difference. Simply cleaning up and maintaining your current yard is enough to give you the extra push you need to sell your home for more! In addition to yard word, pressure washing can make a world of difference when it comes to curb appeal, whether it be the driveway, the fencing or the garage door, a good pressure wash can turn drab, to fab! Oftentimes a buyer may miss seeing the perfect home simply because of the lack of curb appeal. Don’t let this be you! Get more buyers through the door by giving a good first impression.

More: 5 Things to do if your home won’t sell

  • Virtual Tours – Do you hate having strangers in your home? Then you’ve hit the jackpot! With the current COVID pandemic, many buyers are not wanting to tour homes in person as they do not want to risk any additional contact or potential for the virus to spread. What does this mean for you? Many real estate agents have switched to virtual tours of homes, which means that you don’t have to open your doors to as many in-person buyers. Make sure that you have up to date and professional photos of your home in your listings so you can showcase all your home has to offer, virtually!

Related: Will a pre-inspection help my home sell faster?

  • Recession – Just seeing the word Recession can make us cringe. However, our economy is not faltering and we currently are not in a position to say a recession has hit. A lot of homeowners are worried that now may not be the time to sell your home, however, as of now our market is still hot! We can’t see the future and don’t know what the next 3, 6 or even 9 months may look like, but for now, the housing market is still moving just as well as it was 3 months ago. The risk you may be taking by NOT listing your home is that by waiting, you may not know where the market will be, come the time the virus slows and life returns to “normal.”

 

With the right team by your side, selling your home now is still not only possible but doable. Don’t wait to take the next steps into getting your home on the market, now is just as good a time as any!

Start below to find out how much your home is worth! 

Should I Replace the Carpet Before Selling my Home?

by Leave a Comment

Should I Replace the Carpet Before Selling my Home?

There are a lot of things to consider when you are preparing to put your house on the market. Some of these decisions can significantly impact how quickly your home sells and the final sale price.  

Some of the biggest things to impact how easily your home will sell are the pre-sale repairs. It can be tricky to decide which repairs are necessary. The best strategy to use when deciding which repairs to make before listing your home is to calculate the value each repair would make to your home and determine if it would outweigh the initial cost of repair.  

Often homeowners wonder if they need to or should replace their carpet before they sell their home. Here are some things to consider when deciding to replace or clean your carpet: 

Reasons to Replace the Carpet 

Replacing the carpet in your home before listing it can come with many benefits. One thing that sells homes quickly is that they are in pristine move-in ready condition. The idea that everything is in great condition and nothing needs to be done after moving in will attract buyers.  

If your carpet is: 

  • Visibly worn and even matted in several areas 
  • Is 10 or more years old 
  • Stained beyond the help of professional cleaning 
  • Frayed or Ripped near the baseboards
  • Is Outdated/ Out of Style 

You should consider replacing the carpet with new carpet or alternative flooring.  

Walking into a home with tired, dirty, or super old carpet is a turn off for almost every buyer. If it is not a turn off for a buyer they most likely will offer less money to cover the cost of repairing the floors if the price does not already reflect and acknowledge that the home may need some repairs.  

Reasons to Have Your Carpet Professionally Deep Cleaned 

Though your carpet may seem dingy or tired, all it might need is a professional deep cleaning to bring it back to life. 

If your carpet is: 

– Less than 10 years old 

– Due for a professional cleaning because it has been a while 

– In fairly good condition, just seems like it could use a refresh 

– Has a stubborn stain or two you haven’t been able to remove 

– Dirty only in high traffic areas 

You would be surprised at how much a professional carpet cleaning can do for a carpet. Many times when homeowners believe they need to replace the carpet, it maybe they just need to invest in professional carpet cleaning. There are some carpets that are past the help of professional cleaning, but many just need a little TLC to bring them back to life. Some carpets look nearly brand new again after just giving them a good clean with high-quality equipment. So, if your carpets are not old and in fairly good condition, you may want to consider a professional deep cleaning to save some money.  

Related:  8 Other Things You Should Prep Before Listing

If you are unsure about what would be best for the carpet in your home before you list it, give us a call! We’d love to offer honest, unbiased advice on preparing your home for sale.

More: 

Landscaping trends that sell homes

No open floor plan? No problem

5 Things you can do if your home won’t sell

10 Ways to Make a Small Space Seem Larger

by Leave a Comment

Staging a small room or home can be a bit challenging and while you don’t want to deceive buyers, you can do a few tricks of the trade to make space seem or feel larger than it actually is. No one likes to feel cramped or crowded so if you’re staging your home for sale or just want to expand your own space a little more, use these simple tips to make a small space appear larger.  

10 Ways to Make a Small Space Seem Larger

Paint or wallpaper the ceiling to make the room look taller.

You want your eyes to draw up boards, which in turn, will make the room feel larger.

Stick to light tones and colors on the wall and the floor.

Darker colors can make a room seem smaller and more closed in.

Pull furniture away from the wall.

Keeping the furniture right up against the wall can make things look and feel cramped. By pulling things away from the wall it shows that there is additional space and may give you extra room to hide things.

Read More: Home improvements that quickly add value

Make furniture work double duty.

Make use of hidden storage and double duty items by using Ottomans and coffee tables as additional storage.

Remember the rule of three.

Keep decorations and knickknacks in sets of three and keep things larger than a cantaloupe. Small knickknacks and items may actually crowd a room.

Use stripes and rugs.10 Ways to Make a Small Space Seem Larger

A striped rug can make a room appear longer as long as you orient the stripes the length of the room for optimal effect.

Use furniture with exposed legs.

Furniture that does all the way to the floor makes it look bulky and crowded.

Read More: Staging has decreased time on market

Use mirrors and glass.

You can strategically placed mirrors to create the illusion of more space and subsequently, glass items will make it feel like there is more room as well.

Use lighting to your advantage.

You can say floor space by hanging smaller lighting from the ceilings or create a sense of more space by doing away with overhead lighting altogether.

Use a larger art piece rather than a bunch of small pieces.

Always go up and out when you can to give the illusion of a larger space.

Whether you are selling your small house or condominium or just looking to make the room feel larger, these 10 tips will certainly help get you started.

What’s Your Home Worth Today?

Should My Agent Advertise My Listing on Social Media?

by Leave a Comment

Being in the real estate industry we speak to a lot of buyers agents and listing agents and have a good sphere of influence and book of business that we commonly refer to, especially when we take on a new listing. Because we work with both buyers and sellers we may have a buyer ideal for your listing, alleviating the need for any advertisement. But, should your agent advertise your listing on social media?Should My Agent Advertise My Listing on Social Media?

In today’s social media forward world if your agent isn’t on some form of social media they may not be doing their clients justice. Buyers are on social media and by using it correctly you can advertise to the right individual and get the lead you need, however, nobody wants to look at a feed full of real estate listings.

So how can a real estate agent advertise correctly on social media?

Well, for starters, a real estate agent has to be well-versed in whatever social media they are going to use. This could mean Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, LinkedIn, or Twitter, but whatever they do, they should be advertising more than simply listings.

As I said, nobody wants to look at a feed full of real estate listings unless that’s what a buyer is looking for at that moment. The problem is, you want people to be interested in your voice and your activity far before they actually need to buy a house and to do that, you need to offer other practical and helpful information.

If you’re listing your home, you’ll want to ask your agent how they advertise. You want a good range of advertising options such as in person, flyer, open house, online, MLS and any other way that could possibly bring in a buyer. But it’s okay if your agent isn’t on EVERY social media available… I mean, there are something like 3000 of them and that’s impossible to keep up with.  We have to go where the buyers are and have a good wealth of followers to do any good. I recommend using an agent that knows how to use at least 2-3 social media outlets well. They might post other things like recipes, gardening tips, local events and news, funny jokes and memes and then throw an amazing listing in there from time to time. If the people have followed thus far, they may be more likely to share your listing as well. 

And images matter! We are in the Snapchat/Instagram era where photos are the thing that catches the eye. If the image is stunning, the click-throughs will follow, which is why it really pays to have amazing listing photos. 

So yes, your agent SHOULD advertise on social media if they use it! Just throwing up a bunch of listings is nothing people want to look at, unless you’re Zillow…

More Goodies:

3 Truths About Real Estate Agents

Benefits of a Real Estate Team When Buying and Selling Simultaneously

What You Need to Know About Selling Your Home Yourself

by 1 Comment

Can you do it? Sure! Should you? Well…. That’s always up for debate. Of course, as a real estate agent, you’ll think I’m going to say ‘no’ but there are more reasons than my paycheck for which I’m suggesting.

Here’s what you need to know about selling a house yourself.What You Need to Know About Selling Your Home Yourself

Legal Issues

You need to know some legal issues. Selling a house is a big purchase and sale and if you are not fully aware of all the details that go into a transaction you may find yourself in a world of hurt. It’s not as simple as selling a car. You can’t simply hand over the keys and deed and get a wad of cash in exchange. Most buyers will have to finance and you’ll need to have that approved ahead of time. You don’t want to be sitting at the closing table only to discover the buyer hasn’t gotten their financing in order and really can’t afford the home.

Then there’s the legal deed, recording with the county and any outstanding liens. Title insurance and verifying you truly have the right to sell the property. (You’d be surprised at what many homeowners don’t even know about their own house.)

There is just so much legal jargon involved in a contract that if you are not fully clear on the wording, you could end up losing out on money or personal property. Everything needs to be done correctly and legally for the proper exchange to take place. Hearsay, word of mouth or shaking hands on a deal is not always the most honest ways to do business, especially when you’re talking hundreds of thousands of dollars.

See: 5 Questions to ask your Realtor®

Accurate Price

Don’t get me started on that “Zestimate” of Zillow. Too many homeowners think their homes are worth far more than they really are. Now, I’m not here to underprice the home but Zillow’s estimates have been known to be up 35% of the actual market value! That’s a lot! These sites just cannot evaluate the home like a skilled and experienced agent. You never know… you might actually UNDER-price the home and sell too fast, losing out on money you could have received had you priced it correctly from the beginning.

Overpricing the home means it will sit on the market for longer than you anticipated. Homeowners usually start to drop their price after the first few weeks to get more attention. Buyers start to notice how long the home has been on the market and may tend to shy away at this point. They don’t know the home was overpriced but may feel that the property has something wrong with it. The longer a home is on the market, the more of a black mark it tends to get from potential buyers.

Pricing it correctly from the beginning is key. As a real estate professional, I know the market, the neighborhoods, the trends and what buyers are willing to spend. Knowing all these key components can make it much easier to price and sell a property.

Showing it yourself

What You Need to Know About Selling Your Home YourselfThere’s a reason we suggest that sellers leave the property when it’s time to show. Buyers feel awkward when a seller hovers over them as they tour the property. Sellers tend to overcompensate by explaining too much about the property when the buyer really just wants to browse in peace. This can certainly shy buyers away right off the bat. It’s best to have their agent or your listing agent tour the property with the buyer, keeping the property safe and yet giving buyers the freedom to discuss and tour the house at their leisure.

Read More: The true cost of selling your home

Exposure

If you are still considering selling your home yourself there is the component of marketing. You’ll need to spend your money on marketing, advertising, and promotion of the property. This can be done with a sign in the yard, ad in the newspaper or social media ads. But your agent does all this for you in addition to all the marketing they do in the MLS. Only licensed agents are allowed to list properties in the MLS, which is seen on thousands of websites across the country. Your agent may even have a buyer ready to go before listing! FSBO’s (For Sale By Owner) just simply cannot achieve this level of exposure.

See: 3 Ways to sell your house with less stress

So, yes, you can sell your home.. or should I say, try to sell it. Statistics have shown that those that try to sell on their own, eventually come back to a Realtor® and end up selling for more than they would have on their own. It’s really worth it. Give me a call and let’s find out how much we can sell your Sunset Beach area home for.

Connect With Us

Recent Posts