Anna's Blog

Greetings from sunny Madison, Wisconsin! Believe it or not, spring is finally in the air in Madison. The enormous snow pile in front of my house is almost gone and I have visions of the crocus starting to bloom. And spring in Madison means many of you are thinking about putting your home on the market. Traditionally this is the busiest time of year for Madison real estate and so far it is feeling like a good and productive spring.

Many of the sellers I work with want to know how to set their home apart from the competition – especially as there is quite a lot to compete with right now. And my answer is threefold: preparation, marketing, and followup. Today I’d like to address preparing your house for sale – basically getting your home “parade-ready” so that when you hit the market, the response is a “WOW!”

The process is really similar to getting your car detailed and checked over before you sell it. You are selling a product, even though it feels odd to describe your home in that way. I advise my seller-clients to get their home pre-inspected. Most buyers today are getting a home inspection – and this tends to be the most stressful part of any transaction. With a pre-inspection, you know what to expect and you can address any defects in several different ways – you can fix the defect prior to your home hitting the market or you can disclose it to potential buyers and offer a credit at closing or a lower listing price. Either way, there are no surprises.

Staging has become popular over the past few years and it is a service that I offer to my listings. A professional stager comes in to your home and gives advice on paint colors, furniture placement, de-cluttering, decorating and depersonalizing your space. They can often use what you already have or they can bring in some of their own decorative items. The goals are to design an environment where potential buyers can imagine their own style and belongings and to create a feeling of spaciousness. It is pretty amazing to see how simply rearranging furniture can make a room feel so much more open or how a new fresh, neutral paint color can brighten and update a room. Staging is particularly helpful with vacant houses – just a few pieces of furniture and decorative pieces can really warm up a space so that it feels more homey to the potential buyers.