What Home Buyers in Minnesota Want 

For most people, their home is not only the roof over their heads; it is the most valuable financial asset they possess. As such, sellers should expect to make the most profit possible from its sale. With this goal in mind, if you are a seller preparing to put your house on the market, it is essential to consider what features buyers view most favorably.

Things for Home Sellers in MN to Consider

In the process of getting your home in tip-top shape for the market, you may plan to do some upgrades. That's a good idea, providing you do not go overboard on improvements. To spend your money wisely, it pays to know what features make a buyer's heart beat faster when looking at homes. Here are some of the features that turn lookers into buyers.

Laundry Room

Color me surprised, but a separate laundry room has become a game-changer with homebuyers in recent years. A dedicated laundry room was the number one feature in a National Association of Home Builders survey, with 91 percent of buyers saying, "I need one!" If you have the washer and dryer in the basement, as many people do, consider kicking the space up a notch with some cabinetry, shelving, and a folding table.

Hardwood Floors

According to a 2019 survey by the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB), 83% of buyers prefer wood floors. If you sell a home with hardwood floors under wall-to-wall carpeting, it makes sense to rip it out and refinish the floors. If your carpeting is begging for a replacement, upgrade to wood, engineered wood, or laminate flooring. ...

Prepare Now to Sell Your MN Home in the Spring

If you plan to sell your home in the spring, now is an excellent time to begin the process. I know what you are thinking. Now? Really? Is spring seven months in the future? I wasn't planning to even think about the logistics of putting my home on the market until after the winter holidays. Has Joe lost his mind!

Believe me when I say my sanity is not at risk. There is logic at the heart of what appears to be madness. For those organized, pulled-together people who prefer to plan for significant events, this is going to resonate with you. I'm hoping to convert others who feel they perform best under pressure. Here are several reasons that make the argument for getting a head start on the spring competition.

Give Yourself the Gift of Time

Even facing the best of circumstances, selling a home is a life-altering, stressful experience. The luxury of time goes a long way to reducing the pressure of working against the clock when there may be many more demands on your time. Starting the process sooner provides you the grace to prioritize work and family responsibilities over home-selling tasks when necessary. This alone is a huge stress reducer and worth its weight in bitcoin!  

Get a Headstart on the Spring Competition

In the Twin Cities, the spring market will burst on the scene sometime after the Superbowl. The weather is the key, and if it is a mild winter ...

If you Know A Great MN Realtor, Listen to Them

Listen to your agent is probably the #1 best piece of home selling advice you will ever hear. Consider the reasons you hired him in the first place. You were impressed with his years of experience. Over his career, he has sold thousands of homes, and he knows what works and what does not. When a house doesn’t sell, he can tell you why and what to do to fix it. He can also tell you what not to do from the beginning.

Here are some great pieces of advice that you should hear from your agent when you list your home. Would you please take it seriously? The sale of a home is a stressful process, but a few easy steps can lead to a smooth and seamless experience. Listen to your agent. He wants what’s best for you.

To put you on the inside track, here are three examples of home selling advice that are universally true.

Price Your Home to the Market

During your listing presentation, the agent should include a market analysis of your home. The evaluation should have a recommendation for the listing price for your home. He will arrive at that number by comparing your home to the most recent sales of comparable properties in your neighborhood. If you think his suggestion is lower than your expectation, ask questions.

Listen to your agent. He will point out the reasons for the difference what he feels your house will sell for less. Perhaps your kitchen and home décor have not been updated for 30 years,...

MN Home Selling and Short Notice Showings

Anyone that has sold a home before will tell you that it can be an intense and stressful experience. Strangers coming through and looking in your closets, judging your décor and housekeeping habits is an invasion of privacy. Not to mention that you will sometimes get those requests that fly in the face of that 24-hour notice you want.

Both as a Realtor and a former home seller myself, believe me, I feel your pain. With four active young boys and a dog, I know families' challenges to keep their homes ready to show when on the market. But when that short-notice request from an out-of-towner pops up, it’s hard to take a pass because you know an eager buyer when you see one.

First Impressions Matter - A Lot

Because you get one shot at making an excellent first impression, I put together this list of quick, easy pre-showing tips for sellers. These tips have proven successful personally and for many of my clients over the years.  Make your home shine and put a gleam in the eye of the most critical buyer by following my simple checklist.

√ Pick Up Clutter in Every Room

Get those size 12 Air Jordan’s off the floor and into the closet. Dirty laundry should go straight into the washer. Get the kiddo's toys into the storage bin and forget about newspapers and magazines. Any stray dishes or glasses hanging around should go directly to the dishwasher.

√ Make the Beds

If one thing goes a long way towards pulling your bedroom together, it is a well-made bed. Be particular and smooth out the comforter or bedspread, and don’t forget to fluff the decorator pillows and...

MN Home Selling Tips

When your home is for sale, the most significant challenge is keeping it ready for people who want to drop in on the short notice. I’m not talking about a neighbor that might pop over unexpectedly to borrow a cup of flour. She won’t think twice about the dirty dishes in the sink and your unfolded laundry occupying prime real estate in the living room.

But those other people will care. They will look in all your corners, open all your cabinets, peer into your closets, and they will judge. They are picky and often quick to find fault and not shy about voicing their opinions about the condition of your home or your housekeeping habits. They are called buyers.

The Goal - Ready to Show at All Times

Before you listed your home, you developed a plan for preparing for this event with your Realtor. You got rid of clutter, you organized, and you cleaned. You repaired, refurbished, and recycled. You gave up a month of precious weekends, your book club night, and Netflix to get it done, and never hardly ever did a complaint escape your lips.

Now you have to do one thing. Keep it tidy, clean, and show-ready until you find a buyer. That is the one request your agent will make while your home is on the market. I know you have kids. You work. You have a dog who thinks...

MN Realtor on the Importance of Home Staging

Just a few years ago, staging a home for sale was rare. It was also generally for homes on the higher end of the pricing scale, new homes or empty homes. Today the story of home staging is entirely different.

The National Association of Realtors study conducted in 2017 found that 58% of real estate professionals said that when you stage, the sale price can increase as much as 20%. This same study found that 39% said staged homes sell much faster. The message of staging and selling a house quickly and for more money resonates with today’s home sellers at all price points and for all types of housing options.

Even sellers with starter homes or small condos with a limited budget can stage their property to make it more desirable. I will share some great tips that I guarantee will make your home more marketable and cost very little as long as you are prepared to invest some time into the project.

The Five Basic Building Blocks of Home Staging

What I am about to share can be considered the foundation of staging a home. Whether the seller has a small or large budget, these are five rules that everyone will incorporate into the staging plan. Those with a generous budget will spend money instead of time, and those with fewer funds will sacrifice their time.

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Real Estate Agent On Why Your Home Won't Sell

When your home is not getting offers in a seller’s market, it is no surprise that you are not in your happy place. It’s not how you expected things to go. You thought it would sell quickly. Now you are asking your realtor why other properties are selling while your listing is growing moss.

Taking more time to sell a home happens all too often. As an agent who has been in the business for 16 years, I have been in this scenario. Here are what I’ve found to be the seven most common reasons a home isn’t selling.

The Price is Too High

The most common reason a home is not moving even in a market favorable to sellers is incorrect pricing.  At the listing time, your realtor should do a market analysis of properties comparable to yours that recently sold. The price comparison is the best method to determine the asking price.

There are times sellers disagree and insist their home is worth more. There are often factors that the seller didn’t consider that affect the value. To neutralize the adverse effect of imperfections, a price adjustment is necessary. The price of a home should align with its condition.

Buyers today are savvy, and most of them are working with...

Selling a Home With Pets

According to the American Pet Products Association survey in 2018, 68% of households have at least one pet. People love their pets. That same APPA survey found that those millions of pet owners spent billions of dollars to prove it, $72.13 billion give or take a couple of mils. That’s a lot of puppy chow and catnip! 

Many pet owners consider their fuzzy wards children and often refer to them as “fur babies.” Being a dog owner, I understand completely. Our Doodle is an integral part of our family, and we all love him. However, when the time arrives to sell your home, beloved pets can present logistic problems. As much as I hate to have to say it, there are times that pets can raise issues that sellers must resolve before listing the property. 

The Challenges of Selling a Home with Pets

Some of the issues sellers faces when they have pets include:

• funky smells and odors
• what to do with pets during showings
• ...

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Make That Home Sale with Curb Appeal

When you sell, curb appeal is the first impression your home will make on a buyer.  Do it right, and you could end up with an offer, just like that! Do it wrong, and a potential buyer may decide not to walk through your front door.  So when evaluating your curb appeal as you prepare to sell your home, be critical because I promise you that buyers will be.

Pretend you are a buyer. Take a look around the outside of your house and yard. Now ask yourself, if you were buying today would the exterior of your home inspire you to take a look inside?  If the answer is anything less than, “I can’t wait to see the inside of this house” then you have a bit of work to do. Here are a few steps that will send your curb appeal rating meter over the top. 

Clean Up

Just as you do inside your home, you should “pick up” in the front and backyard, porch and deck. You want it clean and tidy. Remove any remaining dead leaves, branches, and other debris from the previous season. Oil stains on the driveway or...

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The Argument for Staging

Once you have organized your home and removed its clutter, it’s time to talk about staging.  In a 2017 study conducted by NAR, the National Association of Realtors, 58% of agents surveyed said staging increases the selling price of the home as much as 20%. In this same profile, we find that 39% of agents believe staged properties sell significantly faster than those not staged. Additionally, 77% of buyers found it easier to visualize a staged property as their new home. 

Keep in mind that the objective of sellers is to prepare their home so buyers will envision themselves living there. If a buyer cannot make a personal and emotional attachment to your property, they are not going to make an offer. You want your buyers to fall in love with your house. Staging can go a long way towards making that happen.

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Tips to Control Stress When Selling Your Home

When you sell a home, the experience has the inherent potential to be stressful. Not only is the rhythm of your daily life at the mercy of showings, but your home has to look tip-top for potential buyers.  Your privacy is held hostage to strangers opening closets and drawers as they snoop into your nooks and crannies. Yikes!  That is enough to get the calmest nerves twitching.

There are many moving parts to the sale of a house. There are many individuals involved in that sale. Any of these or a combination of several can become the stress source for the homeowner. These are factors the seller has no control over, zip, zero, none! However, there are many aspects of the home-selling process where the property owner can have power over the outcome. Making better decisions at the beginning of the process increases the likelihood of having a superior selling experience.

Since I have sat in the seller seat myself on a few occasions, I have gathered some morsels of wisdom on the subject. Since I love to share, as one seller to another, here are my best tips for a successful home sale.

Hire A Great Real Estate Agent

There are a few different ways people go about finding a real...

Sell Your Home When The Time Is Right For You

It’s no surprise that many people advocate that the best time to sell a home is in the Spring. Part of the reason this theory has evolved is that families want to be established in their new homes by the beginning of the school year in September. While this does make sense for families with children, when it comes to when to put your home on the market there are no one-size fits all scenarios. 

Even though Spring may be considered prime time for home sales by many in the industry, there is no perfect time for everyone. Every situation is different, and when you are personally ready to sell, that becomes the best season for you. However, there is one piece of home-selling wisdom that is always true no matter what time of year you sell.

Can you guess that one sliver of home-selling wisdom?  It’s the preparation of your home to look its best in winter, spring, summer or fall. Making an outstanding first impression on buyers will determine how quickly you sell and how high a price you obtain. A home that is move-in ready will face a cleaner offer with fewer if any contingencies. Even in this strong seller’s market, we find ourselves in right now, the condition and appearance of your home do matter.

It makes the most sense to take the time to get your home in tip-top shape for the fussiest of fussy buyers. If you think your house is nearly market...

Twin Cities Buyers Know What They Don't Want

The one thing most sellers have in common is that they are unable to look at their property with a dispassionate and critical eye. The longer they have lived in their home, the more emotionally attached they become. Many simply cannot understand that the cracked tile in the foyer they have lived with for 10 years, should be of concern to a buyer. Or the magenta bedroom walls they adore would be another person’s decor nightmare.

After being a realtor in the Minneapolis-St. Paul metro for 16 years and closing on close to 1000 properties, I have shown my share of homes that made buyers run for the exit shouting, “next please”! I have been the listing agent challenged with marketing the lime green home with hot pink trim.  So over the years, I have probably not heard it all, but enough to tell you what makes a buyer look like he just sucked a lemon. Sellers can and should take matters into their own hands before they put their home up for sale to avoid having their home sit on the market for a long time and sell for less money. 

Big Ticket Replacement Items

A house with a roof that is at the end of its lifespan or siding that needs to be updated is a major red flag for buyers. The same holds true for old electrical systems with fuse boxes and ancient plumbing. If an Octopus furnace, the monster in the basement also known as a gravity furnace, with asbestos wrapping around the ducts lives in the basement that will generally have buyers looking for the door quickly. 

It would be in the seller’s best interest to address major issues such as these beforehand, but if the circumstances make that...

Preparing your home to sell

It is critical that you choose a Realtor that will tell you all of things you should do to prepare your home to sell. If you hire a good real estate agent and follow their advice, tips and tricks, you will sell your home for top dollar. Before you put your house up for sale, you need to deep clean, de-clutter and depersonalize it. When you are getting your home ready to sell, these are the basics and the best place to start.  We want to make your property look as much like a new house as possible. Our goal is to project a warm and inviting environment, as clean, spacious, and impersonal as we can so that potential buyers can visualize your house as their home, with their furniture in the living room, their art on the walls and their car in the garage.

Home selling preparation step 1

This can often be the most difficult step for some sellers because often they have an emotional attachment to everything in their house. However, you really need to get rid of the clutter because one thing I know for sure, a buyer's dream house does not include your clutter! It will help you to look at this process objectively and realize that your beloved napkin collection filling up a shelf of the linen closet is clutter from a buyer's perspective. Remember, the buyer is purchasing your house not your stuff, and you want him or her to visualize where they can put their stuff!

Preparing your home to sell step 2 ...

That All Important First Impression

It’s well established that a first introduction is vitally important. That initial handshake can either lead to a meeting of the minds, or to no deal. “I hope I make a bad first impression,” said no one ever!  In real estate, we see this play out again and again.

When you are selling, the first personal impression when a buyer tours your home is like the handshake. If they don’t like what they see pulling up to the curb, walking into the lobby, or opening the front door, the cash register is going to ring up “no sale”.

Although a good first impression of your home may not always end up in making a deal, it is always the first step into getting to that important offer to purchase.  Here are 10 ways to make a great first impression on prospective buyers.

1. Get Buyers To See Your Home

Today, most real estate transactions are born on the internet. The first interaction a prospective buyer has with your house is online. If there is no connection with them in those first photos, it’s extremely unlikely to go to the next step with a private showing. Make sure you have an agent that takes quality photos of your property, preferably professional ones. 

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With April just around the corner, our thoughts turn to spring. For many, spring not only signals the onset of warm weather, flowers, and birdsong but heralds the time to sweep out the winter detritus from hearth and home, otherwise known as Spring Cleaning. The first logical step in the process is removing all that stuff you really don’t want, don’t need, or never use, your clutter.

For those of you preparing to sell your home this spring, an absolute must for you is to take your cluttered chaos and turn it into organized harmony , but even if you are staying put, what better way to start the new season than with a home free of extra stuff to get in the way of your feng shui. Now that you are sold on the idea of paring down and organizing, there are a couple ways to approach the process of organizing your home.

• the intense weekend (or two) decluttering boot camp
• the series of multiple shorter de-junking sessions

Personally, since I am not a fan of pain and suffering, I prefer the “take-it-in-smaller-bites” process. Keep in mind, regardless of whether you opt for the intense program or the low impact version, you still need to perform the same...

The 5 Reasons Twin Cities Home Sellers Should List Now 

Even though March is still very much a winter month in the Twin Cities, we had a few days of spring-like weather in February.  Those days may have been a teaser but I will tell what is no joke  – the spring home buying season started in January! Buyers are eagerly snatching up properties with wild abandon. If you are planning to sell your house this year, the earlier in the year you get your house on the market, the better.  This phenomenal seller's market is not going to last forever but right now it’s all about you and the question on my mind today is, what are you waiting for? 

1. Tenacious Buyers Will Not Be Here Forever

To say there are many eager buyers in the market watching the posting of new listings with a keen eye is an understatement.  Many have not just been anticipating home ownership for weeks, a great number of buyers have been looking for months. With so much competition for so little inventory, a large number of these buyers have attempted to secure a deal on a home only to lose out to another eager buyer.  They are not giving up anytime soon but market conditions such as rising interest rates may force them out. This sense of urgency is inspiring them to make great offers, very often above list price while making...

Why Early Spring is The Best Time Sell Your Twin Cities Home

Spring has officially arrived!  Birds singing, flowers blooming, temperatures rising and “Home for Sale” signs popping up on front lawns like mushrooms in the forest after a rain shower. Now I have not seen any robins yet at my bird feeder, no crocus popping their colorful little heads out of the dirt or forsythia in bloom. What I have witnessed is platoons of serious home buyers out in the market place. Sounds like we have an active market filled with buyers holding pre-approvals, down payments and closing costs in their eager ready-to-buy hands. Isn’t that great? Let’s take a closer look and see why the best time to sell your Twin Cities home is in the early spring.

Real Estate Supply and Demand in the Twin Cities

What we typically have in the Twin Cities real estate market is an imbalance. We don't usually see very many “Home for Sale” signs but we have many ready and eager buyers chasing down the ones that do pop up. What does that mean exactly to you as a potential seller? Good news! we generally have a market that strongly favors sellers with homes often getting multiple offers that may even exceed the asking price.

Sell Your Twin Cities Home When the Market Favors the Sellers

Are market conditions...

15 Curb Appeal Tips to get your Home Ready to Sell Fast 

Sell your home fast by starting with the first impression. Here are 15 fabulous and inexpensive ideas to boost the curb appeal of your home, he has curated some great information from some great sites like Better Homes and Gardens and also offered up some great DIY tips from bloggers like Bella Tucker and First Home Love as well. 

This information is must read for those of you are planning to sell your home fast this year. Even if you are planning to stay put, who doesn't want to improve the appearance of their home? Enough said. Let's read how we can give our homes a mini facelift! 

First Impressions will help sell your home fast

In life, you get one chance to make a first impression.  It can be the determining factor in getting the job, securing the client, or closing the deal.  When you are selling your home, the same holds true.  The first impression a potential buyer has of your house, be it online or in person can have a significant influence not only on an offer price but how quickly you receive one.  

When buyers are presented with a property that has great curb appeal, it draws them in with a smile. Reversely, if your home looks untidy and ill kept from the outside, buyers are going to have the impression that the property has not been well cared for, and it may even have them saying, “Next please”, without so much as an inside peek.

Now that you know how important curb appeal can be, here are 15 easy and inexpensive sure-fire ways to get the curb appeal of your home hitting the high notes!

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