seller tips Archives - Luxury Homes/Top Towns

Smart-Home Features Westfield Buyers Look For

August 31, 2018 by Scott Gleason

Advances in technology have helped make our lives much easier. Computers used to take up entire rooms. Today, we hold a world of information in the palm of our hand. Westfield buyers of all ages look for properties that include smart-home features. If these features already come installed in the home, they won’t have to install them later. But which smart-home features do buyers look for the most?

Smart-Home Features Westfield Buyers Want

Heating and Air

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Smart thermostats rank high on the list smart-home features today’s Westfield buyer looks for when searching for their next house. While just about everyone wants to lower their electrical usage, this proves especially popular among younger homeowners. Turn the temperature up when the last person leaves your house during the summer. Then, 30 minutes to an hour before the first person returns, schedule it to lower so you come home to a nice, cool house. Your comfort stays the same but you don’t pay for cooling off an empty house. The same rings true for winter and when you go on vacation. According to Best Reviews Guide, the top three smart thermostats you should consider are the Alarm.com, the Ecobee3 Lite, and the Smart Wi-Fi 7 Day Programmable Color Touch.

Security

We all want to feel safe and sound in our own homes. So, it makes sense that smart-home security features also rank high on buyers’ wish lists. Families want garages that open with an app on their smartphones, computers or tablets. Engadget found the Chamberlain MyQ Garage to be the best one they tested. Older homeowners desire smart locks for their doors. PC Mag liked the August Smart Lock HomeKit, the August Smart Lock Pro + Connect, and the Schlage Sense kits the best. Many of today’s home security systems include doorbell cameras that you can access via your smartphone from anywhere. Home security systems also lower your homeowner’s insurance.

Lights

Another area that provides convenience as well as security is the lighting system. Adding motion-detection lighting in key areas around your home’s exterior increases your home’s desirability to buyers. It also deters would-be thieves from trying to enter your home. Some smart lighting systems allow you to turn lights off and on in various rooms while you’re at work, running errands or away on vacation. The Ecobee Switch works great in conjunction with the Ecobee3 Lite thermostat.

Sound System

Fewer people go to the movie theaters nowadays. That’s because they can personalize their movie-going experience from the comfort of their own home. A smart sound system makes the experience even better. Amazon Echo, Amazon Echo Spot, and Google Home Max work great for listening to music while doing chores around the house. Sonos’ Beam and One systems are fantastic for streaming movies or watching your favorite television programs.

Wireless Network

Whether watching movies on Netflix, surfing the internet or playing video games, we need a good wi-fi network. You don’t want your movie to start buffering at a pivotal moment, do you? You’ll need a good router to ensure smooth, uninterrupted service. According to TechRadar.com, Google Wifi and Netgear Obi rank highest on their list of best wireless mesh routers.

Do you have to have these smart-home features installed in your Westfield home for someone to buy it? Not necessarily. But offering these smart-home upgrades makes your home much more desirable to buyers. They could also help you sell your home faster. Even if you don’t plan on selling your home anytime soon, these features will definitely add value to your lifestyle.

Scott Gleason, CRS at RE/MAX Select, Luxury Homes

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Westfield Home Repairs: What to Fix Before You List

August 24, 2018 by Scott Gleason

Now is a great time to put your home on the market. But before you do, survey your home for areas that need improvement first. Here are a few Westfield home repairs you should focus on before you list.

Westfield Home Repairs: What to Fix Before You List

Flooring

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One of the first things a buyer sees when they walk through your door is the floors. Concentrate your Westfield home repair efforts on ensuring they look good. Conduct a good steam cleaning of all carpeting throughout your Westfield home. If your carpet still appears shabby, you might want to consider replacing it. Buyers love wood flooring. However, they don’t love scuff marks, dings, or scratches. A good scrubbing and waxing should be enough. You might want to refinish or replace your floors if the stains and dings are significant.

Air Conditioning

We may be nearing the end of the summer, but another one of the Westfield home repairs that need to be addressed before you list is the air conditioner. Have a professional come out to service the unit and make sure it’s in good working order. Even if you weren’t going to list your home soon, it’s a good idea to service your A/C unit twice a year (once in the spring and again in the fall). This helps extend the life of the unit and ensure that it works properly when you need it most. Also, replace the filter every month during the summer, when it receives the most usage.

Plumbing & Electrical Systems

Just like the A/C unit, the plumbing and electrical systems should be examined before you list. Some of the Westfield home repairs to watch for include leaky faucets and pipes, low water pressure, toilets that run constantly, and faulty wiring. If you can’t blow dry your hair in the bathroom while running a cycle of clothing through the washer in the laundry room without flipping a breaker, you might want to have a professional look at your electrical system. This is something that will definitely come up on a potential buyer’s home inspection.

Exterior

Finally, focus on your curb appeal. Torn screens, broken shutters, patchy paint. They all look awful and bring down your Westfield home’s value. But, they’re very simple to fix. Get rid of any dead or dying shrubbery, flowers, and trees. Reseed patchy areas of your lawn. Make sure all exterior lights and your doorbell work properly.

Take some time before you list to make any and all necessary Westfield home repairs. If you overlook even the smallest of repairs, it could cost you in profits when you sell it down the road.

Scott Gleason, CRS at RE/MAX Select, Luxury Homes

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How to Make Your Westfield Home Sale a Success

March 3, 2018 by Scott Gleason

There are many pre-listing tasks every seller should undertake before putting their home on the market. Decluttering, packing up, and staging, are just a few of the chores on the list. If you want to make your Westfield home sale a success, follow these simple steps.

How to Make Your Westfield Home Sale a Success

Price Your Home According to the Current Market

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First, let’s talk money. Pricing tops the list of importance for most buyers. Price it too low, you risk losing money. However, price it too high and you risk losing buyers’ interest. It’s imperative that you price it according to how the market currently values it. How do you know what that magic number is? That’s where your Westfield REALTOR’s@ knowledge and expertise comes in to play. Not only can they run a Comparative Market Analysis (CMA) of your neighborhood, but they can also factor in the current market trends they see on a day-to-day basis.

Professional Photos Sell Homes

Next, to make your Westfield home sale a success, you’ll need great photos. Most buyers take to their computers to search for homes. That means that the photographs posted will be their first exposure to your property. If you only offer lackluster photos, they may hinder the chances of buyers actually coming to see your home in person. Consider hiring a pro to take photographs of your property or even a short video tour. The extra polish a professional provides might be the catalyst that brings more traffic to your door.

Make All Needed Repairs

Then, make sure any and all necessary repairs are complete before you list. While small items can be tackled yourself, definitely hire a pro for the big things, like plumbing, electrical, water heaters, etc. Buyers tend to overestimate costs of repair issues by as much as 200%. Then, they start decreasing their offer price to offset these costs. Also, when they see cracked tiles, dingy grout, or stains on the carpet, they often worry about what other, larger problems you haven’t taken care of. That puts an even bigger dent in their offer price. It might even turn them away from buying your Westfield home altogether.

Share Information About Your Home

Once a buyer has a home inspection performed, some of the problems your Westfield home may have endured over the years will come to light. It instills a sense of trust with the buyer if you are upfront about these issues, even if they are no longer a problem. Besides, it’s the law for New Jersey homeowners to disclose any “known material defects” in regards to the home they are selling. This includes past roof damage, water damage, termite infestations, etc, even if they happened before you owned the property. Then, you can then explain how these issues were resolved. As part of the home selling process, you will be filling out a Seller’s Disclosure Statement. This information must be included here, too. Keeping this information from buyers could end in litigation down the road. It’s much better to be forthright with this information from the beginning.

Leave During Showings

Finally, in order to make your Westfield home sale a success, don’t stick around while it is being shown to potential buyers. Let your REALTOR@ field questions and highlight your home’s best features. Take the dog for a walk. Visit with friends. Go out to lunch. See a movie. Go shopping. Buyers feel much more comfortable if the owner of the property isn’t hovering around when they are trying to tour a home.

Want to make your Westfield home sale a success without all the stress? Use these tips as a guideline. And be sure to contact me when you’re ready to put your home on the market.

Scott Gleason, CRS at RE/MAX Select, Luxury Homes

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What to Ask Your Westfield Home Stager

February 23, 2018 by Scott Gleason

After some deliberation, you’ve decided to sell your Westfield home. When marketing to today’s buyers, you need to make sure they can picture your home as their home. To do so, you’re going to need to stage it properly. That’s where a professional staging company comes in handy. They know how to arrange each room of your house to maximize the positives and minimize the negatives. But, not all home stagers are created equal. To find the right one, ask your Westfield home stager these five questions.

What to Ask Your Westfield Home Stager

How Long Do Your Westfield Area Homes Typically Stay on the Market?

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Ideally, you want a Westfield home stager whose homes typically sell in 30 days or less. If your home is still on the market after 30 days, you may need to reduce your price to drive up interest. Proper home staging helps avoid that situation.

What’s the Price Range of the Westfield Homes You Usually Stage?

When working in a luxury market, you want a home stager that knows their audience. Find out what area of the Westfield area market they regularly work in. What’s the average list price of the homes they stage? Catering to a luxury home buyer can be very different than modeling a home for a buyer in a lower price range.

What Projects Can I Do Myself?

To save both time and money, you might be able to tackle some staging projects yourself. Any stager worth their salt will let you know what you can do to prep your home for sale. Of course, you can always let them handle everything if you would rather. It’s up to you how involved you want to be in the home staging process.

Are You Insured?

Your Westfield home stager will be moving furniture around and hanging artwork. While rare, sometimes things get damaged. Knowing that the staging company is insured alleviates your stress in case something does happen to go wrong.

How Much Will it Cost and How Long Will it Take?

Finally, the money question. Cost varies depending on whether or not they bring furnishings in with them or use your own. Also, the length of time you plan on renting any furnishings they bring factors into the equation. Some stagers charge a monthly fee while others ask for a flat fee that covers the entire duration of your listing. On average, it takes approximately one to two days to completely stage a home, depending on its size.

Talk to your Westfield luxury REALTOR@. They might be able to recommend staging companies that you can trust for your home. Staged homes seller faster and for more money than unstaged homes. Hiring a professional stager is well worth the investment.

Scott Gleason, CRS at RE/MAX Select, Luxury Homes

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Marketing Your Westfield Home in 2018

February 9, 2018 by Scott Gleason

The Westfield luxury real estate market started the year off with a flurry of activity. Whisperings of interest rate hikes could influence more buyers to look for homes earlier in the year. So, putting your Westfield home on the market now could be more profitable than waiting. But today’s buyers differ from those of yesterday. Marketing your Westfield home in 2018 means catering to specific types of buyers and their tastes.

Marketing Your Westfield Home in 2018

Showcase Your Home’s “Smart” Features

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Most of today’s buyers search out “smart homes”. When marketing your Westfield home in 2018, you should showcase any “smart” features you have. Do you utilize an Amazon Echo (“Alexa”) or Google Home system (“Hey, Google.”)? Good. If not, you might want to invest in one. Buyers want to know that your home is easily compatible with these systems. Smart security systems like Nest, Netgear Arlo, and ADT Pulse put traditional monitoring services out of date. If they’re already installed, buyers take notice.

Other great features include smart thermostats like the Ecobee4, Nest Learning, and Hisense. For the exterior of your Westfield home, PC Magazine named Rachio’s Smart Sprinkler Controller Generation 2 its top pick for smart sprinkler systems. It monitors the moisture level in your lawn and will schedule your sprinklers to turn on accordingly. Your sprinkler system will never again go off while it’s raining.

Millennials

The tide has turned in recent years. Millennials now represent the majority of the buyers out on the market. They want homes with eco-friendly features (i.e., newer “EnergyStar” appliances, tankless water heaters, solar panels, etc.). “Smart homes” top their list as well. And more and more are flocking to suburban areas as they turn from twenty-something singles into thirty-something families.

Baby Boomers

Of course, you can’t forget the Baby Boomers when marketing your Westfield home in 2018 either. They’re either retired or getting ready to retire. They also make up the second largest group of home buyers. Houses featuring master bedrooms on the main floor appeal to the aging crowd. Additionally, they look for “no-step” entries, larger showers with “no-step” entries, wood floors (easier for wheelchair or walker users to navigate), and slightly taller than normal toilets. These make aging in place much easier and make your home more attractive to Baby Boomers.

Even if your home doesn’t currently offer some of these features, it would be worth the investment to add them before you start marketing your Westfield home in 2018. This opens your property up to a much wider variety of buyers. That brings more traffic to your front door. With more traffic comes a better chance at finder a buyer in a short period of time. When you’re ready to list your Westfield home, contact me.

Scott Gleason, CRS at RE/MAX Select, Luxury Homes

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