Tips for Pet Owners Who Want to Sell Their Home

If you have a pet and you're looking to sell your home, I’ve got some helpful advice.

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Two out of three of us have a pet, and 61% of pet owners say they have trouble finding a home that is a good match for their pet.

In fact, a recent survey noted that 31% of animal owners don't put in an offer because a home would not suit their pet.

This means that if your home is a good match for a pet, it will be attractive to animal owners.

On the other hand, 67% of Realtors also estimate that having a pet in your home can make it harder for you to sell.

So what should you do? There are three things I typically recommend:

Number one, repair any damage

From the floors, to the walls, to the doors, and the yard — these are areas that pets love to chew on, scratch at, and dig up. Repairing this damage is an investment that will pay for itself many times over in terms of a higher sale price.

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Pet owners are less sensitive to odors in their home than prospective buyers are.

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Secondly, get a professional to remove pet odors

Pet owners are less sensitive to odors in their home than prospective buyers are. That's why you should hire a professional cleaning crew to clean carpets, rugs, or upholstery that has absorbed pet smells. Once you're done, ask a friend or your Realtor to sniff around to make sure the job is really complete.

Number three, take your pet out of your home during showings

Some people are afraid of animals. Others might be allergic. Regardless of the time, money, and effort you've put in to clean and repair your home, some buyers will be prejudiced by simply knowing that a pet currently lives there.

By following these simple guidelines, you will be able to sell your home for the highest price possible, whether the buyer is a pet owner or not. 

If you have any questions or concerns about preparing your home for a sale, give me a call or send me an email today.

3 Ways to Prepare Your Home to Sell This Spring

More homes sell during the spring than any other season, but if you want to get the most out of your home sale this spring, you need to prepare your home a little differently. Here's how.

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Make no mistake, more homes sell during the spring than any other time of the year. In Philadelphia, it's usually because most people want to have their kids in their new school district by the time summer starts. It also means that there's more competition for home sellers on the market, so you need to prepare your home correctly if you plan to sell during the spring.

These are the top three things you can do to prepare for a successful home sale this spring:

1. The price needs to be correct from the beginning. We compare this to chasing a train—if you price a house higher than it should be, first, you'll be out of the category of homes that your target buyers can afford. Secondly, you'll have to keep chasing the market, meaning your house will stay on the market and start to look stale in the eyes of buyers. 
2. First impressions count. Five times more people will view your property the first day it's posted online than they will a week later. That's why we need to ensure the property is in show-ready condition. 
3. Get a home inspection before going on the market. This will point out dozens of pages worth of little items that need to be addressed or at least brought up to code before putting the property on the market. We want to be ahead of these issues as opposed to getting big surprises after going under contract. Getting a home inspection ahead of time allows us to either repair issues ahead of time or make a price adjustment to ensure buyers that we're aware of the issues.

If you'd like, I'd be happy to send you a copy of the sample inspections report I referenced in the video above. If you have any other questions for us or you're thinking about buying or selling a home, don't hesitate to give us a call today. We'd love to help you!

How Photos and Video Help Sell Your House

To sell your home in today's market, you need to capture the attention of as many buyers as possible. To do this, you need professional photos and videos for your property.

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Selling a home? Click here to get a FREE home value report

Using professional photos and videos is extremely important when selling your home, and that's why we use a professional for each one of our listings. Professionals know exactly how to photograph a home from a lighting and staging perspective.

A survey by the National Association of Realtors revealed that 92% of buyers start their home search online, which means that photographs are key.

We also do a lot of videos for our listings, including walking tours and Facebook Live videos. These videos are very effective, get a lot of engagement from buyers, and they allow us to show them what it's really like to be in the house.

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These days, 92% of buyers start their home search online.

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The National Association of Realtors also found that 82% of buyers said that video played a part in the purchase of their home. The same report also found that less than 10% of Realtors consistently use video! If you have photos and videos, you have a great chance at outpacing your competition.

You want to relay that authenticity to all the channels that your video will be pushed to, like Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube. The more people that see your home, the higher your chances are for getting offers, and the more offers you get, the better your chances are for selling your home.

If you have any questions about using photography and video to sell your home, give me a call or send me an email. I'd be happy to help!

The Problem with Zillow and Home Value

A lot of our clients ask, “Can we trust Zillow to come up with an accurate value for a property?” The short answer is no. In most cases, Zillow’s Zestimates are off by 5% to 15% of the true price.

The problem is that Zillow uses similar homes in the neighborhood to come up with the value of a property. However, determining a home’s value is not that simple.

The best way to know what a home is worth is to contact a real estate agent, like me. We will pull all the comparable homes in your area and do a physical assessment of your property to determine what it is worth in the current market. Zillow has no way of knowing about any improvements you have made to the property.

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Don’t use Zillow to make any major real estate decisions.

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Ultimately, whether you are buying or selling a home, Zillow is a great starting point, but don’t use it to make any major decisions. The CEO of Zillow himself ignored his home's Zestimate when it because the Zestimate was 40% off! He went with an agent instead. Read all about it here.

If you have any questions about home values or real estate in general, please don’t hesitate to reach out to me. I would be happy to help you!