Thinking About Moving in the Future?

If you are thinking about moving sometime in the future, now is a get time to get your home ready for the market. Buyers today want a home that they can move into and not have to do much in order to make the house feel like their home. Initially, they don’t want to have to paint and they sure don’t want to have to do anything with the flooring. Here is what I propose you do if you are considering selling your home in the next year:

Interior
Neutralize your paint colors. Wake County Homebuilders Association will be holding their annual Parade of Homes the last weekend in September and the first two weekends in October. The Parade provides for a great opportunity to see what the latest color trends are. Often times, a color theme through out a home makes buyers feel comfortable. Consider painting the foyer, main living area, the kitchen, stairwell & upstairs hallway the same color.

Fix doors that are not easy to open or close. Make sure exterior doors seal up against the weather stripping. Fix door locks that don’t work properly.

De-Clutter! Potential buyers need to be able to see their furniture and personal effects in your home.

Window coverings – if you have heavy window coverings, consider taking them down. Open up your windows as much as possible.

Remove wallpaper – that is a chore a new homeowner does not want to deal with.
Fix leaky faucets and toilets.

Exterior
Paint the exterior of your home if needed. Look closely to see if you need to do any caulking. Check the caulking around doors, windows and corners. Prod around for any trim pieces that might need replacing.

Fix windows that don’t open and close easily.

Replace or fix broken storm doors. Your front door is one of the first impressions a potential buyer has about your home. Make sure it is easy to open and close.

Replace your roof if you are getting close to the end of your roof’s life.

Check the vent boots on your roof plumbing. They wear out faster than the shingles and may need to be replaced.

Trim trees and shrubs so they are not touching the house.

Fix & clean your deck. Hammer down nails that are sticking up. Replace any boards that may be rotten. Weather seal your deck.


If your carpet needs to be replaced, do so just before you put it on the market. You want your carpet to be fresh. Invest in the pad –there is an old saying that buyers buy through their feet referring to the soft feel they get when walking through a home.

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Who Knows When the Economy Will Get Better…

People in the media are trying to forecast when the economy will get better. They are trying to predict when the “housing crisis” will be over and when gas prices will come down. In the meantime, consumers are trying to make their dollar go further since the gas prices are affecting our daily lives by impacting us at the pumps, at the grocery store and in all else that we buy. People are thinking more carefully about their purchases and trying to make their money go further.

With all the talk in the media about the “housing crisis”, fewer people are moving. Our market has slowed down compared to the hyper-markets that we have been in for the last 3 or 4 years. If you graph the home sales since 1999 through the current year, the homes sales for 2008 are in line with homes sales in the market before the “hyper-markets” of 2005 – 2007. What it boils down to is that Wake County doesn’t have the rush of people moving here that we had in the last several years. Can we say that we are in more of a normal market? Who knows! Isn’t there a saying that “normal is just a dryer setting”?

Each area of Wake County and each neighborhood in the area has really a different market. Homes over $400,000 are taking longer to sell. Homes around $200,000 are selling fairly well. Homes closer to the RTP and technology areas are probably doing the best – less distance to commute which means a lower gas bill. If you are in a position where you need to sell or might want to sell, call a real estate agent and have a really frank and honest conversation about the condition of your home, the sales price and the market for your home in order to get prepared to go on the market or to make your decision to sell.

Next entry: so what should a homeowner be doing now if they might be selling sometime in the future?