Commercial Market Report – February
We are in the dead of winter, and many properties are using ice melt products. Here are some thoughts that will hopefully help select the best ice melt product for your property.
Ice melt products do two things, provide traction, and melt ice. Any product will provide traction just by being spread on the surface. Coarse products tend to provide the most traction.
Sand can be an inexpensive and safe alternative to chemicals and should be considered for new concrete
installations.
The temperature ratings on ice melt products indicate the temperature at which they will continue to interact
with any moisture and will help with melting. Once the temperature is below the rating, the ice melt will only provide traction and reduced melting.
Products that contain calcium chloride generally have the lowest temperature rating. Calcium Chloride when in contact with moisture is exothermic, meaning it creates heat when in contact with moisture. Calcium chloride as an additive to ice melt can help other chemicals be more effective by causing melting and allowing the other chemicals to interact with the moisture. Calcium Chloride based products can be very effective in reducing ice in problem areas. Calcium chloride tends to be the most expensive chemical in ice melt and does provide melting power. There are ice melt products that contain a colored dye (typically green, blue, or orange) to help with application and safety.
Pet and landscape friendly are important considerations for ice melt products. Many of the ice melt products contain chemicals that are “safe” when applied per the instructions. Problems
with pets and landscape tend to escalate when products are overapplied, or when snow removal concentrates applied product into banks or piles. Remove excess ice melt from surfaces to avoid overexposure and tracking. It may sound odd, but many ice melt chemicals
are present as food additives in small quantities.
Does Ice melt damage concrete or railings? The quick answer is maybe. The technical term for concrete damage that people attribute to ice melt is spalling. One major cause of spalling is poorly laid concrete. Ice melt can escalate freezing/thawing cycles, which can accelerate spalling. Ice melt can also cause metals to oxidize. Ice melts are reactive and will react with ferrous metals. Many handrails, stair supports, and pool fences are ferrous metal. The best way to reduce any problems is to be sure the rails are well painted and to not allow ice melt to come in contact with the metal. Easier said than done—right?
Generally, the best advice with ice melt is to apply the product following the application guidelines on the container. Don’t over apply the product (more may be a short-term remedy but can lead to other problems), watch where piles and banks of snow are placed so they don’t allow accumulation of ice melt products on landscaping or near metal (watch where the runoff accumulates), and clean up excess product after each storm.
Ice Melt is a necessity for property maintenance and safety in markets that experience freezing weather and good management of the product can help reduce any risk with using the products.
GETTY IMAGES (ZERO CREATIVES)
Iván Anaya’s long and winding road to becoming a Denver developer did not begin in the Mile High City but in the mountainous canyons of Mexico.
And while many moments in his life motivated him to build rooftops for Denver residents, certainly the years when he didn’t have his own played a crucial role.
Now the Mountain West president at Atlanta-based Columbia Ventures, Anaya is launching a project on the Auraria campus that he thinks will set the bar high for future redevelopment there.
“What got me interested in affordable housing was, one, my mom’s dream of owning a home and, two, the fact that I saw a great opportunity to do something good and also something I might really enjoy, which is to develop: develop housing and specifically mixed-income housing,” Anaya told the Denver Business Journal.
As a young child, Anaya lived in Copper Canyon in the Mexican state of Chihuahua with no electricity or water. His father worked with a crew building a railroad through the mountains, and Anaya and his family were part of a boxcar community of about 150 people who lived alongside the workers during Mexico’s warmer months. The conditions were harsh; before Anaya was born, his brother became sick and died.
When he was 6, Anaya’s family moved from Mexico to Denver, where his father had been working part-time. The family of five was homeless for a time, lived in a basement, then later moved into a one-bedroom apartment before bouncing around to other low-income housing throughout Anaya’s adolescence.
Before attending North High School, Anaya went to 11 different schools around Denver. His parents never made it past a middle school education, but they always encouraged him to excel in school. Anaya graduated from the University of Northern Colorado with a degree in finance in December 2007, propelled by a desire to assist his mom with her housekeeping company and to help her buy a home.
Through an internship program aimed at putting minority college students in the boardroom, Anaya landed work at Compass Bank in its real estate lending group. There, he witnessed many Denver developers skirting a city inclusionary housing ordinance by paying fees in lieu of actually building affordable units.
This experience made Anaya realize he’d rather be developing housing for people like his mom, who needed it, rather than underwriting or financing real estate.
But with the real estate downturn on the horizon in 2008, Anaya chose to hold off on his real estate dreams, and instead worked for a bank holding company as a portfolio risk analyst.
“I learned a lot … about what makes development projects successful and what doesn’t, which I’m really grateful for. I got to see the bad stuff before I saw the good stuff,” Anaya said.
Anaya then worked for a telecommunications company, but he set himself a deadline that by the time he was 30, he’d get into real estate development. He wanted it so badly that he took a pay cut when he went to work for Zocalo Community Development.
SETH MCCONNELL | DENVER BUSINESS JOURNAL
After three years at Zocalo, started his own real estate consulting and development firm called Astucia Development, where he focused not only on building rooftops for residents but also on the services people need to thrive. His clients at Astucia included the Emily Griffith Technical College, the Littleton Housing Authority, the Denver Public Library and Denver Public Schools.
He started his current role as Mountain West president at Columbia Ventures in 2022. There, he’s been a part of multiple projects. He’s proposed senior housing at Viña in Denver’s Elyria-Swansea neighborhood. He’s working with a church to bring housing and supportive services to Aurora.
“What I love most about Columbia Ventures is they do transformative community development, and the level of integrity that they do that with is high and above other developers that I’ve worked with, and so that aligned very well with me and my value set,” Anaya said.
While many of Anaya’s past projects he’s been involved in — including Cadence near Union Station and working with the Littleton Housing Authority to keep 71 homes affordable — have made him proud, he said his latest mixed-use project will transform an entire neighborhood.
Called Ballfield at Auraria, the project has the potential to reenergize Auraria, a downtown neighborhood just west of the Central Business District and Union Station that houses Metropolitan State University of Denver, University of Colorado Denver and Community College of Denver.
Ballfield at Auraria will bring a new 120,000-square-foot mass timber office building that will host MSU Denver’s Classroom to Career Hub and offices belonging to the Auraria Higher Education Center, the state entity that manages the Auraria Campus’ facilities. The Auraria Early Learning Center will move into a larger space, and retail is part of the plan, too.
Anaya wants to oversee a more equitable project than the one that took place in Auraria in the 1970s. Before then, it was a neighborhood of working-class residents, but urban renewal efforts displaced them to make way for the construction of the current campus.
In contrast, Ballfield at Auraria’s plans include a 13-story, 350,000-square-foot workforce housing building for tenants between 60% and 120% of the area median income, designated not for students, but for faculty, staff, alumni and others.
“We’re really looking at this return to a complete neighborhood, so to speak, and hopefully it’s done in a way that is more equitable than the previous version. At a high level, that’s what’s exciting to me: we have an opportunity to bring this 150 acres back into the city as a complete neighborhood,” Anaya said.
Anaya currently manages three people on his team. He wakes up at 4 a.m. and typically works close to 12-hour days. His passion for his work means he’s a tough boss, something he readily admits.
“I’m just honest with myself: I’m not easy to work for. But it’s because I have high expectations of the work we do, the quality and delivery of what we do, and the impact that we expect all of our work to have,” he said. “When we’re done with the Auraria project, from an impact perspective, that’s probably going to be the one that makes me most proud.”
Name: Iván Anaya
Position: Mountain West president at Columbia Ventures
Age: 40
Son of the year: Anaya ultimately helped his mom get a house, which she has owned since 2008.
Business that’s not in Denver but should be: Eataly
Favorite spot in Denver: The mezzanine level at Whole Foods near Union Station. “You can go sit up there and watch the city and listen to whatever’s happening at Union Station. I actually like that spot a lot. I think it’s a pretty cool place.”
GETTY IMAGES (ZERO CREATIVES)
The number of residential units being converted from office buildings across the country has hit a record, as cities and developers look for new ways to reimagine an abundance of office space sitting vacant in U.S. downtowns.
Between 2021 and 2024, the number of apartments scheduled for conversion from office space has grown from 12,100 to 55,339, according to RentCafe, part of Yardi Systems Inc. That means office conversions represent 38% of the estimated 147,000 apartments in adaptive-reuse projects.
But among the 55,000-plus units included in the findings, only 23%, or 12,842, of the residential units being added in former offices are expected to be under construction this year. The rest remain in either the “planned” stage — where permitting and development work has been submitted — or the “prospective” stage, where no formal documentation or design has begun yet.
Office conversions to other property types, especially residential, are being looked at in cities across the U.S. as a way to help bring people and revenue back to city centers. But office conversions are notorious for being difficult and expensive to pull off.
Some obsolete office buildings aren’t good candidates for residential conversion simply because of their floorplate size. For others, it’s because of where plumbing and electrical services are or can be located within the structure, or placement of windows.
Also, since the onset of the pandemic and the subsequent rise in interest rates, there’ve been few sales of the types of office towers that could be potential candidates for conversion.
But office building trades are starting to occur again now — some at deep discounts from their most-recent sales — potentially paving the way for more conversion activity.
Doug Ressler, manager of business intelligence at Yardi Matrix, said sellers are starting to recognize reality when it comes to whether to hold or sell certain buildings, including ones that might make sense for a conversion.
“Whether you convert (a building) or not, it’s really built on a set of assumptions,” he said. “If the assumptions change, you have to rethink your strategy. Right now, it should be environmentally better to recycle than demolish.”
Office-to-residential conversions, whether actively underway or in an earlier stage of development, are happening in the usual lineup of cities that have an abundance of older office towers. But cities with a younger office supply, including some places in the Sun Belt, also are starting to see an uptick in conversion activity.
Washington, D.C., has the most office-to-residential units underway, with 5,820 in the pipeline for 2024, according to RentCafe. That’s followed by New York, with 5,215; Dallas, with 3,163; Chicago, with 2,822; and Los Angeles, with 2,442.
Whether the 42,497 units nationally in the planned or prospective stages turn into projects under construction likely will hinge on broader economic forces, including what happens with interest rates and the cost of capital, as well as what local and state governments may offer in the way of incentives to make those projects feasible.
“Interest rates going down is certainly going to free up a lot of investment, but you’ve also got zoning and permitting and the cost associated with moving that forward,” Ressler said. “The longer-term issue seems to be, three to five years out, do I have the (net operating income) to support what I want to do?”
The national apartment market is expected to have a record number of unit deliveries this year after a significant amount of rental-housing supply finished construction in 2023. That volume is softening apartment markets where supply currently is outpacing demand. Some of those metro areas are starting to see rental rates flatten or decline.
As a result, apartment construction starts are slowing considerably, Ressler said. That also prompts questions about whether rental housing will hit a cliff once the current pipeline finishes delivering in 2024 and 2025.
“It takes 18 to 30 months to get a high-rise or midrise or garden-style type of apartment (built), functioning and leased up,” Ressler said.
Municipalities are motivated to figure out a solution for the obsolete office buildings sitting vacant in their downtowns, particularly because of the hit those reduced building valuations — and taxes — will have on local government revenue. That’s prompting cities, states and even the federal government to introduce both financial subsidies to reduce the overall cost of conversions as well as reforms to land-use and other policies to reduce regulatory barriers.
Buy now, or wait? That’s the question prospective homeowners have been struggling to answer in today’s housing market. Home prices have been skyrocketing since the pandemic, and the Federal Reserve’s work to tame inflation has sent mortgage rates soaring, too.
The combination has led many would-be buyers to pick the “wait” side of the equation. The volume of existing home sales was down more than 6 percent from December 2022 to December 2023, according to the National Association of Realtors. And, according to the Fannie Mae Home Purchase Sentiment Index released in January 2024, an overwhelming 83 percent of consumers believe it’s a bad time to buy a house.
However, after being at a constant disadvantage for the past few years, things have started to look better for buyers in many parts of the country. Days-on-market figures are way up, giving buyers more time to make an informed decision. Popular West Coast cities that had seen skyrocketing prices, like Seattle and San Francisco, saw double-digit year-over-year declines. And in December’s National Housing Report from RE/MAX, one of the biggest real estate brokerages in the country, CEO Nick Bailey declared that “There are many reasons to be encouraged about housing in 2024. If new construction starts increase along with mortgage rates dropping, move-up buyers may start to explore their options, making room for new buyers.”
So, is it time to buy a home? Or is it better to wait on the sidelines, in the hopes that either prices or rates see a significant drop soon? And what if there’s a recession? Here are some key considerations to help determine the way forward.
Mortgage rates have backed off from the 8 percent highs hit in October, but they’re still close to 7 percent. And home prices are high as well: According to the latest Case-Shiller U.S. National Home Price NSA Index, they’ve now increased for nine straight months. Together, these factors might dissuade you from buying right now, and that’s understandable.
No matter which way the real estate market is leaning, though, buying now means you can start building equity immediately. It also means avoiding the potential for additional mortgage rate increases later: Rising rates can spell serious trouble for your monthly budget, and they also result in paying more in interest over the life of the loan.
“If a buyer finds a property they would like to call home, they should not delay,” says Stacey Froelich, a broker with Compass in New York City. “You cannot time the market, and a home should be a long-term investment.”
“When mortgage rates drop and more buyers come back into the market, home prices will rise,” Melissa Cohn, regional vice president of William Raveis Mortgage in Connecticut recently told her newsletter subscribers. “Remember, you ‘Marry the house and date the rate.’” To put it another way, you can always refinance later.
In general, if you can answer yes to these three questions, now is a good time to buy.
Ultimately, the decision of when to buy a home is up to you. Life goes on, whether the timing is perfect or not. If you’re anxious to become a homeowner, you’ve met the criteria above and you’re financially stable, go ahead and start house-hunting.
While 1 percent might not sound like much, it can make a big difference in how much house you can afford over the long run. For example, Bankrate’s mortgage calculator shows that if you buy a $350,000 home with a 20 percent down payment, the monthly payment for principal and interest on a 30-year loan with a 7 percent interest rate is $1,862. The same loan at 8 percent brings those monthly payments up to $2,054 — $192 higher every month. That’s more than $2,300 each year.
Of course, it’s impossible to predict where rates will land by spring. But here are three instances in which it might make more sense to wait out the market until after this winter:
Deciding whether to buy a house now or wait depends a lot on where you want to call home. Regardless of national headlines, real estate is hyper-localized and can vary greatly from one market to another, even within the same state.
Consider this December Redfin data from Texas’ Dallas–Fort Worth metro area: In Fort Worth, the median sale price of a home had decreased by 3.2 percent year-over-year. In Dallas, just 30 or so miles away, the median shot up by 19.7 percent. That’s a massive difference, all within the same metro area. In today’s homebuying market, it’s more important than ever to find a real estate agent who really knows your local area — down to your specific neighborhood — and can help you successfully navigate its unique quirks.
The odds of a recession in 2024 now stand at 45 percent, according to Bankrate’s most recent survey. And as you might imagine, recessions are a risky time to buy a home. If you lose your job, for example, a lender will be much less likely to approve your loan application.
Even if the recession doesn’t affect you directly, if your area is hard-hit, that could have a serious effect on the local real estate market. Fewer local people with the means to buy means a lower chance of homes selling, which could keep people from listing and decrease your options as a buyer.
There are some potential upsides to buying a home during a recession, though, if you’re financially able to do so. Notably, there will be less competition, which could help you find a great property that you otherwise couldn’t and make a great investment in your future.
Trying to buy a house right now might feel overwhelming, but waiting too long can present challenges as well. Review your finances in detail, and think about how much you’re able to pay upfront as a down payment. Be sure to take the pulse of the town in which you’re hoping to live. Then, talk with an experienced local real estate agent to figure out whether you should buy now or wait until the market is a bit more friendly to your bank account.
Our evaluations and opinions are not influenced by our advertising relationships, but we may earn a commission from our partners’ links. This content is created independently from TIME’s editorial staff. Learn more about it.
Buying or selling a home can be an extremely stressful and complicated process. In addition to combing through pages of listings and going to dozens of showings, buying or selling a home comes with a lot of lengthy and confusing paperwork. Even experienced buyers and sellers likely need some help when it comes to navigating the real estate market. That’s why so many people choose to work with a real estate agent.
While some home buyers and sellers might try and tackle the entire process on their own, many choose to enlist the help of a real estate agent to guide them through the home buying or selling process. In fact, according to the 2022 Zillow Group Consumer Housing Trends report, 88% of homeowners choose to list their homes with a real estate agent when the time comes to sell. There are many reasons why so many people choose to work with a real estate agent rather than go it alone.
First and foremost, real estate agents are incredibly knowledgeable about the real estate market. They must be licensed by their state and have to keep up with continuing education to ensure they stay up-to-date with housing trends and other important aspects of the home buying and selling process. Unless you are a licensed real estate agent, you won’t have the knowledge and experience that a real estate agent has.
Additionally, Zillow surveyed sellers who used a real estate agent to list their homes to determine which services their agent provided that were most important to them. The results showed that sellers’ number one priority is to find buyers and lead them through the home sale process, which their real estate agent did for them by listing their property on real estate listing sites, using professional photographs to help the property stand out, and guiding them through the paperwork and legal requirements of selling their home. Zillow’s full findings can be found in the chart below.
Listing a home for sale without the help of a real estate agent requires a lot more hands-on work from the seller. Without an agent, the seller will have to value their home, handle listings and marketing for the home, find potential sellers and guide showings or open houses, and handle all the paperwork and legal requirements themselves. While it’s certainly doable for a homeowner with the time, experience, and patience to manage the entire home selling process, most homeowners will likely benefit from using a real estate agent to help make the selling process go more smoothly.
While searching for a real estate agent, you may also come across the term “broker.” But what are brokers, and how are they different from real estate agents?
Although real estate agents are required by the state where they operate to take and pass a real estate license exam, brokers have gone a step further and undergone additional training. This allows them to sponsor and employ real estate agents or work independently. The benefit of this for the seller is the additional experience and education a broker can bring to the table. The most significant benefit for the broker is that they can take a percentage of a commission from an agent who works for them, which increases their earnings potential.
You might hear the terms “real estate agent” and “Realtor” used interchangeably, but there is a difference between the two. A real estate agent is licensed in their state to assist home buyers and sellers through the process. A Realtor, on the other hand, is a trademarked name for a professional who is a member of the National Association of Realtors (NAR).
In addition, a Realtor could be a real estate agent, but they could also be a salesperson, a broker, a property manager, or an appraiser. To become a Realtor, you must have a current real estate license, be actively working in the business, and meet specific legal and financial requirements. For example, you can’t become a Realtor if you have recently filed for bankruptcy or have a record of unprofessional conduct. Realtors can also take additional training to designate them as specialized in working with certain types of clients, such as the following:
With so many buyers and sellers choosing to work with a real estate agent, you might think it’s easy to find one to represent you. But according to Zillow, 18 percent of sellers said they had trouble finding the right agent. Luckily, it doesn’t have to be hard if you follow these seven simple steps.
Before you search online for real estate agents in your area, ask your local friends or family members whether they can recommend an agent they have worked with in the past. Asking those you trust for referrals can be the best way to find an agent. In fact, Zillow’s most recent research shows that 18% of sellers found their agent by asking friends and family for referrals.
Once you have a few names from friends or family members, it’s time to look them up online. Look at their current listings and check their social media accounts and website. Read online reviews to see what previous clients are saying about them. A few negative reviews are to be expected. Still, if there are more negative than positive reviews, or if the agent doesn’t reply to negative reviews (or worse, responds in a combative manner), you can cross them off your list and move on to the next candidate.
After you’ve vetted some agents online, pick the top three you think might be a good fit and make an appointment to meet with them. Meeting with multiple agents can help you compare and see if you like the communication style of one over another.
When you meet with your shortlisted contenders, ask them questions to get a sense of how they work and how they can help you buy or sell a home. The best real estate agents will welcome questions to help clients understand their process and see if they are a good fit. It’s a good idea to ask about their previous sales, experience working in your neighborhood, work style, and other factors that might come into play while you’re working together. A more detailed list of questions to ask can be found further down in this article.
The next step is to ask your shortlisted agents if they can provide you with references. This way, you can speak with former clients and ask them questions about what it was like actually working with the agent. Most agents will happily provide you with a list of references if requested.
If you have a weird feeling about an agent even after following all the previous steps, it’s best to follow your instincts. After all, you will be working closely with this individual, and if you aren’t entirely comfortable with them, it won’t be a very good working relationship. Crossing a contender that checks all the other boxes off your list is fine, if your gut tells you it’s not a good fit.
Once you’ve vetted potential real estate agents to work with and chosen the one you think will be the best fit, it’s essential to carefully read the contract before signing. The agreement will include the real estate commission, which is the percentage of the selling price the real estate agent will receive in exchange for their work with you.
In most cases, the seller pays the commission, but that may not always be the case, so it’s important for both buyers and sellers to understand the commission percentage. In addition, make sure you review the length of the contract. A contract over six months suggests the agent might not be confident they can sell your house or help you find a new house within that time frame. And if your home is still on the market half a year after being listed, it’s good to have the option to either sign a new contract with your agent or find a new agent to try and sell your home instead.
There are many things to look for when searching for a real estate agent, although some are more important than others. The following are some of the top things to check:
As part of the interview process, it’s essential to ask questions to determine whether or not an agent will be a good fit. Some questions will apply no matter whether you’re buying or selling, while others will only apply to one or the other situation.
The following questions are good for buyers and sellers to ask real estate agents when they are shopping around to find one to help them buy a house or sell a house:
If you’re looking for a real estate agent to help you find and purchase your dream home, the following questions can help you determine whether the agent you’re interviewing is a good fit:
When searching for a real estate agent to help sell your home, it’s important to ask the following questions:
Whether buying, selling, or investing in real estate, finding an agent who can represent your needs is vital. By following some simple steps, you can vet potential candidates to find one you trust to listen to and address your questions and concerns while helping you realize your real estate goals.
Finding the right real estate agent to help you buy or sell a home can be stressful. The following are some common questions about finding a real estate agent to help you get matched with someone who can help you reach your goals.
The main alternative to working with a real estate agent is to act as your own agent. The problem with this route is that most home buyers or sellers aren’t experienced with the process or the legal requirements when buying or selling a home. For many, selling a home is the largest transaction they will make in their lifetime, and it can take the burden off to have a professional in your corner to guide you through the process.
If you’re having trouble finding a real estate agent, try asking friends and family for referrals or searching for an agent using a tool like Zillow’s Agent Finder tool or Realtor.com’s Find a REALTOR. You can also contact local agencies and ask if they have an agent who could help you with your home sale. Finding a real estate agent who is a good fit can take time and energy, but it’s definitely worth it in the end.
The typical commission amount for a real estate agent is 6 percent split between the buyer’s agent and the seller’s agent. However, this percentage may be negotiable, so it’s vital to read the contract carefully before signing so you can negotiate. Generally, the seller pays the commission using part of their profit from the sale, but this can depend on what the buyer and seller agree upon in the offer.
It doesn’t really matter. All real estate agents need to be licensed in order to operate in their state. Some real estate agents are National Association of Realtors (NAR) members, which allows them to use the Realtor name. To become a member, an agent must not have a pending or recently filed bankruptcy and cannot have any official sanctions against them for professional misconduct, so choosing a Realtor can give you extra peace of mind about the professional you choose to work with.
Published on
When you prepare your home for sale, it’s important to be able to detach from the house emotionally, so you can understand what buyers are looking for and what their potential concerns may be.
We consulted with experts and researched market conditions, buyer trends, and step-by-step guides to compile every touchpoint covered in this checklist on how to prepare your home for sale.
When you decide to prepare your home for sale, the first order of business is to start packing and purging immediately. To avoid feeling like your entire life and home are upside down, outline a strategy to keep you organized. Here’s a checklist of the most important things to tackle during the process:
Go through every room and collect items you want to donate, throw out, or sell: Do this before you start packing to save both money and time. Determining what you should get rid of or keep can be a painstaking task, but we’ve got some tips to guide you.
Take an inventory of all your belongings: Taking stock of your belongings will not only help you keep track of them during the move, but it’ll also be useful to have on hand for homeowners insurance purposes.
Label everything: Top real estate agent Carrie Buckett is a relocation specialist who serves Illinois and Wisconsin. She has seen too many clients leave boxes unlabeled and stick them in the basement, thinking, “Oh, we’ll go through these later.” And they end up collecting dust never to be opened again. “Label everything,” advises Buckett.
Pack a suitcase full of items you want to hold onto during the moving process: This includes everyday necessities plus valuable and sentimental items like family heirlooms and important documents.
Save time and keep your items safe and damage-free through the entire process: For tips and tricks to making sure your belongings don’t break, and other strategic packing advice, check out our guide to make moving easier.
Proper packing techniques will help you prepare your home for sale in more ways than you think. If it looks like you take good care of your possessions, buyers are likely to assume you have taken the same approach with the house.
Creating a neutral and inviting space allows potential buyers to envision themselves in your home. Start by minimizing personal items, streamlining decor, and giving every room a thorough cleaning to present your property in the best light.
When you prepare your home for sale, there needs to be enough room for buyers and agents to move around while viewing your home. Clutter can be visually unappealing and impede potential buyers from seeing themselves living in the house, so you’ll want to declutter as much as possible. For items you need to hold onto, find a few decorative boxes that can be kept out of sight yet still easily accessible. You may also consider renting a storage unit.
Depersonalizing goes a step further than decluttering, so the buyer can envision themselves and their own belongings in the home. When you prepare your home for sale, depersonalizing is important because it removes distractions that could keep the buyer from focusing on the house itself. You’ll want to make sure to remove your family photos and religious items and cover up patterned, bulky furniture that’s specific to your taste.
“A deep clean never fails to solicit buyer comments like the house feels solid, well-maintained, or meticulously cared for — even if the house is really outdated,” says Jessica Riphenburg, a top agent in Madison, Wisconsin who sells homes 65% faster than her peers.
You can hire a professional if you’d like, but that will cost you between $150 and $250, with most homeowners paying $221 on average for a one-time clean. This is one of those projects that you may want to take on yourself if you’re willing to put in a little elbow grease.
When cleaning, it’s best to tackle one task at a time (like washing windows) and perform that task through the entire house before moving on to the next thing. This means pulling out furniture to get rid of dust bunnies, removing carpet stains, scrubbing your appliances inside and out, and wiping down baseboards and door handles.
Working with a top agent can be one of the most important steps to take as you prepare your home for sale. HomeLight’s data shows that the top 5% of real estate agents across the U.S. sell homes for as much as 4.8% more than the average real estate agent.
An experienced agent can help you identify any issues when preparing your home for the market, and will often have a Rolodex of contacts for work that needs to be done by a professional. You can also utilize your agent’s network when it comes time to list your home to connect with stagers, landscapers, photographers, and beyond.
Curb appeal is extremely important because it determines a buyer’s first impression when they approach your home or see it in photographs online. To prepare your home for sale, clear your yard of debris (and any unwelcome surprises if you’re a pet owner), mow the lawn, and trim back bushes. If you choose to do some planting, apply mulch liberally and use low-maintenance flowers like perennials.
Good landscaping also increases home value. According to HomeLight’s Top Agent Insights Report for Spring 2023, landscaping adds $7,312 to your sale price on average, which amounts to a 112% return on investment.
If your exterior paint is faded or flaking or your house has cracks, wood rot, or other water damage, these are all signs to paint the exterior when you prepare your home for sale.
Obvious damages to your home are likely to be red flags for buyers, and the last thing you want is a buyer nitpicking problems they can use as bargaining chips to seek a lower price.
The most important repairs are the ones that pose a hazard or have a significant impact on everyday life. These range from plumbing and electrical problems to issues with your home’s foundation. Some of these can be easy and low-cost fixes, while others can be expensive but are necessary since they’re critical to the sturdiness and functionality of the home. Filling in a single foundation crack, for example, runs between $250 and $800, according to Angi.
To get ahead of appraisal-required repairs, you may want to consider getting a pre-listing home inspection to ensure that your home is up to par with needed repairs and maintenance. Expect to pay about $342 on average for a pre-listing home inspection.
When preparing your home for sale, some upgrades can increase the value of your home. According to HomeLight’s Top Agent Insights for End of Year 2023, the biggest home selling point was an updated kitchen with newer appliances, earning 67% of the vote. A minor kitchen remodel can yield a 72% return on investment when it comes time to sell but you can expect to pay between $25,000 to $40,000.
Energy-efficient upgrades like new insulated windows can also save buyers money over the long term, costing $200 to $1,300 per window with a 68% return on investment. In fact, 32% of agents surveyed by HomeLight said that energy-efficient or green home features were a top selling point for today’s buyers.
If you’re handy and have the skills to fix certain issues such as plumbing or landscaping, or if you want to do DIY projects like painting the walls in some key rooms, you can increase the value of your home in a cost-efficient way.
When you prepare your home for sale, staging can highlight its features without drowning them out — creating an attractive vision to help buyers see your house as their future home. While it might seem simple, staging is a skill, so you may want to hire a professional to ensure it’s done effectively.
In many cases, expert staging can allow sellers to forgo expensive updates and instead bring out the best in their home, as is. In a recent HomeLight Top Agent Insights report, the agents surveyed said that a professionally staged home can sell for up to 13% more than an unstaged home. At an average cost of $1,781, that makes professional staging a worthwhile investment.
With a top-producing real estate agent at your side and a solid game plan, you can successfully sell your home and make a seamless transition to the next chapter in your life. When you prepare your home for sale, just remember to do your research, buy the right supplies, take your time, and if you need an extra hand, don’t hesitate to call in the professionals.
