Helping You Avoid the Biggest Mistake!

Recently the Home & Garden TV channel ran a show entitled “25 Biggest Real Estate Mistakes”. HGTV brought together some of the top real estate experts in the U.S. to compile the definitive list of the biggest mistakes people make when buying and selling homes. The complete list can be found at HGTV.com (Check out #’s 18, 13, 7, 5 & 2)

25. Buying a House for Its Decor
24. Not Providing Easy Access for Showings
23. Not Researching the Neighborhood
22. Losing Money With Auctions
21. Trying to Make the "Hard Sell" While Showing
20. Waiting Until Spring to Sell Your House
19. Treating Real Estate Like the Stock Market
18. Failing to Market Your Home in Different Ways
17. Not Thinking About Resale
16. Buying Without Actually Seeing the Property
15. Trusting Everything a Real Estate Advertisement Says
14. Picking the Wrong Agent
13. Not Hiring an Agent
12. Buying the Most Expensive Home on the Block
11. Not Setting a Realistic Budget
10. Visiting the House Only Once
9. Not Being Pro-Active at Closing
8. Doing Major Renovations/Remodeling Before Selling
7. Skipping the Loan Pre-Approval Step
6. Falling in Love With the First Property You See
5. Buying a Home Without a Professional Inspection
4. Overlooking the Extra and Hidden Costs
3. Buying What You Want, Not What You Need
2. Setting Too High of a Sale Price

The #1 mistake, according to HGTV, is Failing to Showcase Your Home and Make Small Cosmetic Changes. HGTV experts said, “When you are selling your house, you have to really look at it objectively and think about it from the viewpoint of the house hunter. Make minor enhancements to the house and maybe hire a professional stager to come and arrange your furniture. Staging is about decorating your house for the buyers’ taste, not yours.” One of HGTV’s experts said homestaging has been shown to increase the value of a home as much as 7%.

To help you keep from making the biggest real estate mistake, I offer a professional homestaging consultation to every seller who selects me to sell their home. There is no charge for the one-hour consultation. Homestaging is just one of the many services I offer homesellers to help them maximize the price they receive for their home. Contact me at 918-855-1788 or email me at jane@whitbyteam.com to learn more about homestaging and the other services I provide my customers.