Kizzy's For Sale by Owner Blog

For Sale By Owner Tip #9

Welcome to day nine of Kizzy's "30 days of for sale by owner selling tips". Each day we will give another tip that is designed to help your for sale by owner properties sell for the best possible price in the shortest amount of time.

Kizzy's For Sale by Owner Selling Tip #9

Convert Your Attic!
Space always seems to be a problem, we live in a age where bigger is better. Converting your attic to an additional living space or bedroom will definitely increase the want and value of your home. Now this suggestion will only help those who have the proper starting ground.

The first thing you want to ask yourself is, do I have enough space? Most building departments require at least 7 to 8 feet in height. These spacious attics are more commonly seen in older Victorian types of homes. If you are close to reaching this height, you might be able to install some large windows that extend from your roof to resolve the issue. On the other hand, if your ceilings are 6 feet or under, this project is not for you, it would be far to expensive to try to increase the height of your roof.

The second main concern is the entrance way. Do you have a stairway already, or is there just a crawl hole? It is very important to make the new room feel like it belongs, and you don't want the stair way to look awkward or out of place.

In most cases you will need a building contractor to come in and check out your ceiling joists. They probably will either need to be replaced or may need to have some extra support beams added, this is important because they will be supporting much more weight then they were intended to hold.

Once all this is done, all that is left to do is the finishing touches, such as flooring, sheet rocking, windows, molding, etc... and don't forget to get a permit! This project should cost between $10,000 to $15,000, but once its done it will increase the value and selling power of your home.

Kizzy Kizzillion
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For Sale By Owner Tip #8

Welcome to day Eight of Kizzy's "30 days of for sale by owner selling tips". Each day we will give another tip that is designed to help your for sale by owner properties sell for the best possible price in the shortest amount of time.

Kizzy's For Sale by Owner Selling Tip #8

Replace Interior Hardware and Doors!

• Most home buyers and appraisers look for things to be clean, well maintained and preferably new.
• Modernizing your home by taking down boring looking doors and old fashioned hardware and replacing them with new, modern looking ones, is a relatively cheap way of increasing the visual value of your home.
• DONT BE LAZY! -- Be sure to paint the doors (when necessary). Replacing old doors with just plain wood doors would defeat the purpose of replacing them in the first place, you want this to be an improvement
• Don't forget your cabinets either. Replacing cabinet doors and/or hardware is a great alternative to replacing all the cabinets, and most of the time, this small upgrade is just what the doctor ordered.
• The cost of interior doors should cost no more then $95, and the can bring some new character of elegance to your home. This whole project can be completed for roughly $1,000.

Follow all these suggestions during your renovation and you should increase the value of your home by a significant amount.

Kizzy Kizzillion
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For Sale By Owner Tip #7

Welcome to day Seven of Kizzy's "30 days of for sale by owner selling tips". Each day we will give another tip that is designed to help your for sale by owner properties sell for the best possible price in the shortest amount of time.

Kizzy's For Sale by Owner Selling Tip #7

Finish your basement! This is one of our favorite suggestions for two main reasons;
The first being the most obvious, that it adds value to your home. Secondly, is the fact that it is a relatively cheap project to do because your starting ground (basement) is already there. The cost would be much cheaper then the amount of leverage you may give the buyer if they are trying to subtract money from your asking price to finish the basement at a later date.

• Here is a short list of things to consider when finishing your basement:
• Here is a short list of things to consider when finishing your basement:
• Permits: make sure you get a permit to finish your basement, this is a step that is easy to avoid when starting the project, but would cause problems come selling time.
• Cost: Don’t underestimate your cost. You don’t want to cut corners. Be prepared to spend about eight to fifteen thousand dollars.
• Floors: since the goal of the project is to make the basement not look like one, you have to make sure that all the aspects of a basement are hidden. A cement floor is one of these aspects. The best thing to do with the floor is to put a subfloor in. This will provide a better base for your flooring choice.
• Ceilings: Ceilings are typically a problem due to height issues. Although you could just add insulation and dry wall, the average basement height is roughly seven feet and would make the room feel small. If your room is seven feet or under, you should contact your local building department to find out what your options are.
• Lighting: lighting is also very important, and is usually a problem. This is because most basements only have ground level windows, which hardly provide light at all. Plan on using a lot of artificial lighting and avoid using fluorescent lights.
• Finishing Touches: It is very important that the newly renovated room flows with the rest of the house. Use the same themes and color schemes.

Follow all these suggestions during your renovation and you should increase the value of your home by a significant amount.

Kizzy Kizzillion
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For Sale By Owner Tip #6

Welcome to day Six of Kizzy's "30 days of for sale by owner selling tips". Each day we will give another tip that is designed to help your for sale by owner properties sell for the best possible price in the shortest amount of time.

Kizzy's For Sale by Owner Selling Tip #6

Today we look at a way to convert a buyer with passive interest to a buyer with intense interest. Let us fix your closets. You might note that your closets don’t need fixing. That is what everyone says, when in fact very few people have their closets in selling condition.

Once a buyer is interested they will begin look, peek, crawl and climb into every closet or storage space in your house. They are measuing up (in their mind, and sometimes actually measuring) how much space they will have. How much storage does this house provide for my family and me? So it is our job to give them all of the space we can.

What many people do is clean out their house and pack their closets with all of those things that they don’t want out. This can be very counterproductive because it gives a potential buyer that the house isn’t big enough. So you’ve got to get rid of that stuff. If your closets are crammed (or even lightly packed), move it! Move it to a family members or the trunk of your car or a storage unit. Anywhere that is not in your house.

Clean off the shelves, get rid of most of the clothes (temporarily) and then, paint them white. White makes everything look bigger. If a potential buyer looks in the closets and see extra space and they know that you have been living here, it will give off the exact impression we are looking to give. This house has a ton of space and will store all of my stuff neatly with room to spare.

Kizzy Kizzillion
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For Sale By Owner Tip #5

Welcome to day five of Kizzy's "30 days of for sale by owner selling tips". Each day we will give another tip that is designed to help your for sale by owner properties sell for the best possible price in the shortest amount of time.

Kizzy's For Sale by Owner Selling Tip #5

Paint Cheerfully! Unless your house was just recently painted then it makes good sense to repaint your entire house. A freshly painted house makes a home look clean and very becoming to potential buyers.

Assuming your putting your house on the market soon (list for free on Kizzy.com), then now would be a good time to paint. Considering that it is likely to cost you a few hundred dollars to paint, if done correctly you’re likely to get more than that in return.

Some popular questions are; can I clean the walls instead? If not, which colors should I use? The best answers are “no” don’t clean the walls. The only exception would be if it is only a tiny area you are cleaning and it is in either the bathroom or kitchen where high gloss paint was used. Besides that it is your best bet to repaint. When you repaint, paint in light neutral colors. If your favorite color is brown, it does not matter, don’t do it. It’s dark and absorbs all of the light which is a bad thing since we want the light reflected around the room.

You do have choices though. One style of painting that has recently become popular is textured painting. Here is a good example of how to textured paint a wall or ceiling. Another option is accent walls. An accent wall is a wall that is a different color that is different than the rest of the room. This could provide some character to a room, but remember, don’t go to crazy with the colors. Keep them light and warm for people to feel at home with.

Kizzy Kizzillion
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For Sale By Owner Tip #4

Welcome to day four of Kizzy's "30 days of for sale by owner selling tips". Each day we will give another tip that is designed to help your for sale by owner properties sell for the best possible price in the shortest amount of time.

Kizzy's For Sale by Owner Selling Tip #4

Besides the bathroom makeover this is probably the most popular as well as the most important upgrade to a seller’s house. Kitchen Makeover!

This is one of the most expensive recommendations we will recommend, but it is worth the investment. So what should be re-done in the kitchen? Everything old! You will need good flooring, cabinets, counters, repaint the walls, upgrade the lighting and replace all of the appliances. This can easily cost $15,000+, but as I said before you should get at least that back when you sell your house (quick tip: try to limit the kitchen upgrades to 10% of the current value of your home). The key is to do enough to have an impact but not break the bank with unnecessary changes.

Does your floor need to be replaced? Examine very closely each of the tiles. Look for shifting or cracks and anything that indicates that they need to be replaced as opposed to a good cleaning. Here is a good example of one option.

Next you could use something like this (click here) to replace your cabinets if you’re confident with your handyman skills. If not then I suggest searching our services directory to find a qualified installation expert. No matter how you do it, this is an important aspect of the kitchen makeover.

Repainting your walls can make your entire kitchen look new. Try to use bright colors when painting in the kitchen. This should look good in a well lit kitchen. Many people ask; what type of paint is best suited for the kitchen? I would recommend an oil paint. Oil paints are very water resistant which works well in the kitchen.

For lighting suggestions please see day three’s post which explains some of the advantages of the various lighting options. Finally it’s time to upgrade your appliances. You don’t necessarily have to get the most expensive appliances, but consider buying some that last. You want them to look good in your new kitchen in addition to working well. This should complete a fantastic kitchen makeover.

Kizzy Kizzillion
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For Sale By Owner Tip #3

Welcome to day three of Kizzy's "30 days of for sale by owner selling tips". Each day we will give another tip that is designed to help your for sale by owner properties sell for the best possible price in the shortest amount of time.

Kizzy's For Sale by Owner Selling Tip #3

Light up your house. This is especially true in townhouses and condos, or anything with fewer windows. Artificial lighting is OK and it is certainly better than a dark room, but adding something such as skylights is much more profitable. Skylights come in all sorts of styles and sizes and can really add to the value of your home.

It used to be the case that many people disliked skylights because they tend to leak. This is not necessarily true anymore. Today’s quality skylights have nearly eliminated this problem, assuming that a professional installs them. What about cost? To get skylights installed can cost anywhere from $500 to thousands. The price depends on the style and the quality you choose to go with.

If you can’t install a skylight another option is recessed lighting. Recessed lighting is rather easy to install and I find that it tends to look a bit more like natural light than typical ceiling lights. With the new energy efficient light bulbs that offer a variety of lighting types, you can find something that looks really good for your particular house.

Although this is usually not at the top of the makeover list, it’s an important one. Poor lighting can really turn people off. So assuming you replace your old bulbs with brighter ones, add as much natural lighting as possible and with well painted rooms (coming in tip 5), lighting can add a reasonable amount of value compared to the cost it takes to install and/or upgrade.

Kizzy Kizzillion
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For Sale By Owner Tip #2

Welcome to day two of Kizzy's "30 days of for sale by owner selling tips". Each day we will give another tip that is designed to help your for sale by owner properties sell for the best possible price in the shortest amount of time.

Kizzy's For Sale by Owner Selling Tip #2

Selling your house can be a daunting task. It’s important to consider what a potential buyer of your home is looking for. You’re looking to sell your house for top dollar, and they will never pay that unless you give them a reason to. So let’s give them a reason!

After the bathroom remodeling we did yesterday, we move to the outside. Go across street (safely) and while standing from a distance, and ask yourself; Does my property invite the buyer inside? Or does it inspire them to drive away? Does it make them say “WOW”? It doesn’t matter if you live on 10 acres or a small city lot; the outside of the house is the house is the first thing a potential buyer will see. Make this inviting and any property is likely to be sold much more quickly.

Start by looking at the paint, is it chipping or peeling? Does it look dirty or faded? Sometimes a good power washing could take care of the issues. Next we want to look at the gutters, down sprouts and the roof. Clean them off, pin them up, straighten them out, and make them look like they were just professionally installed.

You might be surprised to hear how many properties I have visited that have a poorly manicured lawn. The fence is falling down, the grass is too long, and/or the trees need to be trimmed. I’ve even drove away from a few of them before I ever go inside because of how bad the outside looks. And for those properties I have looked closer at, if they have a poor outside, I’m looking for a deal. This is not the best scenario for the seller. If the buyer won’t get out of their car to look inside or if they do they are looking for a discount, they are not going to buy your property at the price you’re looking for.

So while standing across the street, objectively make a note of everything you need to do. Look at all the stuff mentioned above, plus the garbage cans, trash on the lawn, rusted railings or fences, look for termites, bee hives or burrowed animals. Anything that doesn’t look perfect then you will be best served by fixing it.

Kizzy Kizzillion
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For Sale By Owner Tip #1

Today we are launching our 30 days of seller tips. Each day we will give another tip that is designed to help for sale by owner properties sell for the best possible price in the shortest amount of time.

Kizzy's For Sale by Owner Selling Tip #1

This is probably the most popular tip out there. Restore your bathroom! If you have multiple bathrooms, then begin with the master bath. A bathroom is the most likely place to boost the selling price of your home. And raising the value and raising the interest of buyers is exactly what any for sale by owner property needs.

So what should I do to my bathroom?

First – Start with the counter tops. Marble and Granite are some of the most popular choices. Although there are many nice counter tops that will serve your purpose. One good example of this would be Corian. Naturally, the prices will vary depending on the material you use. If you are looking to spend a little bit less, tiling is a very acceptable material to use for a bathroom countertop.

Second – Replace older toilets. Toilets vary in cost from a few hundred to a few thousand. Try to utilize one that matches with the style of the rest of the bathroom.

Third – Choose a bathroom sink. Bathroom sinks is one of the most popular features of your bathroom, make it a good one. Of course you can go top of the line and spend a fortune on this upgrade, but I would recommend that you keep it in line with whatever level you are going with for the shower and toilet.

Fourth – Update the shower. It is becoming more common to separate the shower and the tub. Many houses are utilizing whirlpool baths next to a separate shower. This separation could prove to be a valuable switch if you have the room in your bathroom. Whirlpools baths can start as low as five hundred plus insulation. In today’s economy it can’t hurt to shop around for who is best suited to install it for you.

General Bathroom Rule – try not to spend more than 5% of your current home value on bathroom upgrades. Stay with in these parameters and you are likely to increase the overall value of your home.

- Kizzy Kizzillion -
Your Free For Sale by Owner Partner!

Real Estate Update

Check out this article. Basically it says that 30-year fixed-rate mortgages averaged 5.25 percent this week, up from last week's 5.20 percent, according to a survey released on Thursday by home funding company Freddie Mac. This is going to make it very tough for people to get out of this real estate hole they are in. With interest rates being above 5% for 9 straight weeks, how are people expected to buy or sell a house? It is not getting any easier as of now.

As always!!! Good Luck! To all parties involved in the selling and buying of real estate, feel free to list your home on Kizzy.com free of charge. We look forward to you comments.

- Kizzy -