Selling Your Home

Low Cost Ways to Add Curb Appeal

Curb appeal is essential when selling a house. It helps buyers to want to take a closer look. Sprucing up the front outside of your home is money well spent. What do you do if you don’t have much money right now to spend on making your home more appealing and inviting from the outside?  easy ways to boost curb appeal

Here are some great low-cost ways to add curb appeal to your home.  

Start With a Pressure Wash to Make Everything Shine 

You may not notice how dirty the exterior of your home is and maybe buyers won't either if your home is in pretty good condition. Pressure washing your home gives it that extra oomph of life and shine.  It makes your home feel youthful, alive, well taken care of etc. You will be surprised at the actual color of your walkways and home when you are done and how much nicer everything looks.  

Bring in Some Mulch and Low Maintenance Plants 

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Home selling help on The Louisville Real Estate Show on 840 WHAS

Loaded with Real Estate Questions and answers...What's happening to Real Estate? Buyer or Seller? Love Real Estate? You can listen to our latest Radio Show here! Stay up to date on Louisville, KY Real Estate. Also check out www.louisvillequestions.com. Be sure to listen to our Louisville Real Estate Show on 840 WHAS Sunday morning from 8:30-9:00 am! Have a question for our team of experts? Call (502) 252-1890 or (502) 376-5483 to leave a question. For more information about Louisville Real Estate or to work with the hardest working Real Estate Team in Kentucky “The Sokoler Medley Team" at REMAX Properties East, 10525 Timberwood Circle, Louisville KY 40223 head to www.WeSellLouisville.com. email bob@WeSellLouisville.com or call (502) 376-5483.

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It's Almost Thanksgiving! Time to Prepare for Family or Stage the House

Thanksgiving means parades, football, family, friends, and food- lots of food. It’s all about coming together around a large feast and hopefully reflecting on all of our blessings while enjoying one another’s company. If you are hosting this year that means all of the festivities, people, and eating will be in your home.

Hosting a Thanksgiving feast means spending a lot of time in the kitchen. Since you will be hanging out in there preparing delicious dishes most of the day, it is a good idea to give your kitchen a deep cleaning before the cooking to make your job easier and more enjoyable.

It's Almost Thanksgiving! Time to Prepare for Family or Stage the House

Sink

Get your sink ready to rinse and prep food and then hold dirty pots and pans once the cooking has begun. Give it a good scrub with an all-purpose cleaner or a homemade vinegar solution. Make sure the drains are clear and clean with baking soda. Clean the drain with a half cup of baking soda poured down the drain followed by a cup of heated white vinegar. Let this sit and fizz a few minutes and follow with a quart of boiling water poured down the disposal to flush everything down.

After all the cooking is done send some frozen citrus peels through the disposal to freshen it up.

Dishwasher

On Thanksgiving, your dishwasher is going to be working overtime with the high volume of dishes. Give your dishwasher a quick clean before the big day not only to make it look and smell pretty, but to help it perform better as well. Use these steps to get your dishwasher ready for Thanksgiving Day.

Clean the Drain- remove the bottom dish rack and remove any buildup or food caught in the drain.

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Design Ideas for an Easier to Clean Home

The best way to keep a home looking great is to keep it clean. A great way to do this is to design your home in a way that will make it easy to keep tidy with minimal effort. If you are designing a space it is a great idea to think about what it will take to maintain it. After all when you have just remodeled, re-styled, or built your perfect space you want to keep it looking perfect.

Here are some design ideas for an easy to clean low-maintenance home.

Design ideas for a cleaner home

Smooth Surfaces

A smooth surface is much easier to get clean than a porous one, or a textured one. Keep this in mind when selecting kitchen and bathroom counters and flooring where there is a significant amount of moisture and a larger potential for spills. Solid stone and laminate counters are easier to care for than porous materials such as marble. Tile is a great durable surface, but it might not be the best choice for a counter because of the porous grout.

More: Is your neighborhood affecting your property value?

Color and Pattern

All white rooms are trending right now. One thing to remember is, though white rooms look bright and airy, they won’t look this way all the time unless you are constantly wiping them down. On some surfaces, black can have the same effect of showing everything. There are other great neutral colors to consider that will show less dirt such as shades of brown and gray. Patterns are also a great way to camouflage minor dirt build up.

Less...

What is My Listing Agent Really Suppose to Do?

The role of the listing agent; the real estate broker that actually has the contract with the seller, not the buyer. This is the licensed agent or broker the has the authority to list, market and facilitate a transaction or sale between the buyer and the seller. Many people that think that they can sell the house themselves try to known for a while and eventually use a listing agent. A lot of people think they will save money by selling it themselves rather than paying a commission to the listing agent, but by the time they actually do sell, they probably drop the price lower than where would've sold in the beginning with an agent. They really haven't saved the money.

What Does a listing agent actually do?


But what is a listing agent supposed to do?

A listing agent is not necessarily the same agent that will bring the buyer. When you decide to sell your house the listing agent will write up a contract and in that contrac, it will state how much commission the agent(s) will receive from the actual sale of the property. A typical commission is about 6%. When there are two agents involved, both the buyer's agent and the listing agent, that is typically split down the middle. If the same agent that lists the property also brings the buyer, that listing agent could receive the full 6% commission or it can be negotiated, but once it's in the contract, it is set in stone. Sellers could write in a negotiation to the commission. Let's so that if there is a buyers agent and the listing agent, the total commission would be 6% but if the listing agent also brings the buyer can reduce that to about 5% or less.

Everything is negotiable once it's in writing, it usually can't be changed without prior agreement.

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Is Your Neighborhood Affecting Your Property Value?

IS your neighborhood affecting your property value

It is no great real estate secret that a home in the most popular location or inside the boundaries of the best school district are going to sell for a higher price. Location is a huge facter in what sells homes for premium prices. So what location factors can bring down the value of a home? What is it is about a neighborhood that causes homes to sell for less money?

Realtor.com has put together a list of neighborhood features that bring down property value. Along with the list, they also provided a percentage of just how much each feature negatively effects the value of a home. They came up with this number by looking at home prices next to facilities known to bring down home value and compared them to the median home price for that city. They polled the 100 largest metropolitan areas across the country.

Here are the results that Realtor.com found

Bad School

Brings Down Value 22.2%

Young families looking for homes are going to look for homes zoned for the best schools. Homes zoned for schools with low ratings are not highly sought after. Living inside the boundaries of a poorly performing school brings down property value more than other factors. The median home price of homes inside zip codes with schools rated 1 to 3 out of 10 according to great schools is $155,000.

Strip Club

Brings Down Value 14.7%

This one seems to be expected on this list. Very few people would want to live near an adult themed club, especially a young family. Places like these usually have loud music blaring...

Staging in the Winter with Quick and Frugal Holiday Decorating

There may be less buyers out there shopping for a home during the winter months, but that does not mean it is impossible to sell your home during the holidays. Staging is a long used trick of real estate agents, flippers, investors, etc. to help sell  homes. If you want to sell your home more quickly great staging has defiantly been proven to help. Buyers want to see themselves living in a home and staging helps them to see the potential of making a space great. Staging during the holidays by adding a few festive touches helps to sell the cozy and homey vibe of a property.Staging your home for the holidays in order to sell

Here are some tips for decorating your home without putting a ton of effort or money into it. Because let’s face it; less is more when selling a home and who wants to clean a bunch of decorations up and pack them when the home sells?

  • Christmas Tree

This one may seem obvious and for those tree naturalists out there not frugal or easy. I am going to go out on a limb here (did you catch that tree pun) and tell you to invest in a fake tree even if its just a small one. Why? Because Christmas just doesn't feel like Christmas without the tree and a fake tree is very low maintenance.  It doesn’t have to be a big high quality tree. You can get a perfectly respectable one on sale at Target, a craft store or some other box store. They are usually on sale for great prices at these stores before black Friday. With shabby chic and hipster influences being so popular you can easily decorate with rustic or homemade decorations you don't need to worry about being broken. Just stick to a simple color scheme to keep it chic.

  • A Wreath

One of the biggest home sellers is curb appeal....

School's Out - Time to Prepare and List The House

Schools out! Time to get the house ready to sell

School's Out - Time to Get the House Sold

The last day of school has come and gone and now the clock is ticking to get the homes sold before school starts again.call our office

This is a very common situation for many homeowners looking to sell during the summer months. The kids are out of school so you don't have to worry about relocating them in the middle of the school year and you know that a lot of people by during the summer as well. This truly is an excellent time to list and sell your property for the highest profit possible but you want to list wisely, price it correctly from the beginning and make sure everything is taken care of so that buyers don't see a laundry list of problems during the inspection. If you're looking to sell quickly for the most profit possible here are some key steps to take right now in order to get the home sold quickly and you and your family can move on to your next home.

First understand the tricky situation of buying and selling at the same time.

This is not an easy thing to do but chances are this is probably what's happening. If you're relocating to a new city it can be even more stressful since you're not at both locations at the same time. But, if you're relocating within the city or just a city or to over, it can be a little bit easier but the key is to have the same real estate agent for both transactions. Your real estate agent will understand what you're doing and try to keep time frames, dates...

What to Do When You Can't Make Your Mortgage Payment

Nobody likes to be stressed out with money but often times in our life we go through stages where money gets tight, we lose the job, change our family status or some other tragedy may make it impossible or very difficult to make your mortgage payment. Here are different ways that you can deal with the mortgage payment if you're struggling each month.

Mortgage options when you can't make the payment

The first thing to note is that your mortgage is probably one of the most important payments that you can make. Credit card companies have high turnover and the person on the other end of the phone probably doesn't care if you can make the payment or not. Shelter, food, certain utilities and clothing are the most important items that you need to survive. These are the items that have to come first. If you cannot make a credit card payment in order to buy food that is what you must do. Do not put credit card statement ahead of food and shelter for your family.

The people behind your loan don't want you to neglect making that payment either. They don't want to have to go through all the hassle of foreclosure, short selling a home or evicting anyone. They want to keep you in your home just as much is you do. The very first thing you need to do is to contact your mortgage lender and tell them that you are in a financial crisis. We all go through hardships in our life so make sure you tell them exactly what's happening, be honest about your situation and that you'd like to stay in your home or consider other options that might be available to you.

Temporary relief

Speak to your lender about different options that may be immediately available such as a temporary relief to your monthly...

Spring Cleaning Tips for Selling Your Louisville Home

Spring is quickly approaching and new life is popping up all around. Flowers, budding trees, and cute little bunnies, but there is one bunny that is not so welcome and that is the dust bunny. 

Despite all our spring cleaning efforts it is very difficult to keep dust at bay. You, like many others, have probably dusted your home only to turn around days later and find a layer of the unsightly fuzzy stuff coating your shelves or a little dust bunny lurking in the corner. Dusting is a task that will always need to be done often but we can show you some ways to keep those bunnies from rapidly multiplying and reduce the dust in your home so it's not as big of a chore when you need to list and sell your home.Spring Cleaning Tips for Selling your home
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Does the Market Slow Down When School Starts?

Is selling your home after school starts a good idea?Does the market slow down when school starts?

Spring is well known as the real estate market busy season all around the nation and there are reasons why this is so. For instance in Spring the weather is milder for moving, people are motivated to start fresh/make big overhauls in their lives, and the budding nature helps boost curb appeal to show homes in their best light. What about fall though? Is it still a good idea to put a home on the market in the fall especially if you are trying to sell your home quickly?

Fact is the real estate market is active all year long. Homes are indeed bought and sold in every season of the year. Some seasons are of course more active in the real estate world than others but it is not impossible to get a home sold at any time of the year as long as you have the right marketing. Play to the strengths of your home and use the season you put your home up for sale to your advantage. For instance in fall do a little seasonal decorating to entice buyers to want to come inside and take a closer look. 

Related post: How to Stage and Sell in the Fall

Traditionally the market is a bit slower in fall than in spring but the market does not take a huge plummeting drop in the fall. There are  parents who prefer to search for a home in the fall when their kids are back in school giving them time to look for homes without needing to bring the kids along or find childcare.There are also buyers who need to relocate now and buyers who prefer to shop when the competition between other...

Staging your Louisville Home for the Fall

Staging Your Home for a Fall Showing

Selling your home in Louisville during Autumn can be wonderful. There's less competition on the market and the season gives you the opportunity to show case your home as a great place to cozy up for the winter. Follow the step below to stage your home for a fall showing and you'll be closing before the holidays.Staging  Your home in the Fall

1. Lighten Up

As the seasons change, the days get shorter and the nights getting longer.  This is good for sellers. Why? Because not only do well-lit rooms look bigger, but they're also more inviting. Before a showing, make sure to turn on all your lights, especially ones you can see from the street. Buyers will feel that glowing welcome as soon as they arrive.

2. Start a Fire

Close your eyes and envision yourself in a warm, cozy room. Do you see yourself relaxing in front of a bright fire? Yeah, the buyers do too. Few things say “welcome home” like an inviting fire in the fireplace and some well-placed candles, so take advantage of the season and help buyers see themselves at home during your open house.

3. Use Seasonal Scents

A general rule when showing a home is to stick to unscented candles, since you never want to alienate a potential buyer who has an aversion to a certain scent. However, if you’re showing your home in the fall, it's your chance to break that rule and light a few apple cinnamon or pumpkin pie candles.  The reason being is smell is so intricately tied to emotion and harnessing the aroma of fall will evoke memories of apple picking, pumpkin carving, leaf raking and other family-friendly activities. So, call your...

Two Reasons NOT to Have an Open House

The Two Reasons NOT to Have an Open House when Selling Your Louisville Home

It's an Open Invite to Criminals

Not only do open houses displace sellers and cause them inconvenience (cleaning, pet care and other preparation), but they put sellers and their belongings, as well as their Louisville Realtor at huge risk.  Although there are no Realtor sponsored studies on how robberies, burglaries and other violent crimes are linked to open houses, Realtors are always and forever being reminded by NAR about how dangerous they can be for both their clients and themselves.   Open houses are an excellent resource for criminals. Not only can any criminal just walk in to an open house and case it, they're invited to do so!  There is no screening process to determine if they can afford the house or if they have a criminal record.  Two reasons not to have an open house

Criminals going through an open house are open to many opportunities depending upon the type of crime they intend to commit.  As decoys or other visitors distract the Realtor, the criminal often has access to the entire house and can often view calendars identifying when the sellers will be gone, pictures of children and other vulnerable family members, location of valuables and....the list goes on.  In addition, the Realtor herself may be in danger of a violent crime if there are no other visitors and she is alone.  Open houses are an awful and very real security risk.

Related: 3 Things to Know When Selling On Your Own

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Require These 5 Things of Your Listing Agent

Require These Five Things of Your Listing Agent Before Signing Up

Have you been considering selling your Louisville home? If so, there's lots to be done and especially lots to be certain you don't overlook. Hiring a professional real estate agent can help you with it all! Much like a great doctor or accountant, a great agent is always worth more than the commission they charge.

Distinguishing the great agents from the average ones can be tough, but applying these five requirements to your agent will help you separate the wheat from the chaff...

FIVE REQUIREMENT TO MAKE OF YOUR AGENT:

1. Be honest about the price.5 requirements for every listing agent

Many agents will take a listing at any price and then try to convince the seller to pay it or work on a price correction later. Instead, have your agent prove to you why they believe in the price you're listing for. Have them show you their plan to sell at that price! They're going to have to sell it at that price not only to the seller but the bank as well!

2. Understand the timetable with which you're dealing.

Most of us have a plan when moving our families to a new home. It may involve working around the start of a new job or a new school year. The whole process can be quite draining emotionally and for that reason, it's important that your agent realize and appreciate the timetables you're shooting for. They're not magicians, of course, but they should certainly be doing all they can to move mountains for you.

3. Remove as many of the challenges as possible

It is so important that your agent be able to handle the challenges that WILL arise. They're ability to negotiate is critical....

The Seven Deadly Sins That Will Stop Your Home Sale

The Seven Deadly Sins that'll Stop Your Home Sale

Poor Curb Appeal

Buyers DO judge a book or home for this matter, by its cover. Therefore, be sure to pull weeds and clean up your front yard. Paint the trim of your home and mow the lawn. It's also a good idea to add some potted plants by the front door.

Unpleasant Odors7 Deadly Sins to Not Selling your Louisville home

Most home owners have become accustomed to any offensive odors in their home such as pet or smoking odors, but buyers are not! While your home is going through the selling process, smoke outside and consider solutions for your pets. Crack all the windows in the home open for about an hour prior to any viewings and burn a vanilla scented candle.

Loud and Scary Pets

A big dog or noisy bird can be nerve wracking and distracting to some buyers. So keep your animals away when you have viewings so your potential buyers aren't distracted or, even worse, scared. You want their initial experience to be pleasant and memorable (in a good way).

Additional: Great reasons to know what your home is worth

Signs of Damp

Problems with damp are a big turn-off to many buyers. Why? Because it can mean possible mold. Make sure your basement doesn't smell damp and there are no signs of damp on the walls. It's much better to deal with these issues now than the problems they may cause for you later.

Dirt and Grime

A little dust or dirt may be only cosmetic, but to a potential buyer who doesn't know you or your...

Louisville's Top 6 Home Selling Mistakes And How You Can Avoid Them

Remember this number – 332. That’s the number of homes our Sokoler medley team sold last year. Yet, despite the enormous success there are still frustrations.

There were a small number of homes that never sold. This may sound ridiculous to you but I did lose sleep wondering what was wrong, why didn’t those homes sell. We’ve teamed up with 1000 top agents around the country through active rain to study why a home doesn’t sell. If you’re thinking about selling a home this year the following information is very important to you and could mean the difference between listing and selling your home and just listing your home.

As top agents we found the number one problem to be over pricing your home. It happens and 77% of the cases where a home doesn’t sell and we’ve seen sellers overprice a listing because they need to get money out of it. Yet because of new appraisal regulations there’s no way a seller will get anywhere close to their asking price.

It’s a simple fact if homes in your neighborhood are selling for less don’t expect your home to sell for more. In 34% of the cases were a home doesn’t sell its because the seller has made it difficult for the home to be shown. Selling a house is a job and it can admittedly get tiresome. But buyers and their agents are on a schedule, their goal is to see as many homes in a day to make a decision. Often the homes are spread out over a section of the city. Doubling back to try to accommodate schedule just won’t work.

A buyer would rather skip a house that’s not available at their selected time then lose time...

Second Realtor Sells Nate and Jenny's Louisville Home

We Love our Louisville Clients! Nate and Jenny needed to sell their Louisville Home! They had listed it with another agent with no success. Then they contacted The Medley Sokoler Team. Watch the video to see what happens. For more information about Louisville Real Estate or to work with the hardest working Real Estate Team in Louisville Kentucky "The Medley Sokoler Team at 10525 Timberwood Circle, Louisville KY 40223 head to https://www.weselllouisville.com or call (502) 376-5483.

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Louisville Condo Sells with a little help from the Top Louisville Real Estate Team!

Jon and Sarah needed to sell their Louisville Condo but were concerned Louisville housing prices had dropped and there were a number of other condos in their area that were on the market. They interviewed several other Louisville Real Estate Agents and then found us. They saw our marketing and decided to use The Medley Sokoler Team to sell their Louisville home. Watch the video to see what happened.
We really love what we do! For more information about Louisville Real Estate or to work with the hardest working Real Estate Team in Louisville Kentucky "The Medley Sokoler Team at 10525 Timberwood Circle, Louisville KY 40223 head to https://www.weselllouisville.com or call (502) 376-5483.

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How do you get your Louisville Home Sold?

One of our sellers just asked how they can turn showings into a sold sign. We have had them on the market for several months with a numkber of showings and no takers yet. I've just written a list of items to help them sell and I think all sellers should review them carefully

1) Your priced a little higher than other homes on the market but also priced a little lower than other homes on the market(in other words home prices in your zip code are all over the map).

2) To be competitive, you may have to come down a little more in price, but I would hold at the current price for another two weeks to see what happens.

3) Most importantly, and this is key to selling your house, both you and Dave hold in your hands the ability to sell your house! Your house is being compared to everyone on the list I will send you marked active. If up buyer thinks your house is not as appealing as another house that is on the market you will lose, every time!

 So here's what you need to do immediately:

1) Get rid of the computers in great room set them up neatly downstairs.

2) Clean every cranny every week to make sure your home is spotless.

3) Wires leading to the TV that are exposed need to be removed during showings.

4) All closets need to be organized.

5) The basement needs to be organized

6) The outside needs to be manicured and curb appeal added (by that I mean add some flowers to the gardens out front and make sure the back yard is neat and spotless).

7) Nothing should be laying around, that includes snacks, tables and glasses.

8) Make sure every light bulb is working, clean, and is as bright as allowed by the fixture.

9) Any cobwebs should be removed and in fact do a sweep of the house every week to make sure there are no new cobwebs appearing.

10) The carpets need to be spotless,...