8 Tips to stage your home for selling

1) Clean your front porch and door and it’s called curb appeal.

2) Say goodbye to clutter! All that stuff on the kitchen counter must go, if you cannot throw it out, hide it!

3) Float your furniture in the room, resist the urge to push it up against the wall, this makes the room look larger.

4) Remove a non-essential pieces of furniture from each room to make the room look larger.

5) Lighting! So important, make sure the windows are clean and let the sunshine in. Replace burnt out light bulbs, a good rule of thumb is 100 watts for every 50 sq ft.

6) You may love purple or orange but paint the walls a neutral colour.

7) You may love your dog or cat and may not even notice the smell, keep pet toys and beds clean and hidden

8) Clean, clean, clean the home, reorganize cupboards, limit personal photos and kids paintings.


Visit our site @ http://www.capitalrealty.com.ky for details on Cayman Real Estate.

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5 things you Should ignore when house hunting

Paint, Carpet and Wallpaper: Try and ignore the ugly or bold paint colour in the room. Paint is one thing that is very inexpensive to change and easy to change in a day! Same thing applies to wall paper, it may not be your personal taste but it is easy to change.  Yes, the shag carpet is so 70’s but that is an easy fix, you can go with porcelain tiles to travertine or hardwood floors.

Visit @ http://www.capitalrealty.com.ky for more information on Cayman Real Estate.

Popcorn Ceilings: Contractors used popcorn ceilings to hide the flaws in the 90’s but it is easy to have it scrapped off and recoated to flat or knock down finish.  Warning, do this before you move it, it is a messy job!

Kitchen Appliances: This is where the family congregates and relates their day, it is the heartbeat of the home.   The appliances are a big ticket purchase and the appliances are sold with the home, so use them until you can afford to change them or time to replace them.

Commercial Real Estate Cayman

Curb Appeal: If the front of the home is a bit boring, give the house a chance, you might be surprised. Or if the home is a bubblegum pink colour and it is just a bit too much, you can always paint it.  With some imagination you can fix up the front of the home with new landscaping or even painting the front door.

Funny Smells:  Yes, this can be a turn off and we do try and educate our vendors, often times they cannot smell the pet odor but a good deep clean will often fix that. Focus on the bones of the home and the potential.

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4 ways to keep your home ready for Showings

...live in the home but have it ready on a days notice for your realtor to present your home. If you are realistic about your list price then hopefully it will sell quickly and shorten your time.

Here are a few suggestions that can assist you:

1)    Start packing now, get motivated to clean and remove all the items you do not use. Start with one room at a time, pull everything out of the closets and only put back the items you need to keep.  Everything else goes out the front door or put it on ecay.

2)    Rent a storage unit to move some excess furniture that you will need for your new condo or home. Too many piece of furniture or an extra dresser can make the rooms look smaller than they are. Cluttered rooms are a turn off for any purchaser.

3)    Put away any unnecessary items on the kitchen or bathroom countertops.   Anything you do not use on a daily basis put behind cabinet doors.  Buyer do not want to see your stuff!  Think of a hotel bathroom vanity only the essentials are shown.

4)    Make a plan and share with your realtor, let her know when you cleaning lady comes in and when the best days for showings is. Do you prefer weekdays or weekends? Try and be according to potential buyers when possible.

Visit @ http://www.capitalrealty.com.ky for more details on Cayman Real Estate.

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Prepare Yourself to Own your Home

Start a savings account: We all know how expensive Cayman can be, but make sure you put a little something away from your paycheck every week. 5 to 10% of each paycheck should automatically be transfer to your savings account. (My savings account is not connected to my debit card, so I have to actually go into the bank to withdraw it, helps me control the impulse buys).
   
Pre-approved: Contact at least 2 local banks and arrange for an appointment with their lenders. They will “Pre-approve you”, basically tell you home much you can afford to buy. They will ask you to fill out a questionnaire and tell them how much money you make and your expenses. Make sure you pay your credit cards on time and never miss the minimum payment.

Visit @ http://www.capitalrealty.com.ky for more information on Property Cayman.

Do research: Write down your Needs and your Wants, you will find you may have to sacrifice a few wants for a larger home or a home in a different area. Find a Real Estate Agent: Then call a full time CIREBA trained, real estate agent who will be able to find something in your budget, hopefully Capital Realty! Cayman have homes priced from CI$200,000 and up and condos from CI$119,000 and up, so stop paying your landlords mortgage and pay your own. If you don’t feel comfortable with the agent, keep looking, you will be working very closely with them and you need to have a good relationship. Make sure they LISTEN to you or else they may be showing you something you told them you hated and it is a waste of your time. Please do not work with 3 or 4 different agents because we have access to all the same inventory and we could show you the same property as another agent, frustrating for all!

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