Or actually, the better thought is getting your home ready to SHOW in a competitive real estate market. In today’s market, more than ever, homes for sale in Cary, NC must be in their best showing condition.    Everyone has heard the basic suggestions about getting your home ready to sell.  In our real estate area, Cary, NC, the first thing to do is to make sure your home has good curb appeal.  Clean up the yard, add some flowers and mulch or fresh straw.  Sit in your parked car in front of your house – what can you see?  If you cannot see the windows or doors because of the shrubbery, trim it back.  Do the gutters look full?  Are the windows clean?  Do all of the outside lights (including the floods) have working bulbs?  Just pretend you are the real estate agent driving up with a potential buyer in front of your home.  The next is inside – depersonalize your home.  Pack up the beautiful pictures of your family that will make people focus on your family instead of your home.  Clean out the closets, declutter, make your rooms look more spacious, etc.  Each time a potential buyer opens a closet they should feel a sense or order and calm, not a sense of chaos and overcrowding.

But there are some other, not so well known or recognized, things to do to be ready to show your home.  We have found these to be helpful over the past couple of years:

• Check the air intake grate for your AC unit.  Is the grate dusty?  Do you need a new filter?  Take some time to really look at it.  It not only makes home buyers wonder if your home has been well  maintained, a clogged filter can leave a ‘dusty’ (for lack of a better word) smell when the heat or A/C kicks on.
• Clean your doors, door knobs, and light switch plates.  You don’t see the dirt, because you go in and out of your rooms hundreds of times a day.  It’s not hard to spend a few minutes with a cleaning eraser.  In fact, it is a good project for children to help with.
• Give your blinds a dusting.  We know to keep them open so the home has a bright feeling, but give them a dusting too.
• Remove or box up any prescription medications you don’t need on a daily basis.  These bottles can leave a medicinal smell in your bathroom that you may not be aware of.
• Scrub your bathrooms and leave your shower curtain open half way.  A closed shower curtain shuts off the room and makes it seem smaller.
• Keep any personal items off the counters in the bathroom.  Besides giving your bathroom a cluttered look, you don’t want strangers to be looking at your toothbrush (when was the last time that was changed?).
• Remove any extra rugs from the hardwood floors.  Make the rooms flow together by being able to see the hardwoods.
• Always put out fresh towels before a showing.  Neat and nice.

This is just a small list of the things that you can do to make your home show beautifully so that you can get top dollar for your home investment.   We, at LG Real Estate,  offer more ideas at http://www.caryhomesnc.com/ready.htm.

Our homes in the Cary NC real estate market are known to be at top quality showing condition.  Our fellow real estate agents have a sense of comfort that when they show one of our homes, it will be in top condition. 

What other ideas have worked for you when you listed your home?

Let us know…

I adore Christmas.  My Mother and Grandmother always shared their excitement for the holiday from when I was very young, and I still enjoy it very much.  After my Mom and Aunt would cook all day and host Thanksgiving, we would drive over to my Grandmas and decorate her tree each Thanksgiving night while she helped.  PaPa seemed relieved as he continued to sit back and rest.  It was a big deal that Grandma was the first one on the block with her tree glowing and outside decorations placed all around.  I still cherish a few of her ornaments on my tree now that she is no longer with us.  My mother worked full time but was known throughout the community for her bow making.  People from all over and from many walks of life brought her ribbon and for weeks she would create lovely bows.  The bow making was so harsh to her hands but she always made them with a smile.  These bows would surround my family all through the house.  We would have bows lying all over the furniture and any available flat surfaces waiting to go to their owners.  Some bows were made as surprises.  She never charged anyone…it was all about the season. 

I am into Christmas decorating and make my share of bows as well.  I like mixing the old and the new in my home.  My husband Joe and my 2 boys are very patient with me during this time of year.  I make a BIG deal out of everything and get fixated on selecting everything from the themed gift wrap (and certainly can’t use the leftovers next year), selecting the perfect tree after trying multiple tree lots (although I previewed 3 tree lots this year without my family during my lunch break) and working on my calender trying to fit in all my favorite “Must Do’s”. 

One place we gather each year is at The General Store Cafe in Pittsboro, just about 25 minutes from our house in Cary, NC.  We go to see the band Trilogy for their Annual Christmas Extravaganza.  This year they are playing from 8:30-10:30 on Saturday night,December 15th.  They play many of the old and new Christmas songs with a bit of swing and even bring out kazoos which my kids love.  After your great meal at the diner, you just settle in at your table and listen to the tunes.  It’s a casual place, kid friendly, artsy patrons, simple food and a kid’s mile high brownie dessert that MUST be shared if the kids are to sleep all month.  All along the edges of the dining area are artistic and crafty type items for sale.  Try it sometime – you can always check out their music lineup on their website at http://www.thegeneralstorecafe.com/.  If unusual and different activities catch your interest, checkout our newsletter on http://www.caryhomesnc.com/ where we often capture some of my favorites since I get to edit the calendar!

I have been trying to think of what my family’s Christmas traditions are.  We aren’t the caroling family (my daughter being the only one of us that can carry a tune), we don’t often sit in front of the fire with hot apple cider, we don’t have one favorite movie that we like to watch…

With the holidays approaching (and really almost here…), you may feel some trepidation about putting your home on the market.  At LG Real Estate in Cary, NC, we advise our clients that while most of us believe that spring and early summer are the “high season” for selling, the holiday season can be equally promising…

In an effort to get to know us at LG Real Estate (and since it is the holidays), we will each endeavor to post something about our family holiday traditions.  Watch for more to come.

You see the ads for a flat-fee or discount broker that get you thinking, “Maybe we could sell the house ourselves.” It’s tempting, especially with the handsome asking prices and potential for profit we see in the Cary, NC real estate area. Discount brokerages seem like a great idea. You get Triangle area MLS exposure and…