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7 Tips to Declutter Your Home to Sell
Homeowners are often reluctant to declutter their homes in preparation for a sale, but it’s important to remember that potential buyers will judge the home based on how cluttered or uncluttered it is. Clutter can make an otherwise great house feel dreary and lifeless. Here are seven tips you should know before decluttering your home so you can sell faster than ever!
- Start with the easy stuff: The first place to start decluttering is usually the easiest – the junk drawer, the coat closet, or under the bed. Just take a few minutes to go through each area and get rid of anything you don’t need.
- Create zones in your home: When it comes to decluttering, it’s helpful to think in terms of zones. This will help you stay organized and make it easier to find things when you need them. For example, you might have a zone for paperwork, a zone for kitchen supplies, and a zone for clothing.
- Don’t try to do it all at once: Decluttering your entire home can be daunting, so try not to stress yourself out by trying to do it all at once. Take it one step at a time, and you’ll get there eventually.
- Think about the end goal: When decluttering, always keep in mind why you’re doing it in the first place. Are you getting ready to sell your home? Then focus on decluttering the areas that will make the most significant impact – like the living room and kitchen.
- Create storage solutions: Once you’ve decluttered, you’ll need somewhere to put all of your stuff! This is where storage solutions come in handy. Invest in some good-quality shelves or cabinets so you can store things away neatly and out of sight.
- Don’t forget about sentimental items: It’s important to remember that not everything needs to be sold or thrown away when you’re decluttering. Keep your favorite photos, artwork, and other sentimental items so you can decorate with them once again in your new home.
- Hold onto things that matter: It’s easy to get carried away when decluttering because there is no denying how freeing it feels to get rid of clutter (and how much space it frees up!). But before you get rid of something, ask yourself if it really matters to you. If the answer is no, then chances are you can live without it.
These are just a few tips to help you declutter your home quickly and easily. Follow these tips, and you’ll be on your way to having a clutter-free home in no time!
When opportunity isn’t knocking, build a door.
Nearly a year and a half ago, The Premier Homes Team was formed. In that time, we have helped roughly one hundred families find homes, accomplish real estate goals, prepare for their next step in life, create the foundation of wealth, and create a shelter or protection for themselves.
2020 found many people unemployed, behind on rent or mortgage, or just experiencing the tremendous shortfalls that a pandemic creates, not knowing what or where their next step might be. All of that noise created an opportunity for a lot of people and uncertainty as well. The real estate market was booming, with many agents, buyers, sellers, and people trying to figure out how to adjust.
This post isn’t about my clients. Instead, it is about my team members and my thankfulness and gratitude for them.
During this uncertainty, I reached out to some people/agents/friends who took a call from me to listen to an idea to form a real estate team. Much like I do at a buyer or seller’s appointment, I was selling what I do and what I offer, but it was to other agents this time. After countless zoom meetings, they took a chance on me much as my clients do, and for that, I am forever grateful.
To my wife, thank you for supporting me thru this wild ride in real estate for the past 8+ years. Your understanding of calls at all hours of the day, listening to scenarios, and for the sacrifices you make for us and our family to allow me to be successful.
To all who helped me with this venture, all I can say is thank you! Whether it be talking about team agreements, entry/exit plans, logo design, team names, structure, style of leading, etc.
I formed a team hoping to help educate team members, teach them, learn what they like about the business, and provide them the options to be the best at what they enjoy in real estate. I didn’t realize how much I would learn from them. Every day it is something different. I only hope the value and teaching I provide them is as good as what they have taught me.
When opportunity isn’t knocking, build a door. Learn something new every day, and don’t be afraid to ask questions.
– Trent
No two roads are alike.
No two roads are alike. Just as no two people are alike.
Some roads are less traveled; some are highly trafficked; some are bumpy and filled with potholes. Some roads are new. Some roads can be smooth, paved, dirt, high speed, and so much more.
One thing all roads do, is they tell a story. No story is the same, and the path leading to them creates a different story for everyone.
Just know, when your road or story hits a valley, it is the start to the next peak! Stay the course, trust your instincts, and tell your story! People want to hear it, don’t be afraid!
We are entering the final days of 2021. There is no better time to start shaping your story for 2022!
Is your road leading you to relocate or move into a new home?
As a REALTOR ®, I put my client’s needs first by being a good listener, a good communicator, and responding to your needs quickly. I pride myself in upholding my core values and working hard to be your lifetime REALTOR ®, finding you the home or property that suits your needs best.
Prescott: “Everybody’s Hometown”
Prescott, aka “Everybody’s Hometown,” is nestled among the incredible ponderosa pines of the Prescott National Forests. Prescott sits at an elevation of 5,200 feet. Prescott’s perfect weather provides an average annual temperature of 70 degrees. Residents enjoy four beautiful and distinct seasons and are surrounded by breathtaking landscapes. If you love granite mountains, lakes, streams, and rolling meadows filled with wildlife, you will fall in love with Prescott.
Top 10 Home Preparations for Vacation Time
Protect Your Home While on Vacation
It is a fact, Prescott, Arizona, is an excellent place to vacation! People visit Prescott from all parts of the country (and world) to visit our beautiful town. Buy, what if you are a Prescott resident, and you are opting out of a staycation this year and vacationing elsewhere? While you are away, there are simple strategies that you must take to ensure your home is safe while you are gone.
Before you leave town, there are a few precautionary safety tips to keep your home and your possessions safe while you’re gone. Often in the prep time for a vacation, people neglect to take simple steps to protect themselves from becoming a victim of theft or vandalism.
You’ve probably covered your bases, but just in case, here are ten necessary precautions you can take when leaving for a vacation:
- Have someone collect your mail and newspaper daily. If you cannot have someone pick up your deliveries, have the Post Office hold your mail and call and put your newspaper subscription on a vacation hold.
- Try not to draw attention to something different at your home; leave shades, and blinds in regular positions.
- Purchase inexpensive timers from the hardware store and put at least two lights and a radio on automatic timers.
- Have someone leave trash at your curb on garbage collection day. Even though arranging someone to set out your trash may be challenging, this detail catches the thief’s attention.
- Have someone park a car in your driveway occasionally. If you leave your car outside, arrange to have it moved every so often.
- Leave a key with a trusted neighbor in case of an emergency. Inform the neighbor about where you are going and your expected date of return. Leave them a way to get in contact with you in case of an emergency.
- Lock all windows and doors before you go. Do not forget to double-check the basement and garage doors.
- On extended trips, have someone maintain your landscaping (grass mowed, leaves raked, etc.)
- Consider turning off your home’s water main to prevent possible damages from a burst pipe. If this isn’t an option, turn off your wash machine valve because this is the number one culprit to explode when no one is home.
- Be careful how much you check in on social media while on vacation. If your privacy settings are incorrect, you might reveal to strangers your home is vacant!
We sincerely hope you stay safe and have a great vacation. It is worth repeating, Prescott is a fantastic place to go on vacation. Maybe it is time to purchase a vacation home or a vacation rental? Maybe it is time to call Prescott your home?
Give us a call, we would love to show you what is available. Contact me a call at (928) 916-1921.
Consider These 6 Things When House Hunting
Before you make an offer on what you deem is the “perfect” home, make sure to consider these six tiny details, that although small, could turn an ideal house into a purchase you may regret.
- Check Your Cell Reception: Does your future dream home have cell reception? Check your signal when you’re on the property and see if it has dead spots, poor/limited data connections, or flat-out “NO SERVICE” messages. If you plan to telecommute or skip having a landline, this is especially important. While you can try and live on VoIP connections, WiFi, and other options, the hassle of a hole-in-cell coverage can wear on you.
- Calculate Your Commute: When clocking your commute, make sure you don’t use a Saturday or Sunday afternoon. Instead, try it during rush hour on a Monday (in bad weather if you can swing it). You might be surprised how school zones, backed-up interstate ramps, new construction, and peak transit schedules extend that commute. Calculate the commute for urban commutes as well. Even if you don’t drive to work, you’ll want to evaluate the commute in real-world conditions.
- Check the Delivery Zone: Restaurant delivery areas are often drawn like congressional districts, so if you can, check out what the local food delivery options are like ahead of time. Lookup a few places, call them and verify they deliver to your address. (Asking the average delivery time is a good idea, too.)
- Do a 24/7 Check: The home may be in a neighborhood that is quiet and peaceful on a Saturday afternoon, but what was it like on Friday night? What kind of traffic is there in the mornings? There may be an excessive number of children playing in the street in the afternoons after school. It is wise to do a drive-by at various times of the day and multiple days of the week to make sure you don’t have surprises pop up.
- Give it the Sniff Test: Do you smell sewage, gas, or anything equally unpleasant? Sewage systems in older homes can sometimes get clogged or damaged by tree roots. Luckily, some sewer or plumbing companies can send a camera through the pipes to detect breaks or blockages. How does it smell outside? Some neighborhoods have distinct odors from nearby farms, landfills, water treatment plants, and industrial parks. It is vital to give it the sniff test inside and out.
- Touch EVERYTHING: Turn on every faucet and light switch, open every window and door, and flush the toilets. Buying a house is a big step, and you need to know how everything works firsthand. Don’t forget to taste the water. There are water treatment options, but water quality is something you will want to know before becoming homeowners.
Markets can be super competitive, but remember that you’re planning on living in this new house for a considerable amount of time. (Most people would tell you at least 5 – 7 years.) Perhaps your priorities don’t include these six details, but they might to other buyers when you’re ready to sell.
As a realtor, I truly respect the time it takes to find the best home for the best price. I diligently do my homework for you to find what you are looking for. Contact me at
928-916-1921, and I’d be happy to show you around homes for sale in the Prescott area.
Information on Homes for Sale
What is an MLS?
The chances are that you have spent a little time online searching for homes. After all, most home searches begin online or on your phone. You may have even used a broker’s website or a site like Realtor.com, Trulia, or Zillow to help you browse listings.
Source of Listing Information
Back in the day, before the Information Age revolution, brokers gathered and exchanged information about their properties. The idea was fairly straightforward: I’ll help you sell your properties if you help me sell mine. It’s a “private offer of cooperation and compensation.” Cooperation meant the real estate industry could thrive, and buyers and sellers could enjoy smoother transactions.
This spirit of cooperation gave rise to Multiple Listing Service(s) (MLS). By consolidating information about housing inventory in an MLS, listing brokers and buyers’ brokers can easily share up-to-date information about homes on the market. Though an MLS is typically a private database available to brokers, much of the data is syndicated to outside sites in the interest of casting a wider net for buyers and sellers.
Since the MLS is the primary source of information about a property, it tends to be the most accurate. In addition to the information available to the public online, the MLS may also contain private data for use by brokers only, such as times the home is available for showings and seller contact information.
There are upwards of 850 MLS databases in the U.S. As you can imagine, just as technology and the real estate market change, the structure of the MLS is continuously being analyzed and revised to make it as user-friendly for the industry as possible. There is market pressure to centralize these into a national MLS database. Undoubtedly, we are sure to see changes in the future use of the Multiple Listing Services, but the core benefits to home sellers and buyers are certain to remain.
MLS Databases in Arizona
What MLS databases are in Arizona? Better Homes and Gardens Bloomtree Realty uses PAAR and ARMLS for their MLS Database. The great news, we have recently changed our platform to make searching easier for our clients. Now, even though I am a real estate agent in Prescott, Arizona, you can search the entire state of Arizona from my website. The website directly taps into both the PAAR and ARMLS databases to give you more options when searching for homes for sale.
The listing feed that you can use on our website is one of the most user-friendly and most accurate feeds in the industry.
If you have questions on one of the properties you view, contact me and we can help answer your questions.
Don’t Neglect to Inspect a Home Yourself
Home inspection professionals are trained to spot problems and evaluate a home’s overall condition. Home inspectors will do their best to be ethical and thorough. However, they are also still human, and as a result, sometimes details escape their attention.
If you’re making a significant investment in a home, there’s no reason you have to leave 100% of the inspection up to someone else. There are areas you can review for yourself (or hire an outside party to check).
Before you sign off on the house, don’t neglect to review these commonly overlooked areas:
Roof:
Yes, inspectors will consider the roof condition, but they probably won’t be on top of the roof when they do it. This is one area where checking it out yourself or hiring a roofing contractor to take a look can be a significant benefit during negotiations.
Fences:
You might not think there’s much to inspect here, but replacing a fence is expensive. What looks sturdy on a sunny day can turn into a giant repair after a storm. This is especially true of wooden fences.
Drains:
Fill up tubs and sinks and see how long it takes them to drain. If they’re slow, you’ll want to know why. It could be something as simple as a clog, but better safe than sorry.
Fireplaces:
Home inspectors will often give these the once-over, but it is unlikely for them to light a fire. If you can, make sure these operate as expected. Also, find out when the chimney was last cleaned, and how often it was maintained. If the owner had burnt wood in the fireplace or wood-burning stove, no matter what kind of wood, the chimney should be cleaned regularly to prevent a chimney fire. Click here for a video tutorial that shows you the signs of when your chimney is ready to be cleaned and gives instructions on how you can quickly sweep your chimney.
Heating/Cooling:
The time of year might impact how thorough an inspector is with the heating and cooling system. Even if it is a hot summer day, don’t forget to run the heater, and vice versa, even if it is a snowy winter evening, run the A/C. Heating and Cooling units are big-ticket items, and you will want to be sure it performs as expected.
Electrical Panel & Outlets:
Your inspectors will review the homes electrical, but once again, things may be missed. To be thorough, check each room’s outlets by plugging in a phone charger. Along with this, open up the electrical panel. Is it neat and organized, or is it a tangled mess with disconnected wires?
Pricing is directly tied to a home’s condition, so don’t overlook the opportunity to protect yourself from repair bills. Along with this, problems found in the inspection process can present you with leverage in negotiations.
Ready to hunt for a home in great shape? Let me help you with your search. Contact me today: (928) 916-1921.
Tips to Start Your Home Search
In today’s housing market, low inventory dominates many conversations in Prescott and in many areas of the country. With less inventory available, this increases the need for preparation for homebuyers when a house becomes available. Without preparation, you may miss out on a great opportunity. To help out, we have summarized five tips from realtor.com’s article, “How to Find Your Dream Home—Without Losing Your Mind.”
1. Get Pre-Approved for a Mortgage Before You Start Your Search
One way to show you’re serious about buying your dream home is to get pre-qualified or pre-approved for a mortgage. Even if you’re in a market that is not as competitive, understanding your budget will give you the confidence to know whether or not your dream home is within your reach. This will help you avoid the disappointment of falling in love with a home well outside your price range.
2. Know the Difference Between Your ‘Must-Haves’ and ‘Would-Like-To-Haves’
Do you need a walk-in pantry in the kitchen to be happy with your home choice? Would a three-car garage be a convenience or a necessity? Before you start your search, list all the features of a home you would like. Qualify them as ‘must-haves’, ‘should-haves’, or ‘absolute-wish list’ items. Taking time to recognize your priorities at this stage of the game will help you stay focused on what’s most important.
3. Research and Choose a Neighborhood Where You Want to Live
Every neighborhood has a unique charm. Before you commit to a home based solely on the house itself, take a test drive of the area. Make sure it meets your needs for included amenities, how far is the commute to work or school, look at the school district, check out the neighborhood noise, and survey the traffic.
4. Pick a House Style You Love and Stick to It
Evaluate your family’s needs and settle on a style of home that will best serve those needs. Just because you’ve narrowed your search to a zip code doesn’t mean you need to tour every listing in that vicinity. For example, if you need all of your bedrooms on the same level, avoid two story-homes that don’t meet those criteria. If you don’t want to spend time working in a yard, avoid touring homes with large yards and high maintenance.
5. Document Your Home Visits
Once you start touring homes, the features of each home will begin to blur together. Having a journal or notebook to organize your thoughts and comments for each house would be helpful. Keep your camera handy and make notes to document what you love and don’t love about each property you visit.
Being prepared is your best advantage. Get your ‘must-haves’ and ‘must-nots’ ironed out, check with the mortgage company, and of course, enlist the help of a realtor to research homes that meet your criteria.
When you are ready to start searching for a home, give me a call, I will put my resources to work for you: 928-916-1921
From Bad Comes Good: Trent Beaver Proves Adversity Can Breed the Top 1% In the World of Real Estate
Sometimes, it’s the negative experiences that serve as the push we need to dive into something totally new and scary. For real estate agent Trent Beaver, this couldn’t be more true.
Following an initial bad experience in real estate, Trent wanted to learn more about the game so he could avoid that kind of downfall again. Pursuing his own real estate licensing to ensure clients and home buyers never went through what he did, Trent committed himself to being the very best in the Arizona market.
Tips for a Faster Home Sale
When selling your house, there are a few key things you can prioritize to have the most significant impact for a faster sale:
- Make Buyers Feel at Home
Declutter your home! Pack away all personal items like pictures, awards, and sentimental belongings. Make buyers feel like they belong in the house. According to the 2019 Profile of Home Staging by the National Association of Realtors, “83% of buyers’ agents said staging a home made it easier for a buyer to visualize the property as a future home.”
Not only will your house spend less time on the market, but the same report mentioned that, “One-quarter of buyers’ agents said that staging a home increased the dollar value offered between 1 – 5%, compared to other similar homes on the market that were not staged.”
If you don’t have time or the budget to stage the entire house, the four rooms you should focus on are the Living Room, Kitchen, Master Bedroom, and Dining Room. For example, for the dining room, make sure the dining table is the right size, and the paint is light and bright. For the master bedroom, make sure all of the clothing is appropriately hung and have unnecessary furniture removed. The kitchen should appear decluttered and functional, and the living room should have the accessories kept to a minimum.
- Keep It Organized
Since you took the time to declutter, keep it organized. Before buyers arrive, pick up toys, make the bed, clear off the fridge, toss the newspapers, and put away clean dishes. As mentioned above, the kitchen is one of the most important rooms to stage to attract more buyers. Put out a scented candle or some cookies fresh from the oven. Buyers will remember the smell of your home.
- Price It Right
More inventory coming into the market guarantees there will be some competition. You want to make sure your home gets noticed. A key to selling your house is ensuring it is Priced to Sell Immediately (PTSI). Proper pricing means you’ll be driving more traffic to your property and ultimately creating more interest in your home.
To help give you an idea of your home’s value, we have on our website a calculator to see what homes have been selling for in your neighborhood. Click here to see the current list of homes that have sold near you, then give me a call, and we can discuss the price of your home.
- Give Buyers Full Access
I know that we all have busy lives, but one of the top four elements when selling your home is access. If your home is available anytime, that opens up more opportunities to find a buyer right away. For some buyers, especially those relocating, time is limited. If they cannot get into the house, they will move on to the next one. Let’s chat about how we can make your home accessible.
If you want to sell your home, in the least amount of time, at the best price, and with as little hassle as possible, you need to enlist the help of a seasoned real estate professional. Let’s connect today to determine what you need to do to sell your home as quickly as possible. (928) 916-1921.
