Keep the exterior of your home looking its best!

It’s hard to believe that the fall season is upon us.  With the summer months over,  it is now time to take a look at your home’s exterior, especially if you are entertaining the idea of listing it for sale this season. Here are a few tips to help you keep your property looking its best:

·     Rake up leaves on a frequent basis. 

·     Inspect your eaves troughs and remove any debris that has been trapped.

·     Continue to weed the garden beds and walkways.

·     Remove annual flowers that are no longer blooming and plants that are past their prime.  Dead    foliage gives the impression of a home that is not cared for.

·     Keep an eye on the rain amounts.  In warm, dry fall weather, you will still need to irrigate your           lawn.

·     Fertilize your lawn before the ground freezes.  This will give your grass a head start in the                   spring. 

·     Adjust the timers on outdoor lighting since it now gets dark earlier.

·     Give your gardens some fresh colour by planting fall flowers such as mums. Choose a color that compliments the exterior of your home.

·     Redesign your urns and flowers pots to a fall theme.

Add some decoration and attract attention.  Create a simple design for the front porch. Pumpkins add color and provide a welcoming feel for the season.

Add cushions in fall colours to an outside chair or swing to add to your decorative theme.  If you pay this much attention to the exterior of your home, buyers will be anxious to see what is behind the front door. 

These are just a few things that will help keep the exterior of your home looking its best!

Feel free to add a comment with your fall ideas!

Richard Thyssen, Broker of Record
Colleen Thyssen, Sales Representative
Direct: 519-495-1541
Email: rthyssen@rogers.com
www.thyssengroup.com

Curb appeal and the front entrance of your home

Curb appeal and the front entrance of your home is the first impression you will make on perspective buyers.

Creating an attractive and welcoming entrance is a good investment should you decide to sell your home.

These affordable ideas will help you get your home in shape and cost as little as a few hundred dollars.  Most of these ideas can be completed in a few hours and will add value and enjoyment.

The front door.

A weather-beaten front door can detract from the front of your home.  Painting or refinishing the front door is not costly and takes only a few hours.  Try painting the door a contrasting shade that coordinates with the other exterior colors of your home.

Replace hardware.

New hardware is a quick and easy way to update your front door.  Key less entry is also a popular choice because of its streamlined, modern appeal and ease of use.

Entry way.

Dated light fixtures, a poorly looking mailbox and doorbell greatly take away from your home’s curb appeal. Take a good look at yours.  These items may need to be replaced or in need of a good cleaning and a fresh coat of spray paint.

Add house numbers.

Highly visible house numbers help make your home easy for friends, service professionals and others to find, plus they add instant curb appeal. There are a wide range of decorate yet functional house numbers available that will enhance your curb appeal as well and visibility.

Edge and mulch the front beds.

Your front garden beds will look neater and more cared for with edging and a fresh layer of mulch. You can either buy mulch in bags or have bulk quantities delivered at a reasonable cost.   Dark brown or black mulch looks the best and the most natural.

Prune plants.

Cutting back landscaping plants to below windows and/or porch railings gives any home a clean appearance, as well as leaving the doorways and windows exposed helps with security.

Light pathways and/or driveway.

A dark, unlit house is unwelcoming. Landscape lighting adds ambiance as well as security.  Solar lighting is the most affordable but also the least dependable. If you have basic wiring skills, you can install affordable landscape lighting yourself.

Add architectural interest.

Painted shutters, window boxes, decorative molding, columns or brackets can go a long way in adding appeal to your home.  Great deals can be found at resale shops, garage sales and flea markets.  Use your artistic flair!

These pointers will create curb appeal and the front entrance of your home will give a fabulous first impression.

Call us anytime for more ideas!

Richard Thyssen, Broker of Record

Colleen Thyssen, Sales Representative

Direct: 519-495-1541

Email:  rthyssen@rogers.com

www.thyssengroup.com

Selling Your Home: 3 Must-Knows Before you List

Sometimes the hardest part of selling a home is making the decision to sell it. Our homes give us roots, provide sanctuary, house memories and, hopefully, give us some financial security. It's a huge decision to sell a home.
Once made, however, additional decisions will come fast and furious, so take some time now, before the frenzy, to understand three salient points about the successful sale of a home in today's real estate marketplace.

What is Market Value?

One of the most challenging aspects of selling a home is determining the list price. Many homeowners will go online to find homes nearby that are for sale and base their price assumption on those that are most similar.
The list price of a home, however, is a fantasy. It represents an amount of money the seller thinks, or hopes the home will bring. Until the home sells, he may be right or he may be wrong.
Buyers set market value for homes. What a knowledgeable, willing, and unpressured buyer pays for a home is the home's true market value. Therefore, when pricing a home for the market, one must always look at the sold prices of similar homes nearby.
This is the method both real estate agents and appraisers use when determining a home's market value.

First Impressions Matter

Chipped or peeling paint, sagging window and door screens, and overgrown or dead landscaping do not make a good first impression.
Before you do anything else, clean your house, inside and out. Make cosmetic repairs, especially outdoors where the house makes its first impression. Even if it's merely a new coat of paint on the front door, shiny new house numbers and some fresh mulch in the planting beds.
Don't neglect the interior either. If you don't know where to start, take a look at some websites with ideas on how to declutter and stage the home.

Don't Attempt This on Your Own

Of course we will not tell you to take the for-sale-by-owner route. So, we won't ask you to take just our word for it. Let's look at the cold, hard numbers.
First, only 9 percent of homeowners attempt to sell their homes without the aid of an agent, according to the National Association of Realtors® (NAR). Of those, almost half said they took this route because they were selling their home to someone they knew.
The next most commonly stated reason that a homeowner gave for not using an agent was that he or she didn't want to pay the real estate commission. That's understandable when one isn't sure exactly what an agent does to get a home sold. Once you get a look at the list of what we will do, you'll understand that you definitely get what you pay for.
You should also take into consideration the fact that a home that is for sale by owner is considered a bargain to most home buyers. Many will walk in expecting you to kick back some of that money you're saving by not using an agent. This is why, according to NAR, homes sold by agents sell for 16 percent more than those sold by owner.

Selling a home is a big deal. When it's time to sell yours, start with the basics, as outlined above, and you'll be ready to list your home before you know it.

If you would like to know what your home is worth in today's market, call us anytime!

Richard Thyssen, Broker of Record
Colleen Thyssen, Sales Representative
Direct: 519-495-1541
Email: rthyssen@rogers.com
www.thyssengroup.com

What home buyers love to see

Buyers are more likely to make an offer on your home if they see a lot of
things they love about it. So what do home buyers love to see?

One of the main things they like to see is a lot of space. Of course, you can't
change the size of your rooms, but there is a lot you can do to make small
spaces in your home seem more spacious.

Buyers also love to see a clean and uncluttered home. Think of how inviting
a hotel room looks at first glance, with everything neat and organized.  The more neat, clean
and attractive you can make each room, the better.

One thing buyers don't love to see is potential maintenance issues. So as much as possible, get things fixed or updated.

In fact, the more "finished" and "move in ready" your home looks, the more likely a buyer is to make an offer.

Don't forget the surrounding neighbourhood either. A buyer may not take the time to explore the area, so be sure to make a list of the most appealing features. You might want to take a picture of the brand new playground just down the street or print off a local map showing nearby shopping, schools and other points of interest.

It's all about creating a good impression, making your home look its best and
drawing attention to the most enticing features.

Want more home selling tips? Call us today!

Richard Thyssen, Broker of Record
Colleen Thyssen, Sales Representative
Direct: 519-495-1541
Email: rthyssen@rogers.com
www.thyssengroup.com