We’re over half-way through our list of. ’12 Real Reasons Why Your Home Isn’t Selling’.  These ugly truths are things that you may or may not here from professionals involved in your home sale.

We went over reasons things like smell affect sales in our first installment.  Advice that’s tricky to maneuver like severing yourself and your emotions can be found in part two. 

Here in part three, things start to get real.  We’re going into some profound reasoning and how you can make a difference in the sale of your home.  Then we take it a step further.

We answer the question:

How much does selling my home, now, really affect my life?

You may be surprised.  Read on to find the answers.

Download Here

7.  The Effect of the Interior on a Sale

Ever wonder how the interior of your home will affect your bottom line or time spent on market?  Realtors, investment firms and appraisers have studied home interiors and how buyers perceive them psychologically.

The home that gets the coolest response has always been empty homes.

Now, that seems to go against what we were talking about in our earlier post, The 12 Ugly Truths Part I and The Twelve Ugly Truths Part II we spoke about de-personalizing your space but empty pushes the needle too far over.

Empty homes are sad homes.  They are.  We feel for them but don’t necessarily feel good about them.

They speak of abandonment and that can equal a lack of care.  This isn’t always the case, in fact it rarely is but we can’t help where our thoughts go.

The next home that makes us think of neglect is the very messy home.

We’re not talking about the kept home with piles of mail from the day before and couple of dishes in the sink.

This home has messes that are out of control.  The smells are pungent.  The garbage is visible.  This act needs to be straightened up and quick because it’s keeping you from moving on to the  next stage of the life you need/want to lead.

Buyers won’t believe you’re just a ‘messy family’.  They’re going to believe that messy, out-of-control home equals poorly maintained home.  You’re home will be one of the last to get an offer in your area and in your price range.  This is especially true if the outside matches the inside.  They’ll pull away before you have chance to even show them home’s potential.

The home with a good chance of getting an office is well-kept home with an interior that’s clean and has been well-maintained.

How old are is your refrigerator?  Your living room set?  Your front door?

Take a look at these items and see if it’s time to repair/replace/repaint any or all of them.  A little bit of care goes a long way.  Get service records for all your infrastructures. such as your heating

The most important thing to note is that you need to make a great first impression.  You only get one chance.

The last one is the staged home.  This neat tidy gem that has been dressed for the market is the front-runner for an offer!

Here’s a very specific answer to a question about staging from a 2015 article on Forbes.com::

Are stages homes selling for more money?

So an average home with a $400,000 asking price will be reduced by $40,000 to $80,000. “Staging can save you from a costly price reduction.  A staged home will sell for  (app)17% more on average than a non-staged home, and (app) 95% of staged homes sell in 11 days or less.

Okay, they’re very specific and that is from 2015, but the tone is still the same – staged homes are selling faster and for more money than empty homes.

Bottom line:  When buyers come up to your home, they are going to take a look around and get a feel for your home before they even go inside.

8. You didn’t get a pre-listing home inspection

These are relatively new to some markets and others have seen them for years.

Pre-listing home inspections are ones a seller has completed before listing their home.  This is a full home inspection done by a state licensed home inspector.  Pest inspections, radon inspections and even lead inspections can be done too.

These pre-inspections give them a full x-ray of the home. They tell prospective buyers what is working great, what may need repair down the road and what needs immediate repair.

A buyer knows exactly what the home needs and can go into the deal with their eyes wide open.

Do buyers sometimes want another opinion?  Yes, but that’s okay.  Everything is negotiable.  This a point to talk over with your Realtor ® and come to the best decision for you.

Is not having one of these inspections a reason your home isn’t selling?  Not really.  It might be something to think about, though, if your home lingers on the market.

9.  Numbers don’t lie

We’re at number nine on the list.  This one is probably the hardest one for any homeowner to hear.  It’s also the most crucial and without correct it, your home won’t sell.

Say you have gone through this whole list and put each you can honestly say none of these apply to you.  Yet your home isn’t selling during a healthy market.

Why hasn’t it sold yet?

Have you had plenty of showings, open houses with good turnouts and great website activity on your house?  Has your Realtor® given you feedback from them?

Then you have few factors left.  One is location, which you can do nothing about.  The other is pricing.

Pricing a home requires knowledge of the market, experience and strategy.  The price range you fall in for your home/area will determine if and when you get a sale.

It’s rare that these numbers go askew, but it does happen.  There’s  a system of checks and balances to try and keep that from happening.  This is done to help keep down on the type of fraud that used to cheat home owners out of thousands of dollars.  This same type of fraud even caused some homeowners to  loose their homes.

You can’t price a home too high and expect it to sell right away.  It doesn’t matter that you have the best kitchen upgrade in all of the land.  Your home can be the prettiest, well-kept, most-updated, best-staged, jewel of the market and it still will sell within a certain range.

Most buyers know this.  They’re pretty market-savvy and are being coached by a market professional, who’s being backed up by a bank and so on.

When homeowners find out that their home is priced too high, they have mixed reactions.  Some already know it and accept the change.  These folks lower the price and get offers.  Some get upset.  They decide to wait or take other drastic action.  They’ll do anything from additional remodeling to firing their agent to taking their home off the market.  They might decide one of the following.

• .I don’t need to sell right now.  I’ll wait till the market recovers.
  • Our first question would be, ‘are you planning to buy another home?’  This is where a homeowner must stop and think about their life, and the reason they’re selling.  Are they moving to a new place?  Is it for a new job, retiring or are they following a dream?  Whatever the reason, a homeowner has to decide if the market will recover in time.  It wouldn’t be wise to turn down that promotion because of a few thousand dollars on a home sale, especially if there were thousands waiting in a new salary to make up for it.
• Are you buying another home?
  • No?  Then
  • Yes?  The  home’s going to sell in for a price within the current market.  It’ll be within an already established range.  The same will be true when they buy.  Another big factor will be the mortgage rate.  Circling around all of these factors that climb up and down is the salary of the average homeowner.
  •  Salaries usually don’t fluctuate.  They stay pretty constant.
  • Let’s say you qualify in Year A for $500,000 at fixed rate of 4%.  You decide your going to wait on selling your home.  Now, it’s 2019 and rates are at a fixed rate of 7%  You may now qualify for much less now at around $300,000.  There’s a big difference between those homes.  Yet your mortgage would be the same as if you had purchased the $500,000 at 4%.
  • Long story short, time plays a vital role in home sales.  Listen to your Realtor’s advice on what you may not know about the market that may affect you.

Summary

We know that was a lot to take in, but know the details can be the difference between a home sale and one that sits on the market.

Our next and final installment will deal with the last three crucial reasons your home may not be selling.

Do you have questions from anything we’ve written so far?  Please feel free to contact us to discuss your situation.  We’re here to help!

Our continued series on the 12 reasons why your home isn’t selling is getting personal this week.

In our last post, we talked about how things like smells and clutter can ruin a home’s reputation on the real estate market.  This time, we’re delving into the truth about bathrooms and their importance in a home sale.  We’ll also discuss what your closet really says about you and, finally, you’ll find out how being a ‘lurker’ could make you the reason your home doesn’t sell.

Read on to find out all the helpful advice that gets your hold sold and sign up on the right for our blog so you won’t miss out on the third and final installment coming out next week.

4. It’s a Bathroom, No Longer Your Throne

Okay, that’s  a silly way to put it but sometimes humor can help with a sensitive topic, like well, ‘toilet personalization’.

When prospective buyers are checking out the bathrooms, they’re doing much more than checking out the plumbing.

The bathroom can and will make or break a home sale.  We’ve seen it many times.  It’s very easy to predict which home will have its sale changes improved by a bathroom and which ones will have its changes diminished.  You could have the best plumber in the world interested in the home and if the bathroom isn’t up to snuff, it could still kill the scale.

Let’s explain using a scale from worst to best bathrooms.  Let’s say we’re talking about first-time home buyer homes of modest to mid-range pricing.  Higher end and luxury bathrooms are more fun, but on a whole other level and much more complicated, so let’s keep this experiment simple.  

Starting at the bottom.  The worst bathroom you could have for a showing is one that is too personalized, older fixtures, has not been maintained, AND it’s dirty.  That combination will make the bathroom a very hard selling point in the home.  It may also make some people run from the home.

A little better than that but still pretty bad is the home donning an older bathroom that personalized but clean but not maintained.  Updating a bathroom scares people.  Seeing any type of leak, mold, mildew, crack, rust, etc. give buyers the sense the home has been neglected. This will work against you in many different ways.

Aim for at least a bathroom that is clean and well maintained with no signs of mold, mildew, rust, etc.  This one will draw potential buyers in and won’t be as much of a hot button issue especially, if it’s not too personalized.  Keep the colors neutral and the finishes and fixtures current.

The bathroom that’s the best bet is the well maintained, newly-updated, sparkling bathroom that look like it stepped right out of the finest hotel.

My best advice here is the strip the bathroom down to the bare minimum.  Hide the toilet brushes,  plungers, personal care items, toothbrushes and no used towels. Pack what you don’t use. No bath mats!  They’re a trip hazard and they get dirty fast.

Do all of this before your listing photos, then you’ll have very little upkeep to worry about.  Just before showings, it’s easy enough to tuck away the things from the shower, the wet towels, etc.  Think dorm room living where your stuff doesn’t exist in the bathroom if you’re not using it.

Leave out a few fresh hand towels (white or neutral colors looks best but any clean, nice hand towel in a color that coordinates with the bathroom).  Other than that a small vase with flowers, if you can keep them fresh for every showing or a couple other small decorative items strategically placed to make the room look large and neat will work wonders.. Some suggestions: small plant, small flower arrangement (silk is just fine and sometimes prettier!), a few candles, wrapped bar soap, upscale hand soap pump, a small décor item. Really, just make one little grouping on the vanity, keep it simple.

The bottom line: clear out all signs of life, get it really clean and leave out just a few styled decorations on the counter.

Collin County Homes for Sale

5. Messy Closet – Messy Life

This goes back to the issue of clutter. When your closet is packed full, disorganized and things are falling off the shelves or covering the floor, people just want to get away.

We’re not trying to say that people are judging you by your closets but, people are kinda judging you from your closets.  It’s hard not to, in all fairness, a closet is a look deep inside how people live everyday.

6. Being in your personal spaces is uncomfortable for people

Let’s start with this tip:  Sever all emotions from you and the home you’ve put on the market.  Try to understand that home is about the occupants who live there, not just the space or building. Your next house will feel like home before you know it because you will be personalizing your space and creating new memories.

Next, make your personal spaces as clean and generic as possible.  Consider this as an opportunity to make anyone interested in your home, comfortable in the space.

Things need to go that you may not even consider like personal brand preferences (Pepto Bismol on the counter…ewww) can make a difference when people are viewing your house.  It’s hard but the more you take into consideration – the more at home potential buyers can feel in a well-maintained home that’s ready for them to move into, the faster your home will sell.

The final tip we have is the most important.  During all showings and any open houses, inspections or appraisals you should be out of the home.  You will put yourself in a very tough spot if you insist on being around for showings or open houses, even if you think you can talk about your house better than anyone.  You’ll only serve to convince the potential buyer that you are still emotionally attached to your home.  They’re right in that aspect, so getting over that will help you detach.  Then you can work towards selling your current home and move onto to the next stage of your life.

Search for Homes

7. Curb Appeal – The Last Chance at A First Impressio

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Not only is landscaping a way to help increase the chance of selling your home.  It can help sell you home for even more than if you neglect it!

According to a 2018 article on Forbes.com

“Landscaping is probably the best and easiest, most affordable way to increase your home value in the first year,” says Hopkins. It makes sense—healthy trees, blooming flowers or plants and neatly trimmed lawns make a house, well, prettier. Cassy Aoyagi, president of FormLA Landscaping, says some of the most impactful ROI can be earned outside of the home, and shares three easy, low-cost steps homeowners can take to make it happen.

• Strategically plant native trees, which can reduce energy costs by as much as 50%, plus raise the value of neighboring homes
• Plant young shrubs and leave space for it to grow to full size, as this will help cool your property
• Replace annual plants or flowers with perennial foliage to help cut costs

What not to do: Aoyagi warns against installing synthetic turf and gravelscaping, as both can increase energy costs and degrade environmental resilience, as well as removing established trees.

Stay tuned for our last three honest reasons your home may not be selling.  We’re also here to answer your questions about your home and putting it on the market or buying a new home.

Feel free to contact us here with any questions or comments you may have.

We can’t believe it!  We just can’t believe it!  It was during the August Keller Williams Team Meeting where the Plano Chamber of Commerce was in attendance when we heard the announcement  There we sat in team meeting when we were surprised by Plano’s chamber members and previous honorees and all of a sudden the surprise announcement was made.  When we head it, you could have knocked us over with a feather!  We have the honor of being 2019’s Small Business Person of the Year!!

Gratefulness and a Fun Party

We’re grateful.  We are.  We’re grateful to be in the City of Excellence.  We believe in our heart of hearts that we owe what we have achieved to the environment to where have put in our hard work, day after day, consistently.  When you are lucky enough to have the first and determined enough to pursue the second the combination can create quite a life.

The announcement of the award was a surprise and it was humbling.  We want to thank all the great people at the Chamber who made the moment happen  Steve McSwain, Lynda McDevitt, Sue Whitehurst, Maria Abel Mott, Ronald McCoy, Terri Mccoy, Kasey Hollon, Laci Ryan, John Kraft, Mark Liberio, Jerry Kezhaya, Corner Wines and John Kraft – State Farm Agent

While the award was a surprise, it’s no secret that we love our city.  Check out our blog’s main page and you’ll see we talk about non-stop about Plano and everything it has to offer.  Yeah, we’re kinda obsessed.  It’s with good reason though, Plano has so much to offer, does so many great things and is only on the top of at least one if not many ‘best-of’s- lists every year.

Here are some examples.

No 1 in Happiness

WalletHub.com finds that Plano is the happiest place in America with Grand Prarie taking a close second.

The personal finance site reviewed 31 “key indicators of happiness,” including income-growth rates, average leisure time spent on a given day, and depression rates, in more than 180 cities to determine the happiest places in the U.S.

Methodology

In order to determine the happiest cities in America, WalletHub compared 182 of the largest cities — including the 150 most populated U.S. cities, plus at least two of the most populated cities in each state — across three key dimensions: 1) Emotional & Physical Well-Being, 2) Income & Employment and 3) Community & Environment.

They evaluated these categories using 31 relevant metrics, which are listed below with their corresponding weights. Each metric was graded on a 100-point scale, with a score of 100 representing maximum happiness. Data for metrics marked with an asterisk (*) were available only at the state level.

They then determined each city’s weighted average across all metrics to calculate its overall score and used the resulting scores to rank-order our sample.

Final analysis draws upon the findings of the following research, each of which has indicated a correlation between the data and happiness:

• Happy People Live Longer: Subjective Well-Being Contributes to Health and Longevity (Chan and Diener, 2010)
• Happiness from Ordinary and Extraordinary Experiences (Bhattacharjee and Mogilner, 2014)
• Sports Participation and Happiness: Evidence from U.S. Micro Data (Huang and Humphreys, 2010)
• Unhappy Cities (Glaeser, et al., 2014)

Best Places to Raise A Family

Plano, once again, ranked the highest among North Texas cities and across Texas, coming in at No. 4 overall.

All the states were evaluated based on five “key dimensions” to determine their ranks: family fun, health and safety, education and child care, affordability and socioeconomic. The categories employed 47 metrics to reach their weighted scores. The scores were averaged to determine the final score across all dimensions.

A Top City For Foodies

When you think of cities you go to eat great food you may think, Las Vegas (known for their buffets) or Boston for Seafood or Paris even…and now you can add Plano to that list.  You can add it as the number 4 spot as well, which makes the ranking even more impressive!

Thanks for ingenious additions to the food scene in Plano like Legacy Hall at the $6 Billion Mile known as Legacy West.  Foodies all over Texas did a happy dance when the new building that housed all the restaurant/entertainment venue/food stall/tapa bars/dessert shops opened and put Plano on the Foodie map.

We caught the bug too and you can look through our blogs to enjoy a read about each of the eateries there.  Subscribe to our blog to keep up on all the entertainment happening there.  New to the scene,  click here for a  Legacy West map to help get you around!

A Big List From Plano.gov

Plano is the 3rd Most Affordable City for Early Retirement by Smart Asset (August 30)
 Plano is the 5th Cheapest City for Healthcare in the US by Becker’s Hospital Review (August 29)
 Plano is the Top City in the US with Most Working Senior Citizens by Provision Living (August 21)
 Plano is the 2nd Hardest Working City in America by Monster.com (August 20)
 Plano is the Best City in Texas (5th Best in America) to Buy a Family Home by Smart Asset (August 14)
 Plano is 4th Best City to Raise a Family by WalletHub (July 23)
 Plano is among Least Stressed Cities by WalletHub (July 15)
 Plano is the #1 City with the Most Working Seniors by provisionliving.com (June)
 Plano is the 10th Best City to Retire by Niche (June 7)
 Plano is one of the Best Places for Veterans Seeking a High-Quality Education by College Factual (May 24)
 Plano is 5th Least Severely Housing Cost-Burdened City in the USA by Smart Asset (May 15)
 Plano is the 3rd Safest City in the United States by Haven Life Insurance (May 12)
 Plano is one of the Best Cities for People with Student Loan Debt by Fox Business (May 7)
 Plano is #2 City Where Women are Most Successful by Smart Asset (April 10)
 Plano is the Best Place to Live if You Want to Get Rich by Thrillest (April 9)
 Plano is 2nd Best Southern City to Retire by GOBankingRates (March 22)
 Plano is America’s Happiest City in 2019 by Patch.com (March 11)
 Plano is #4 Best Cities to Buy a House in America by Niche (March 7)
 Plano is #5 Best City to Live in America by Niche (March 5)
 Plano is #4 Best City for Foodies by Yelp (March 5)
 Plano is ranked #2 Smart City in Texas by All Home Connections (Feb. 27)
 Plano is 2019’s #5 Hardest Working City by WalletHub (Feb. 25)
 Plano is one of the Best Cities for College Students to earn a High-Quality Degree by College Factual (Jan 9)
 Plano is #7 Best City to Find a Job in This Year by Fox Business
 Plano is #2 Most Affordable City if you have Student Loan Debt by gobankingrates.com
 Plano is #7 Best City to Work from Home by Smart Asset
 Plano is #7 Best Place to Find a Job in 2019 by WalletHub
 Plano is #18 Safest City in America for 2018 by Smart Asset

To see the live list click here.

Raising Families

We know personally why this ends up on top of lists every single year.  It’s a staple of excellence for many so many reasons and they all start with the people.  The people of Plano make this the ‘City of Excellence’ and this is why we strive to do our best to be our best as we live, work and now watch our grandchildren grow up here.  We’ve had the privilege of watching our own children grow here. We get to see now that they are becoming the kind of citizens we hoped they would. They too care greatly about others, their families, their faith and the value of hard work.

We’ve created a great life here in Plano and we believe that it has so much to do with where we live.

The Celebration:

The Plano Chamber of Commerce invites you to the Marriott Dallas/Plano at Legacy Town Center for an unforgettable and inspirational evening honoring the best and brightest business and community leaders of 2019. Join us as we honor an outstanding line-up of award recipients, including Citizen of the Year, Small Business Person of the Year, Business Executive of the Year, and more!

Best of Plano 2019 will honor an outstanding line-up of business and community leaders, listed below.

Citizen of the Year – Harry LaRosiliere
ATHENA Award – Mabrie Jackson, Central Market
 Business Executive of the Year – Avi Kahn, Hilti North America
Innovator Award – University of Texas at Dallas
Small Business Persons of the Year – Ronald & Terri McCoy, The Real McCoys
Community Partner of the Year – Hendrick Scholarship Foundation
Outstanding Corporate Citizen of the Year – Coming soon!
Rising Star Award – Jennifer Shertzer, Plano Magazine
Special Award of Merit – Bruce Glasscock

​Interested in getting involved and gaining visibility with approximately 400 of Plano’s best and brightest? Partnering with the Plano Chamber as an event sponsor is a great way to increase your exposure and grow your business!
Select sponsorship opportunities are still available. CLICK HERE for further information.

Registration is required to attend and space is limited, so reserve your seat today!

Ticket Options
Individual tickets and reserved tables of 10 are available now.
Individual Tickets – Individual tickets include dinner and a complimentary drink ticket. All individual tickets will be in open seating (not a reserved table).
Table Sponsor – Table sponsorship includes a reserved table with preferred seating, ten seats for dinner, including a complimentary ticket for each guest, table signage, and recognition in the Best of Plano program book.
Reserve your space today by clicking the Register Online button above. 
Please contact the Plano Chamber at (972) 424-7547 with questions.
CLICK HERE to view the Plano Chamber’s Event Refund Policy.
CLICK HERE to view a Parking Map to the Marriott Dallas/Plano at Legacy Town Center.

Continue reading…

We’re not just full of hot air, this hot air balloon festival that takes place in Plano annually is really a stunning sight!  Colors light up the sky and thousands of smiling faces are awestruck by the vision of hot air balloons filling the sky with a Kaleidoscope of colors and shapes at the InTouch Credit Union Plano Balloon Festival.

Come join in the Celebration at the spectacular three-day event beginning at 4 pm  this Friday, September 20th at Oak Point Park, in Plano.  Offering something for everyone activities include; live music and entertainment, a parachute team exhibition, a kids fun zone, tons of food, merchandise and handmade products, and more than 40 incredible hot air balloons.

The balloons will launch Friday at 6 pm, Saturday at 7 am and 6 pm, and Sunday at 7 am and 6 pm, weather permitting, of course.

HEAR IT!

The sound of this spectacle draws that teams from all around the country, is as intense as the colors!  .

Friday and Saturday evenings listen the roar of burners being ignited as they add to the thrill of seeing special shapes and colorful balloons set against the back drop of the dark night Texas sky. The balloon glow is a MUST see presented by the City of Plano!

FEEL IT!

Your’re in for an action packed weekend of skydivers, hot air balloons, concerts, a huge kid’s fun zone, merchandise vendors, corporate exhibitors and a variety of foods. Young and old have much in common when they are enjoying the colorful balloons that will fill the skies over Plano, Texas.

Hop on the “Balloon Flyer” from the DART Parker Road Station because buses run continuously during the festival operating hours. General admission is $10 and kids under 36 inches enter free! Come make memories with your family. Stay tuned for more information about the event! Tentative hours subject to change: Friday: 4:00 pm – 10:00 pm Saturday: 6:00 am – 10:00 pm Sunday: 6:00 am – 7:00 pm

Complete Schedule

References:
festival events:https://www.planoballoonfest.org/events

Our homes are our havens and  for the most part, we love them.  The decision to sell your haven can be an emotional one which sometimes makes being a seller a difficult job.  We have to take the emotion out of the process as best we can.  Potential buyers who walk through our doors need to feel that they are viewing their next home.  It’s a time when you have to pull yourself out of your home and let someone else fall in love with it.

Easier said than done.  There are many things your Realtor will advise you to do so you can start moving your personality out of the home, like taking down personal photos and painting walls a neutral color.  Your goal is to present a home that it’s fresh, clean, and well-built with all the utilities working properly.

The Realtor Walk-Through

When the Realtor you list with comes to walk through the house with you, they’ll make design suggestions. They’ll take notes which they’ll copy for you, to give you as many actionable tips and bits of advice as possible.  They may even suggest speaking to professional stager or designer to help get the home in shape for showings and those incredibly important listing photos.

The house needs to be able to show off all of its beautiful features so that it looks it’s very best when potential buyers come for showings.

So Much to Discuss

When putting a home on the market,  people are on the edge of big changes in their lives.  There’s an entire spectrum of emotions and reasons why they’re about to sell.  They may be excited about their growing family or are moving because of a job promotion.  Perhaps they’re nervous about moving to a new place where they don’t know anyone.   Sometimes the reasons are sad.  Financial burdens and strains can come from the turmoil of divorce,  grieving the loss of a parent,  or losing their job.

The big picture is why small things fall through the cracks.   It happens all the time. If you are getting ready to sell your house, keep these things in mind. If your house is listed and you just aren’t having anyone fall in love enough to make an offer, maybe you could create some change in these areas.

This 3 part post goes deep.  There may be some things here that your team members like your Realtor, stager or your friends, are too close to be comfortable mentioning.  It’s not a matter of keeping things from you, though.  It’s just that no one wants to compromise their relationship with you.  They don’t want to hurt your feelings and they really believe you will realize it on your own and quickly fix it. 

Don’t worry though, we’re here to help you out.  We’re pointing everything out!  We’re the ones letting you know if you’ve got spinach right there in your teeth..stuck right up in the side there.  We’re on your team like that.

Reasons 1-3 You’re Home Has No Offer

1. Your house smells bad

This has to be the worst one.  Walking into a smelly home, a Realtor can detect how much the smell will influence the sale.  A barely noticeable yet somewhat foul has the buyer asking questions and looking for the source (is that foot odor or old cheese).  A really foul smell means that the buyer is crossing the home off of the shortlist.  A stinky home may sell if it’s a seller’s market (maybe) but in a normal market or buyer’s market, this home is one of the last to go.  Even IF it sells, it won’t sell for what it’s worth sans smell.

Bad smells cost the seller money!

The Science of Smell in Real Estate

Everyone’s house has a unique smell.  These smells come from everything like the types of food being cooked in the home, to the laundry detergents that are used in the home, cleaning products, air fresheners, garden flowers, the frequency with which the windows are open, neighborhood location and businesses, etc,

This is normal. The problem arises when the smell is overwhelming, overpowering or just plain bad. This is such a huge turnoff for so many people and it really makes it hard for them to even stay in your home to view it, much less consider themselves living there.  Having a prospective buyer skedaddle outside for fresh air before the showing is complete pretty much guarantees that person won’t be making an offer!

The Nose Knows – Let’s Fix That Smell

You just need to take a few steps to eliminate the odor before you list your house for sale and if your house falls under this category – don’t wait till it’s listed.  We’re not trying to sound snobby but a bad home smell can mean a lot of things and some of those can be hazardous to your health like rotting wood from standing water or mold.

Try to first, get rid of or stop the cause.  This might be where you call your friend..your best friend, to come around the house with you and see if he/she smells anything weird in any area of your home.  Once you find anything odiferous, source out where it’s coming from so you can fix the issue.

Then move on to daily smells.  Start with pet areas.  Maintain your litter box or boxes daily and also just before a showing.  Add a bit of baking soda on top of the liter to help absorb the pneumonia odors from the box.  Actually, baking soda is a great friend to have around if you have pets.  It’s can be mixed with a few drops of your favorite essential oil and sprinkled on things like pet beds in order to help with smells.  You can also use it as a prelude to vacuuming to give your carpet a nice scent.

Cooking smells from different ingredients like grease, strong spices, fish, etc. can’t be easily masked so while your home is on the market, keep to spices and oils that will help give your home a pleasant odor.  Cleaning up immediately after cooking will help keep cooking odors subdued so people viewing your kitchen won’t be thrown off by smelling what you cook and can envision themselves cooking and entertaining in your kitchen, which is our goal.  – Get them to buy into your kitchen and get you out of your kitchen!

Smells that have been absorbed by soft surfaces in the house are going to need to be super- cleaned or thrown out. Carpets and drapes with strong odors will need to be professionally cleaned, concrete basement floors bleached, give garbage cans & cupboards a good soapy wash. The walls might even need to be washed or painted. The internet is a great resource and guide that will help you to decide your cleaning game plan.  It will also be a help determining if an object will not be able to be properly cleaned and will need to be removed entirely. Certain things, like your favorite cast iron pan you love cooking curry chicken in, can just get moved out to the garage or taken to a storage unit, or be taken to a friend or family’s garage for a little while if needed.

Air out your house or use an ozone machine if opening windows doesn’t help. Fresh air solves so many problems that just popping open your windows as much as you can while your house is listed can be a great way to neutralize the inside of your home and help potential buyers see themselves in your place (or should we say ‘smell’ themselves).

Fourth, beware the plugin air freshener!!  Adding in any scents after the cleaning and odor neutralizing process. Don’t overdo it with any artificial air fresheners, waxes, candles, or diffusers. What smells good to you can be a turn off for someone else.  Clean, fresh air is the best!

The bottom line: your house needs to smell clean, so do everything you can to make that happen before you list.

2. See Spot Ruin

Most pet owners adore their pets and to them, they are members of the family. Many of our clients tell us their pets are like children to them, a perspective we can personally appreciate.  When it comes to selling your home, whether it’s your two-legged children or your four-legged children (or you no-legged children for you snake parents out there) pets messes are akin to children messes and shouldn’t be seen by prospective buyers.

Pet mess, hair, fur, and scratches on furniture are among some of the turn-offs that get buyers considering your home fro purchase, looking for the exit.  Large disasters such as ruined doors, dug up yards, chewed up couches all need to be fixed, repaired or replaced in order to keep your home in saleable.

Quick Fixes

There are some simple ways of giving the areas of the house a fast pre-showing glam-over before potential buyers arrive.   Vacuum & lint-roller pet hair diligently.   Tuck away pet dishes, toys, balls, and beds. Yes, people (especially if there any allergies in the buyer’s family) will know you have pets( and it’s important to disclose) but you keep it as subtle as possible so that it’s not a turn off for some people. You want buyers to feel that though you might have pets,  they are the best pets in the world.  They do not shed, eat, go to the bathroom or scratch the floor.  

Speaking of bathrooms make sure to pick up those messes daily to avoid a dirty backyard.  Get a spared litter box, keep one washed and then just switch it out daily and before showings.

Spotted areas of scratched/marked flooring or ripped carpet can be a bit more complicated.  A small scratch may be able to be repaired but talk with your realtor about what you should do regarding larger damage.  It really depends on the value, in fixing the problem.  They will know best whether it’s worth fixing or not.

The bottom line: Now’s the time for you to shine as a pet owner.  Let everyone see how well you care for your furry family members. Clean up & repair any pet damage and do your best to keep signs of pets minimal while your house is for sale.

Home Search

3. Your Clutter Stresses People Out

When there’s chaos, it’s hard for people to concentrate.  Ok, it’s hard for most people to concentrate.  Let’s go halves.  It’s hard for half of the people of the world to concentrate.  While you may feel right at home in the mess-that-is-yours because you know where everything is, the buyers coming to look at your home will not understand.  Therefore your genius method of filing/work-flow will go unappreciated by at least half of the people viewing it.  It goes without saying then that your clutter will diminish your chances of getting an offer.

Nearly everyone knows how it feels to be overwhelmed by clutter because when it’s too much to deal with, you just want to get away from it, right?  When they see art projects they worked on last night, things that are going to return to the store tomorrow, the mail they just put down, the forms that need to be filled out, sporting equipment out for the weekend’s activities, papers that kids need signed and sent back to school tomorrow. It’s a fluid, ever-changing glance at the life you live.  They won’t see themselves in your cluttered space because you’re already there.

The decision to purchase a home is a very emotional one. Those same subconscious responses that make you comfortable with your clutter make others want to run from it and are also the very responses that guide people into very important decisions, like signing offer paperwork for a home.

Reacting negatively to the clutter and they don’t want to be in your home and when their heart is saying ‘get me out of here’, they are not going to immediately want to place an offer on your home.  There’s no saying they won’t think things through and come to a decision that is more logic-based at a later time, but if their immediate response is a solid ‘no’, it’s going to take some convincing.  (note: Time isn’t on your side as a seller – the longer your home sits on the market without a good offer, the more value it loses on its price).

A prospective home buyer without any connection to the meaning or timing of all that stuff will just feel overwhelmed. It just looks like a mess to them.

The Quickest Fix

Clean it up. Get rid of it. Box it up. Put it away. Get it out of sight and out of mind.

This can also apply to things you don’t even consider clutter.  You may be surprised that some people will consider clutter things you consider a collection –  so go through your house with a discerning eye: antique toy collections, gallery walls, china cabinets, movie collections, bulletin boards.

Be ruthless with all that little stuff!  You’ll find it a new home soon enough.

The Hot Air Balloon Festival in Plano has been a long-standing tradition.  Look up in the sky in late September and you’ll be treated to a display of slowly floating colors.  Two things happen immediately when these balloons are spotted.  People point and then they smile.

Hot air balloons have a certain magic about them.  They bring a bit of happiness to our day when they’re spotted.  The hot air balloon festival of Plano is bringing that magic to Legacy West today.

Soar on for an uplifting photo in their “Big Sky” balloon! The Plano Balloon Festival team will be on-site to greet and answer questions about the InTouch Credit Union Plano Balloon Festival coming up September 20-22, 2019.

They’ll also be there giving away two free tickets to each person who snaps a selfie between 11:00 a.m. and Noon (limited quantity while they last during this promotional event).

The Big Sky Balloon photo op is located directly across from Neighborhood Goods in Legacy West on Windrose Avenue.

Hot Air Balloon Festival Schedule

Here’s a Google search result to get you started on finding out all there is to know about the events at this year’s festival.  Just click on it to get to the live result page.

History of Modern Hot Air Balloon

When thinking of today’s hot air balloon, the first image that may come to mind is the Wizard flying away from OZ while Dorothy tries desperately to catch her ride back home.

The first of the modern hot-air balloons flew in 1953 and since then there has been a remarkable resurgence of hot-air activity. This has largely been brought about by the marriage of two technologies – lightweight and airtight nylon fabrics, and new powerful burners which burn liquid propane to heat the balloon.

All over the world colorful flotillas now dot the sky – including many ingenious special shape balloons in the form of everything from beer bottles to flying cows. Nowadays thousands of people throughout the world enjoy the sights and pleasures of going ballooning.

It truly is a sight like no other and something everyone who can really should experience once in their life.

Take a look at last year’s festival and see why this year’s event promises to be a wild ride!

Homes for Sale at Legacy West

New Search

References:

Thanks Again Google!

Events & Promotions

https://www.planoballoonfest.org/events

It’s the official end of summer.  Doesn’t feel like it just started?  Whether you’re glad to see the end of the high temperatures and are ready already for fall to start or you’re trying to hold on tight to those last few minutes of fun in the sun, we’ve got the events for you!

Check out the dates and times below.  Tickets can be bought in advance for some of these celebrations so buy tickets ahead of time so you get a great seat.

Last but certainly not least, we’ve added some interesting facts about the Labor Day holiday for your enjoyment (and to give you a leg up on any trivia games you might be playing)!

Labor-less-Day Weekend

Details:  Summer may be coming to an end, but that doesn’t mean the fun has to end!
To celebrate a “Labor-Less-Day” Weekend, we’re extending Sunday Funday to Monday with $5 mimosas (from 11am-4pm).
Sunday night will be the culmination of the fun with the two-steppin’ George Strait Tribute Band, King George.

Labor Day Party at the Texas Pool

Details

Mon, Sep 2, 12 – 6 PM CDTin 2 days

The Texas Pool
901 Springbrook Dr, Plano, TX  

From Eventbrite.com: Celebrate the last days of summer with a Texas Pool Party on Labor Day. Enjoy authentic Texas Pool Hot Dogs fresh off the grill, and the snack bar will be open. Play traditional pool games and enter the Cannonball Contest. Make a donation to the Texas Pool Foundation and score a chance to win a Texas Pool T-shirt. Bring your camp chairs and canopies. Coolers with food and non-alcoholic beverages (no glass) are welcome. $10/person. Texas Pool Members are free.

Get Your Tickets Here

 

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Summer Tune Series. The Boardwalk at Granite Park

September 2nd | 5:00 pm – 9:00 pm

The Boardwalk at Granite Park

5880 State Highway 121, Plano, TX 75024

Enjoy the Summer Tunes series at The Boardwalk at Granite Park! Every week until Labor Day, you can enjoy live music while you grab a bite on one of the patios or lounge near the water. Bands will include Whiskey Richards, Ryan Vanderburg, Joe Phillips, Burning Hour, Maurice Davis, and more.

A Bit About Granite Park

At Granite Park, it all comes together at the Boardwalk. The Boardwalk connects the office buildings at Granite Park with retail, hotel and dining options—all conveniently located with an unmatched waterfront view.

Developed with community and sustainability at the core, the Boardwalk and outdoor gathering places support healthy choices and active, social living year-round. Explore the Boardwalk and discover the value of an office park centered on inspiring the community to connect.

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Blue Star Museums: Free Admission for Military

George W. Bush Presidential Center
2943 SMU Boulevard, Dallas, TX  

From Guidelive.com: As part of the Blue Star Museums program, Texas’ three presidential libraries, including the George W. Bush Presidential Library in Dallas, offer free admission to active-duty U.S. military.

Labor Day Trivia Nite!

1.  The first celebrated US Labor Day was on Tuesday, September 5, 1882, in New York City. 10,000 workers took unpaid time off to march from City Hall to Union Square.
2. No one knows who actually invented Labor Day. Both Peter McGuire a carpenter and Matthew McGuire a machinist have both been credited with its creation.
3. Oregon was the first state to make Labor Day a holiday in 1887. It gave the state’s workers a pass not to come into work that day.
4. The decision to make Labor Day the first Monday of September was approved on June 28, 1894.
5. Americans worked 12-hour days, sometimes seven days a week, during the 19th century.
6. Adamson Act was passed on September 3, 1916. It established an eight-hour workday
7. No wearing white after Labor Day! The idea comes from when the upper class would return from their summer vacations and stow away their lightweight, white summer clothes as they returned back to school and work. Fashions have changed and you can wear white if you want.
8. Labor Day is the unofficial end of hot dog season according to the National Hot Dog and Sausage Council.
9. From Memorial Day to Labor Day, Americans consume around 7 billion hot dogs.
10. There is still a Labor Day parade in New York City. It takes place throughout the 20 blocks north of the 1882 labor march.

References:https://www.google.com/search?q=laborday+weekend+2019+plano+texas&oq=laborday+weekend+2019+plano+texas&aqs=chrome..69i57j33.10004j1j4&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8&ibp=htl;events&rciv=evn#fpstate=tldetail&htidocid=4A-9_49FX5UisMK9JpA8-A%3D%3D&htivrt=events