Kamloops Real Estate Information

Tips On Staging Your Kamloops Home To Get It Ready For Sale

November 1, 2014 Kirsten Mason Information For Sellers, Real Estate Information

Tips On Staging Your Kamloops Home To Get It Ready For Sale. It can be a very daunting task to start the process of staging your home to prepare to put it up for sale. In our experience there are a number of simple and inexpensive things you can do to help make your home more appealing than other homes for sale in your area of Kamloops. I have compiled a list of simple things you can do to help make the sale process easier and get the most money for your home.

1. Start with a open mind and new perspective

Often times home owners become very emotionally attached to a home and the decor. It is important to detach from the property and try to see your home through buyers’ eyes. Think minimalist and the ‘hotel room’ look. This will help make your home shine.

2. De-clutter!!!

I can’t emphasize this one enough. It is important to go through all common areas of your home first as these areas are the first rooms buyers see. You want your home and have the feeling of space. Here are simple decluttering ideas for your home:

Make the entry way as spacious as possible. Large furniture and decor can get in the way of buyers entering your home.
Remove all items off of your counters in the kitchen and bathrooms.
Remove all magnets and cluttery bulletin boards from common space.
Remove all heavy drapery or window headers exposing the windows which will allow for more natural light to fill your home.
Remove all items that are not needed from closets and storage space. Get storage containers to pack items away that are not needed for the time you are listed for sale. If you can afford a storage locker remove all items from your home that are not needed.
Eliminate excessive knick knacks and personal items from the home. Plain homes show best!

3. Freshen up & brighten up

Paint colours are a huge component of the way a home presents. Choose a neutral colour palette. Presently neutral, spa-like colours are very popular. They give buyers an inviting feeling when walking into a home. Light paint colours also make a home appear more bright and feel more fresh. You want Buyers to see themselves living in your home. Fresh neutral colours will help them with this vision.

4. Curb appeal

During some seasons of the year it is hard to have beautiful curb appeal in Kamloops due to the weather. Here are a couple ideas for each time of the year:

All Year: Freshly paint your outside doors especially the front door. Put up a new mailbox if you have a tired looking one and new modern house numbers are easy ways to create a fresh look. This is also a way to keep the cost down.
Summer: Trim shrubs and bushes, tidy up all the flower beds, keep the lawn cut and plant some fresh flowers to give the home some colour. If you don’t have a garden placing planters outside the main entry way and on a patio makes the home feel more pleasant.
Fall: Clean up the leaves and dead plants in the garden. Put out fall flowers and plants that add colour to your home. There are always beautiful planters available in the fall that liven up a front entry way or porch.
Winter: Don’t go crazy with the decorations! Tasteful holiday decor is acceptable but don’t put up so much that it draws a crowd. Don’t leave your decor up until the end of January. Clean up your Holiday decorations as soon as possible. Keep the pathways clear and well maintained.
Spring: Clean up the gardens after the winter melt. Plant some spring flowers and plants that will bring some colour to your garden. Check over the outside of your home and touch up any areas that are looking worn from over the winter (ie trim paint, outside doors).

5. Make sure your home is in top condition

Easy updates that are inexpensive will help with the sale of your home.

Replace faucets that drip or are outdated.
Take out old bathroom mirrors that date a bathroom and replace with a nice modern framed mirror.
Replace hardware on cabinets (ie dated gold pulls to brushed nickle is a good choice)
Replace worn or damaged counter tops.
Replace or professionally clean worn flooring. Carpet cleaning goes a long way.
Replace burnt out light bulbs and change out dated or broken light fixtures.
Replace torn screens.
Touch up knicks and damaged walls.
Place fresh towels in the bathroom and eliminate any used or old looking towels.
Replace furnace filter regularly and before putting your home up for sale.

6. Make the master bedroom gender neutral.

A clean, tidy master bedroom is important. It is also important to pick colours that are neutral and not geared to only one gender. Stage the master bedroom with nice throw pillows and ensure that the linens are made up nicely on the bed. Remove any extra furniture to give the illusion of a large room with lots of space. Many people have multiple dressers in a bedroom, eliminate at least one.

7. Clean, Clean, Clean and Clean!

Homes that are clean make buyers feel like the property has been well cared for and in turn well maintained. Make sure you clean the following:

Nooks and crannies of the kitchen where crumbs collect.
Tops of baseboards often get very dusty.
Window coverings, especially horizontal blinds tend to collect dust and dirt.
Scrub that bathroom!
Clean windows and screens.
Wipe down walls, doors, door frames and light switches.
Vacuum the carpets…twice

8. Beware of scale

Large furniture is popular and can be very comfortable however it takes up a lot of space. Remove furniture that is large and re-arrange the furniture to fit in a way that makes the home feel more spacious.

9. A great smell makes your home more memorable

If you have time before a showing bake some cookies or something that will spread a tasty smell throughout your home. Leave a couple samples out for the buyers coming through your home. It will make it more memorable.

10. Invest some money

If you can afford to do so updates to flooring can go a long way. Old carpeting can turn a buyer off. Changing the flooring out to something more modern will give you a very good return on investment. If flooring is looking old and worn it will make buyers feel like the home is old and worn even if the home is in great condition. Buyers have trouble seeing past simple things like flooring.

Kitchens and bathrooms are one of the best investments you can make in your home. If you are trying to decide where to invest your money you will get the best return from kitchens and bathrooms.

If you are thinking about getting your home ready for sale and don’t know where to start give us a call. We would be happy to come to your home and get you moving in the right direction. Contact Us!

Search To Find an Agent Who Fits, Real Estate Watch: Having The Right Representative Can Save You Thousands of Dollars

February 9, 2014 Kirsten Mason Real Estate Information

I found that even though this article was written mainly for the Vancouver and Lower Mainland market area the advice that they have also applies to the Kamloops market. It is important to pick the right Realtor for you. There are a number of Realtors to choose from and it is hard to know where to start.

This article appeared on the Province website on February 7th, 2014 and was written by Michael Bernard.

With the average home selling for more than $600,000 last year in Vancouver, buying and selling real estate is a serious business where a single mistake can cost you thousands of dollars.

Those mistakes can include hiring the wrong real estate agent, so it pays to listen to the experts before you sign on the dotted line. The leaders of the two major real estate boards covering southwestern B.C. recently offered some tips on how to choose the right agent – whether you are buying or selling a home.

“You really want to know what experience the realtor has before you engage them,” said Sandra Wyant, president of the Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver. “If you are looking to purchase a condominium in downtown Vancouver, you want to be looking for an expert in that area and in stratas.”

Wyant says friends and family can be a real help in choosing a realtor.

“They will be very honest about their experience with a realtor. And ask the realtor for references, as well.”

If you are new to Metro Vancouver or don’t have friends or relatives to ask, both boards offered ways to size up an agent you are considering.

“If you have open houses in the area you are seeking to buy or sell in,

you can pop into the open house and interview the realtor who is doing those open houses,” Wyant said. “During the interview, you might ask the realtor how many transactions they handled in the past year so you can get a good sense of their experience in the business.”

Ray Werger, president-elect of the Fraser Valley Real Estate Board, said the Internet has great tools, such as LinkedIn or Google or realtor.ca, for checking out realtors.

“I would want to know if they are a well-rounded person and what kind of person are they outside of the ‘business veneer’,” he said. “Do they work in the community? Do

they have their own website and what sort of marketing do they do and what sort of price range do they work in?” Both Wyant and Werger put a high premium on communication and listening skills when sizing up a realtor.

“Do they listen well to the questions you are asking or are they selfabsorbed and pumping themselves up?” Werger asked.

Wyant also stressed that good realtors “put your needs above their own,” something that should become obvious during an interview.

People buying or selling a home should also make sure the realtor will meet their expectations about how often they communicate with them.

Ron Todson, who is the Fraser Valley board’s current president, said that when he was active in real estate sales, some clients wanted to hear from him every few days, while others only wanted to hear when they had an offer on their home or when he had a home to show them.

Todson said he had a set system of communicating any offers or other activity to the client every Thursday and would meet the client once a month. Regardless of your communications needs, the most important thing is to make sure you are comfortable with your realtor and that the relationship is a good fit, he said.

BC Home Sales Post Strongest October in Four Years, BCREA

November 15, 2013 Kirsten Mason Kamloops Real Estate Statistics, Real Estate Information

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Vancouver, BC – November 15, 2013. The British Columbia Real Estate Association (BCREA) reports that a total of 6,673 residential sales were recorded by the Multiple Listing Service® (MLS®) in BC during October, up 26.5 per cent from October 2012. Total sales dollar volume was 34.5 per cent higher than a year ago at $3.6 billion. The average MLS® residential price in the province was $540,432, up 6.3 per cent from October 2012.

“The fall housing market is shaping up to be the most active in four years,” said Cameron Muir, BCREA Chief Economist. “Persistently low mortgage interest rates and an element of pent-up demand have driven home sales higher in the province’s large Lower Mainland and Vancouver Island markets.”

“While the rebound in consumer demand has been significant, home sales are trending near the long-term average and any continued acceleration will depend on stronger economic and employment growth,” added Muir.

Year-to-date, BC residential sales dollar volume was up 8.2 per cent to $33.6 billion, compared to the same period last year. Residential unit sales were up 5.1 per cent to 63,020 units, while the average MLS® residential price was up 2.9 per cent at $533,321.

Real Estate Outlook Suggests No Surprises in Store, Kamloops Daily News

December 18, 2012 Kirsten Mason Real Estate Information

This article appeared in the Kamloops Daily News on December 18th, 2012 and was written by Mike Youds.

Housing market analyses twinkle like the stars as people search for signs of where the economy might be heading in 2013.

The Canadian Real Estate Association is the latest to weigh in, trimming its sales forecast for this year and next. The industry association expects home sales this year to slip 0.5 per cent relative to 2011. Just three months ago, it was projecting a 1.9 per cent rise.

Sales next year are expected to drop another two per cent.

While that’s not great news for those hoping for signs of a stronger economic recovery, it’s not the sound of a bubble bursting, either.

At best, there are faint signs that the market is moving in any direction.

Overall, the province is tracking downward in dollar value and in sales, but that trend is driven by Vancouver and Victoria, where markets have softened, said Dave Peressini, president of Kamloops and District Real Estate Association.

“I think at the end of November we were up about three per cent, but you’re really looking at a local market,” Peressini said. “The fact that we are holding on in sales and dollar value up a little bit, I think tells you the market will be that way in 2013.”

The average Kamloops MLS price in the third quarter of 2012 was $369,000, showing a 3.1 per cent rise over the same quarter last year.

Peressini finds more encouraging signs over the long range.

“We do have an expanding population and some fairly strong, long-term employers and low mortgage rates. The economic fundamentals are there.”

The CMHC recently released a forecast calling for very modest increases of housing starts in Kamloops in 2013, said Paul Fabri, a Kelowna-based analyst with the Crown corporation.

“That’s consistent with the forecast for the province overall.”

There were 23 housing starts in Kamloops last month compared with 24 for the same month in 2011.

“The difference is, essentially, one housing project,” Fabri said.

There were 17 single-detached starts in November, down from 23 in November 2011. Growth in the multiples market, to 29 from 12, almost made up for the difference.

Overall in 2012, single-detached starts rose to 250 from 225 last year while multiple starts went in the opposite direction, dropping from 258 to 185.

The figures indicated that local new-housing market is in a period of stability rather than growth, but that’s preferable to the market declines and possible collapse some were predicting earlier in the year.

Scotiabank reported last week that the Canadian housing market seems to have made a soft landing with cooler but steady sales and price stability.

Nationally, sales in October were down about 10 per cent from the spring, but only marginally below the average pace of the past decade, reported bank economist Adrienne Warren.

Some of that adjustment could be attributed to regulatory changes that took effect in July, including a lowering of the maximum amortization period to 25 from 30 years.

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