The old truism about location, location, location is only half the battle. Even a home in the best possible site won’t get the showings it ought to attract if the curb appeal aspect has been overlooked. The good news is that giving your home a sidewalk-friendly facelift is easier and more affordable than you might imagine.

Take a digital photo of your home from the street. This is the first impression it will make on potential buyers, so try to look at the photo from an unbiased position, as if you were the one house hunting.

Does the house look appealing? Can you picture yourself living there, entertaining friends and family in the yard, building memories?

Often, small changes to landscaping, or repainting the side of the house facing the street, will be enough to tip the balance in your favor. Keep paths and driveways clean, repair or replace cracked paving, concrete, or other surfacing. Prune back or cut down foliage that blocks the good features of your home, especially overhanging tree branches. Make space between landscaping features to give a sense of order that a crowded yard lacks. Remove any unsightly items or half-finished exterior projects.

Outbuildings, like barns or sheds, should not be neglected in this assessment. They are part of your home’s curb appeal, or lack of it.

At HennepinCounty-HouseValues.com we don’t just list your home — we advise you on everything you need to do to make your home’s curb appeal close the sale. Use the form below to begin the process of selling your home with HennepinCounty-HouseValues.com.

Here are the top 5 factors that influence the market value of your property:

1) Location

Location is undoubtedly the top factor in arriving at a market value for any property. A dated and poorly maintained home in the center of a prime residential area can be worth more than a cottage that’s in perfect condition, but located in a less desirable area. You can renovate a house almost endlessly, or even knock down and rebuild, but you cannot change the location of the lot.

2) Size and Features

A five-bedroom mansion with a triple garage, in-ground pool and half an acre of land will be worth more than a two-bedroom condo in a comparable area.

3) Kitchen

The quality of your kitchen is the number one interior feature in determining the market value of your home. It is the heart of most homes, and investing money in a quality kitchen is always a good idea.

4) Bathrooms

After the kitchen, your home’s value will be most influenced by the number, and quality, of the bathrooms. Taste is subjective, but quality of fixtures and finishes is of paramount importance. High-end bathroom fixtures and finishes send the message that your home has had significant money and thought invested in its design, and will not only push up the asking price, but also attract more offers from potential buyers.

5) Presentation

A home that is beautifully decorated, has great curb appeal, and is nicely staged will automatically attract higher bids than a home where these aspects have been overlooked. Don’t forget that your potential buyers will be seeing many other properties, so yours has to sparkle to make an impression.

Contact us at HennepinCounty-HouseValues.com before you hire a Minnesota realtor. We’ll walk you through the process of maximizing your home’s market value. Fill out the form below to get started.

Before you even consider listing your home on the market, you (or your Minnesota realtor) should be assessing the potential competition so that you may arrive at a fair and realistic market value.

Are you listing your home at the best possible time for you? If dozens of similar homes in your neighborhood are on the market already, but are not attracting bids, then you may have a challenging road ahead of you – that is unless you are prepared to price your home aggressively and present your home in a way that outshines the competition.

It’s a buyer’s market. While real estate is bought and sold every day, the amount of inventory (homes for sale) the last few years has outweighed the number of active buyers. That means the buyers who are viewing are more fussy, as they can afford to walk away from a property that’s not ideal for their needs.

At HennepinCounty-HouseValues.com, we will do everything in our power to make your home sell for its maximum current value. Simply fill out the form below. We’ll be happy to do the research and present a case for listing your home with no obligation.

If you’re working with a quality realtor like HennepinCounty-HouseValues.com, then your representative will be keeping his/her eye on the market, advising you of local sales, new listings, and price reductions amongst competing homes.

Your realtor will also have strongly advised you not to list your home at an inflated price when first entering the market. Whether or not you choose to drop your price should be a business decision, not an emotional one. In this market, putting a fair price on your home is critical in order to get it sold.

If you need to sell for a price based on the equity of your property and the size of your mortgage, then you might have to be patient and wait for a buyer who is willing to pay your asking price.

On the other hand, if you’re flexible and prepared to be realistic about market conditions, then a price drop will likely lead to many more offers.

At HennepinCounty-HouseValues.com, we treat each property listing with the knowledge that the market is constantly changing and shifting. The market activity around your home has a huge effect on its current value. Fill out the form below and we’ll give you a free no-obligation assessment of your current market value.

Home staging is big business these days. The practice grew from new home builders who hired professionals to design and decorate model homes to help them build and sell more homes. Model homes are decorated to make viewers feel at home there. The ultimate goal is enabling visitors to imagine their lives in the space, which builders know is essential in getting homes to sell.

You can hire home stagers to furnish and/or decorate your home and make it more appealing to visitors, but not everybody has the budget to do this. However, if you are creative and prepared to invest some time and a little cash in well-chosen props, then you can stage your home yourself.

Clearing clutter is a huge part of making a home show well. Every element in the room should have a purpose, and there should be an appropriate amount of open space. Put unnecessary items into storage to give your home the illusion of more space.

Color schemes should be simple and complementary. One room should flow harmoniously into the next without a clash of styles or patterns. This will create the feeling of an open floor plan. Clean and neutral is often the safest route

At HennepinCounty-HouseValues.com, we will advise you on home staging to ensure that you get top dollar for your property. Fill out the form below to take the first step towards selling your home.

Along with much of our country, the Minnesota real estate market will have some challenges to overcome this year. That said, plenty of homes will change hands at fair market value. Here’s what you need to know about selling in a soft market.

Curb appeal is vital. Your home will sell itself (or turn away potential buyers) based on what viewers see before they even leave their vehicle. Tidy up your exterior. Treat your home’s walls, shutters or doors to a fresh coat of paint, take care of landscaping projects you have been putting off, and make your home welcoming to visitors.

On the inside, view each room as a separate project. Does this room do a good job of presenting this home to potential buyers? Consider brightening up paint, or going more neutral if you have bold taste. Learn the techniques used by home stagers, and incorporate them to create a sense of space and harmony.

Ensure that your home is free of strong odors, pets and children during viewings. Put on soft music, light candles, illuminate all lamps, walls and ceiling fixtures — do everything to make your home feel like a bright, welcoming place the buyer can imagine themselves living in comfortably.

At HennepinCounty-HouseValues.com, we care about marketing your property. We’ll give your home the best chance of selling in a soft market. Fill out the form below and we’ll get the process started.

“Inventory” is a fancy word for properties on the market. If you have a sought-after property that is reasonably priced and shows well, then realtors will be much more likely to show it to potential buyers ahead of others on the market.

It is likely due to one of two things.  Either your home is priced higher than what buyers are willing to pay for it in this market, or there are one or more characteristics of the home that buyers are consistently perceiving as deal breakers.

It is critical that your realtor is proactive in obtaining detailed feedback from agents and buyers who preview the home.  Understanding and reacting to how buyers and agents perceive your price and pluses and minuses of your home can result in a quicker sale at a higher price.  In some cases, adjusting the price can do the trick and in other cases making some home improvements is the answer to eliminate the deal breakers buyers are getting hung up on.  In many cases you may need to address both.

In some cases the issue could be with your realtor. Before you hire a Minnesota realtor, you should find out how the realtor’s listings perform. Are his/her houses on the market for a long time? Do they sell for a low percentage of asking price? Both of these statistics point to a realtor who’s unrealistic when listing a client’s house, or not bold enough to tell a client the truths they sometimes need to hear.

At HennepinCounty-HouseValues.com, we aren’t afraid to give our clients a full and accurate up front assessment. If you want to sell your home rather than just show it to people who won’t make a bid, then trust our professional team to list your home fairly, at the right market price, and guide you through the process of preparing your home to stand out from the competition.

Fill out the form below to take the first step in selling your home with HennepinCounty-HouseValues.com.

Buyers need a reasonable cause to walk away from a property after an offer is accepted. Changing their mind is not a reasonable cause. A defect not described in the original listing must be discovered during the property inspection.

A good home inspector will be thorough in his/her inspection. You should not be offended by an inspector turning up rugs and carpets, poking about your basement, or at any of his/her findings on your home. Remember that a home inspector is employed by the home buyer to find any defects and point them out in his/her assessment.

A home inspection is not a negotiating tactic to drive down the price. That said, many inspections do turn up problems that perhaps even the home seller was not aware of. It is in the buyer’s interest to detect all items in need of immediate or future repair and anything that may be a concern going forward before they complete the deal because additional findings can, in some cases, affect the final sale price. You would likely feel the same if the roles were reversed.

It is important not to take the process personally. Remember that your buyer will be living in your home for years, and they should feel comfortable with everything before the purchase is concluded.

HennepinCounty-HouseValues.com will be happy to walk you through the process of selling your home — from market research to the final home inspection. Fill out the form below to get in touch with us.

In today’s market, properties are bought and sold every day. Like all busy markets, there are a lot of realtors in the Twin Cities competing for buyers and sellers to represent.

It is important to know that there’s more to marketing than listing your home. Ask a potential realtor what their marketing plans are for your property. Listing your home on the MLS and an occasional open house are not enough.

Ask a potential realtor what additional services he or she will provide for you. Will they advise you on market conditions, home staging, improving your curb appeal, and the dozens of other factors that make or break most home sales?

Before you hire a Minnesota realtor, talk to us at HennepinCounty-HouseValues.com. We have decades of experience and specialize in innovative marketing right here in Minnesota’s Twin Cities market. It’s our business to be experts in the local market. We’ll do our everything in our power to present your property in it’s best light — and ensure that it sells for the maximum value.

Fill out the form below to get your home in front of eager buyers!