Seller Help

Sometimes a head-on shot of the exterior front of a house isn’t the best way to showcase what the home has to offer.

2 story head on

Sometimes you should take a picture from an angle you’d never normally use.

2 story from side

That’s the same house and the two pictures were taken within about 60 seconds of each other. You’d hardly even know it. While it’s a very unusual angle for a real estate “front” photo, I’d argue that picture number 2 is the better way to showcase this home.

thoughts?


heather

Heather Barr is a Realtor. She's a chow hound, a gym rat, and a political junkie and a happy workaholic.

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When to *not* re-do a kitchen

by Heather on August 25, 2010

in Lifestyle,Seller Help

FLB201 Stove

When the kitchen is vintage and the building is “mid-century modern”, and it’s a condo, there’s a good argument to be made for not re-doing the kitchen.

This is kitschy and cute and “period”.  Long time readers may have deduced by now that I am a sucker for the mid-century modern look. And I even fall hard for the untouched, true vintage homes from the 1950s and 1960s. We are a small but passionate group.

Sometimes when you’re selling your home/condo and your kitchen looks like this, you don’t have to remodel. You just have to find the few, passionate lovers of the vintage 1950s and 1960s look.  Look for lovers of Mad Men online at sites like Meetup.com. You’ll find your home buyer there.

Resources for this style

Phoenix’s online hub for mid-century modern is ModernPhoenix.net

The Mid-Century Modernist

Lushpad

MetroRetro Furniture

1950.com

Vintage Swank (they cover the 1970s and early 1980s too; true mid-century modernists will recoil)


heather

Heather Barr is a Realtor. She's a chow hound, a gym rat, and a political junkie and a happy workaholic.

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Don’t leave your house naked

by Heather July 15, 2010 Phoenix By Area

Just me popping in with a little tip for home sellers. We’ve all heard of “curb appeal”. The home above has none of it. The home below, on the other hand. . . . . . .  now that’s curb appeal! These two homes are approximately the same floor plan in the same neighborhood. Neither [...]

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With MLS photos, details really matter

by Heather June 14, 2010 Seller Help

Before After There are a few crucial details that made the After picture much more appealing (not counting the angle at which the photos were taken): red door black shutters green grass possibly fresh granite gravel in the semi-circle shape flowerbed filled with red flowers white window rollershades all the way down Red shows up [...]

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Listing Strategy – Trapping vs Hunting

by Chris Butterworth April 28, 2010 Seller Help

“What did I do today to sell my listings?” That was a question which used to haunt me early in my career.  I knew I had marketed my listings everywhere buyers were likely to be looking for houses, and I had campaigned to the neighbors who might know somebody wanting to move into their neighborhood.  [...]

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Great packing, moving idea

by Heather April 8, 2010 Lifestyle

Color-coded packing tape marked with the name of the room the stuff goes in. This is so cool!  U-haul.com sells this stuff, $2.95 for a 30yard roll. Frugalista bargain-hunter anal-retentive tightwad that I am, I wondered if I could do better on pricing.  I looked around online and found that OfficeMax sells ‘paper tape’ for [...]

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Listing Price: What Matters, What Doesn’t

by Heather February 25, 2010 Seller Help

(this article is reprint) I was watching one of those HGTV shows not too long ago. Flip That House, or Sell This House or one of those. The show featured a novice investor who bought and rehabbed a 1970’s tract home. She managed an amazing transformation of the entire house. She opened up the kitchen [...]

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Personality goes a long way

by Chris Butterworth December 1, 2009 Buyer Help

A conversation between Jules Winnfield and Vincent Vega, from the movie Pulp Fiction: Jules: Pigs are filthy animals.  I don’t eat filthy animals. Vincent: Yeah, but bacon tastes good.  Pork chops taste good. Jules:  Hey, sewer rat may taste like pumpkin pie, but I’d never know ‘cause I wouldn’t eat the filthy mother-fu**ers.  Pigs sleep [...]

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Beige Paint Sells Houses

by Heather November 18, 2009 Seller Help

I’ve written before about “real estate beige”, and Chris Butterworth has written about getting a crisp, clean line between two colors of paint. This is a textbook example of real estate beige. This is exactly the tonal difference you’re aiming for when repainting beige to sell your home. And believe me, nothing impresses buyers more [...]

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Realtor Commmissions, Briefly

by Heather November 10, 2009 Op Ed

Very brief post for today, for a change. Thought: The Best and The Cheapest are mutually exclusive. Related Posts Where Does the Money Go When a Realtor Sells My House? Our broker, the Phoenix Real Estate Guy, on how much most Realtors earn Heather Barr is a Realtor. She’s a chow hound, a gym rat, [...]

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Right-Pricing: List Price vs Sales Price

by Chris Butterworth September 29, 2009 Seller Help

Yesterday our colleague and good friend Dru Bloomfield wrote a terrific post comparing sales prices with list prices, and what can happen to sellers employing various pricing strategies. A couple of highlights: “On September 25 the percentage for all areas & types within the ARMLS database hit 97.01%, exceeding 97% for the first time since [...]

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Photos Make a Huge Difference Too

by Heather September 16, 2009 See Arizona

I’m piling on to Chris’ post yesterday about how staging can determine whether buyers make offers or make tracks. Pictures make a huge difference too. Buyers love LOTS of pictures. Quantity doesn’t substitute for quality however. A word about the condo Chris wrote about yesterday, with the fabulous view. We both agreed it was one [...]

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