When Is the Best Time to Sell Your Athens Home?

When is the best time of year to sell your home? There is no exact right or wrong answer, but if you plan on selling this spring, I recommend doing so sooner rather than later.  

 
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What are the best months of the year to sell real estate in Athens? I get this question from people who are wondering if they should list their house in the spring, early in the year, or at the end of the year. There is no clear right or wrong answer. More homes sell in the spring and fewer homes sell in the fall, but typically there are more homes for sale in the spring and fewer homes for sale in the fall. Since there are fewer homes for sale in the fall, there is less competition for sellers. In the spring, there may be more sales, but there is also more competition for sellers.

I recommend getting your home on the market before the big spring rush.

It really doesn’t matter that much. If you look at our real estate market, it does look like a bell curve. When you start in January, the market starts to go up, peaks around June, and then starts to slow back down. Things do slow down over the holidays. Now that school has started back up again, things will pick up and the market will get even busier in the spring. If you are thinking of selling your home in the spring, I don’t think you should wait until the grass is green and flowers are blooming. That’s when everyone else will rush onto the market. Instead, get on the market a little earlier. Buyers are out looking now and will continue looking in the spring. But you could sell your house now before you have to deal with all that spring competition. If you have any questions about the market in your specific neighborhood, just give me a call or send me an email. I would be happy to help you!

Is It a Good Idea to Make Improvements to Your Home Before Your List It?

There are a few improvements you can make that will enhance your home’s saleability without costing very much at all. 

 
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Do you have to make improvements to your home before putting it on the market? No, you don’t have to. Homes will sell in any condition. If you want to sell for top dollar, though, you should consider doing so. There are a few improvements I recommend that will make a big difference, even if they don’t cost a lot. The first is painting the interior and (if it needs it) the exterior of your home. Paint is one of the cheapest ways to make a huge impact on the way your house shows. After a house is painted, it looks clean and smells fresh. Another thing I recommend is improving your curb appeal. Trim your bushes, cut your grass, put out some fresh mulch or pine straw, and make the outside of your home look good. That’s the first impression people get when they see it.

If you want your home to sell for top dollar, you should consider making some improvements.

Next, declutter and stage your home. If you have stuff on your countertops or too much furniture lying around in one of your rooms, get rid of it. As I always tell people, less is more.  Lastly, clean your home thoroughly. People can tell if a house is clean or not, and they’re far more apt to move into a nice, fresh, clean house. If you’re willing to spend a little money, there are other upgrades you can make, like replacing your countertops, installing new flooring, adding new appliances, etc. Sometimes these upgrades are worth it, but they can escalate how much you’ll spend by quite a bit. If you have any more questions about this or any other real estate topic, don’t hesitate to reach out to me. I’d be glad to help you.

What Does It Really Take to Downsize?

Downsizing may be a natural and smart choice to make, but that doesn’t make it easy. There are a lot of things to think about. 

 
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Today I want to talk about the topic of downsizing. When the kids leave the nest and it’s just you and your partner left, you may start wondering why you’re still staying in such a big space. When you no longer need a large home, the natural option is to downsize. However, even once people no longer have a need for such a large space or so many items, it can still be hard to adjust to change. People grow used to living a certain way, which makes downsizing difficult. Going from a 4,000 square foot house to one of half that size means that half of your personal items will have to go as well. This is something a lot of people have difficulty with. It’s important to realize that these are the kinds of things you’ll need to be thinking about. The idea of downsizing is good and smart, especially since it sometimes helps people to become debt-free, but it isn’t as easy as many people think.

When you no longer need a large home, the natural option is to downsize.

Another thing that often takes people by surprise is the change in amenities. In a downsized home, the kitchen may not be quite as nice as the one in the previous house. This is just one example. It really depends on what you buy, but it is possible to find a nice, smaller home in a lower price point. If you have any other questions or would like more information, feel free to give me a call or send me an email. I look forward to hearing from you soon.

5 Tips to Prepare Your Home for the Market

Today I have five quick, easy tips that will ensure your home sells successfully.
Looking to sell a home in Athens, Georgia? Click here for a Home Price  Evaluation

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If you’re thinking about selling your home, I want to give you five quick, easy tips on how to prepare your home for the market.

1. Clean up and clean out. Wipe down your trim, blinds, ceiling fans, etc. Make sure all of your surfaces are spic and span. Also, if a room has too much furniture, move it out before you show the home. When selling, less is more.
2. Improve your curb appeal. Trim your bushes, cut your grass, paint your shutters, and put out fresh mulch or pine straw. A buyer’s first impression is of the outside of your home, so take the time to make it look neat and well taken care of.
3. Get professional photos taken. Buyers will see various qualities of photos when searching for homes online. Professional photos make a home stand out online and are more likely to convince a buyer to see your home in person.
If a buyer can’t get in to see your home, they’ll just move on to the next.
4. Be willing to accommodate showings. Your home needs to be show-ready at all times, and if a buyer calls, you need to let them see it when they request to. The market is very active right now, so if a buyer can’t get in to see your home, they’ll just move on to the next.
5. Price your home properly. Don’t price it too low or too high. Find a good agent, do your research, and make sure you know what the market is doing. Prices are rising rapidly in our area, so you need to make sure you get a professional opinion on what the value of your home is in the current market. This will keep you from selling yourself short and from pricing yourself out of the market.

If you or anyone you know is looking to buy or sell a home or you have any other real estate questions, don’t hesitate to give me a call or send me an email. I look forward to hearing from you!

Should You Sell Occupied or Vacant in Athens?

Looking to buy or sell a home in Athens, Georgia? Click here to perform a full home search, or if you're thinking of selling your home,click here for a FREE Home Price  Evaluation so you know what buyers will pay for your home in today's market. You may also call us at (706) 621-6085 for a FREE home buying or selling consultation to answer any of your real estate questions.

Often, I’m asked, “Is it better to sell my house as occupied or vacant?” My answer is: it depends. In my opinion, the best way to sell is with a professionally staged home.

Research reveals staged homes sell for more money. It will show better. It will appeal to buyers. Clearly, it’s worth the investment in the long run. If you’re not in the position to invest in staging, or you’re not yet convinced, you should at least reduce the amount of furniture in your home. You’re moving out anyway! I often tell my clients less is more when you’re preparing to sell your home. Reduce clutter and make the rooms look and flow better.

If you can, sell your home vacant. This is the best alternative out there. With this type of staging, buyers will pick up that the home is a clean slate. They will see how big the rooms are and they could easily picture their items and belongings inside of it. This is especially a good option if your decorations or fixtures are unique to a particular style.

There’s a last resort here. Sell your home full of furniture and clutter. I wouldn’t identify this as the best or even an efficient way, but instead the worst way. Yet, it’s something you might have to work with. The home will sell, but not quickly and for top dollar. It won’t sell well or be as appealing to the buyers. It will ultimately sell for a lower price.

If you’re selling soon and need some tips to sell your home quickly and for top dollar, give me a call. I’m eager to serve you today!

An Organized Closet in Less than an Hour

Looking to buy or sell a home in Athens, Georgia? Click here to perform a full home search, or if you're thinking of selling your home,click here for a FREE Home Price  Evaluation so you know what buyers will pay for your home in today's market. You may also call us at (706) 621-6085 for a FREE home buying or selling consultation to answer any of your real estate questions.

I recently found a good video on HGTV that I thought would be helpful to you if you're preparing to sell your home. It's essential that when you show your home to buyers, it's clean, organized, and decluttered. You'll want to empty out your closets, or at the very least, get them organized.

One thing you can do to get organized is to put up shoe hangers in your doors, and store everyday items inside them such as cleaning supplies, utensils, or anything else that you can fit in them.

Another way to cut down on clutter is to get organized. Use labels, or pick up storage bins to keep items like cords or wires in.

A tip for organizing your closet is to divide your clothes into four different sections: hang, sell, donate, keep, and fold. Once you have something marked out for every category, you can then organize your closet in any way you see fit. Here's an extra tip: you can use belt hangers to hang your necklaces and other jewelry.

I just thought this video would be useful for organizing your home whether you're selling or if you just want to tidy up a bit.

If you need any assistance with staging, decluttering, or selling, please don't hesitate to contact me!

Can a Discount Broker Save You Money?

Looking to buy or sell a home in Athens, Georgia? Click here to perform a full home search, or if you're thinking of selling your home, click here for a FREE Home Price  Evaluation so you know what buyers will pay for your home in today's market. You may also call us at (706) 621-6085 for a FREE home buying or selling consultation to answer any of your real estate questions.

Hey everyone, today I want to talk about discount brokers. I want to make sure the people I know don't fall victim to what they think a discount broker can do for them, only to be disappointed in the end. 

Now that the market is improving, we are seeing more and more of these discount brokers enter the market. A lot of them are offering specials, such as listing and selling your home for $999. You may think that is a great deal, but we want to tell you what you really get when you hire one of these guys.

You get a picture, an online listing, and that's' pretty much it. You write the check, they collect the money, and they're gone. The picture quality may be terrible. You are more than likely just paying somebody $1,000 to enter your home into a database and walk away. These companies make their money off that $999 investment and make little money anywhere else. They want to sign up as many people as possible and don't care about the outcome of the home sale. They actually have more incentive to take someone else's listing that hasn't paid yet than your own. 

If they couldn't sell when the market was down, they aren't going to be able to sell for top dollar now. Our team has consistently outperformed the market, and our average sale price is $13,000 higher than the market average. If you have any questions, feel free to give us a call or send us an email. We look forward to hearing from you!

For a free copy of our marketing plan, visit www.TheJustinWoodallGroup.com

How to Prepare Your Home for Resale

Looking to buy or sell a home in Athens, Georgia? Click here to perform a full home search, or if you're thinking of selling your home, click here for a FREE Home Price  Evaluation so you know what buyers will pay for your home in today's market. You may also call us at (706) 621-6085 for a FREE home buying or selling consultation to answer any of your real estate questions.

Hey there, it's Justin Woodall, your trusted Athens real estate adviser. A few weeks ago, I sent out a video asking for your questions and we are here to answer one of them today.

Alex, from Bishop, asked, "How do I increase the value of my home for future resale?"

Now, Alex hasn't been in his home for very long, and the house he bought was updated very nicely, so he is lucky. He should be in good shape for a while, as long as he doesn't neglect the house. If something needs fixing, take care of it, and stay vigilant about keeping the home in good shape.

As the years go on, there may be some updating you need to do, but if you are thinking about reselling in the next few years, you should be just fine. There are some things you can do with staging and photography to get a better resale value when you are ready to sell, give me a call when you're ready and we will get everything figured out.

As always, if you have any questions, I would be happy to answer them in a future video. Give me a call or send me an email, I would love to hear from you.

How to Prepare Your Athens Home to Sell This Spring

Looking to buy or sell a home in Athens, Georgia? Click here to perform a full home search, or if you're thinking of selling your home, click here for a FREE Home Price  Evaluation so you know what buyers will pay for your home in today's market. You may also call us at (706) 621-6085 for a FREE home buying or selling consultation to answer any of your real estate questions.

 As the spring selling season approaches here in Athens, I would like to share some tips with you on how you can best prepare your home for sale. Hopefully these tips will aid you in selling quickly and for more money. 

1. Declutter: You want your home to be presentable to potential buyers. Instead of having them distracted by collections, antiques, or awards, allow them to see your home for what it is. Someone once proposed the idea to me that 50% of all the things on your shelves should be taken down and stored away when you're preparing to show your home. This is probably a good measure to follow, because you want your house as clean and organized as possible. 
2. Clean, Clean, Clean: This is pretty self explanatory. Buyers just like to see clean homes. I might even recommend renting a power washer for the outside of your home.
3. Remodels / Update: There is a lot of new construction being built here in Athens, so to compete with these new homes you may need to spruce up your property a bit. You don't need to spend thousands of dollars, but you might want to consider getting granite counter tops in your kitchen or new hardwood flooring. Kitchen and bathroom remodeling is what buyers like to see, and money spent on those repairs is usually well worth it. 
4. New Paint: Repainting the inside and outside of your home is relatively inexpensive, and it usually has a big payoff. Shoot for more neutral colors like earth tones, or light and bright colors because they tend to be inviting to buyers.
5. Landscaping and curb appeal: Curb appeal is still important although most buyers today are on the internet. You may want to plant some new flowers, trim bushes and trees, and perhaps even buy a new front door. A new entryway can really transform the whole look of your house, and it's also a relatively inexpensive project.

Hopefully these tips can be valuable to you if you have decided to sell your home in Athens this spring. It's a great time to sell because affordability is on the rise, so we can expect a lot of activity from buyers. Please contact me if you need any assistance with getting your house ready to sell this spring.

My Team will Market Your Home to a Large Pool of Buyers to Get You Top Dollar

Looking to buy or sell a home in Athens, Georgia? Click here to perform a full home search, or if you're thinking of selling your home, click here for a FREE Home Price  Evaluation so you know what buyers will pay for your home in today's market. You may also call us at (706) 621-6085 for a FREE home buying or selling consultation to answer any of your real estate questions.

Why Homes Don't Sell

 

You might have noticed that some homes in Athens seem to sell the second that they hit the market and others can take weeks or months to sell.

A lot of this has to do with the real estate agent, and some of it has to do with the communication between the seller and the agent. Last year my team managed to sell 70% of our listings in less than two months, and 80% in less than three months.

With this being said, here are a few reasons why homes don't sell:

1. If a home does not show well, it will not sell well. You need to make sure that your home in Athens is in tip-top condition and that it is not in a state of disrepair. If your home is dirty or simply not in good condition, it will still sell, but not for top dollar.
• Be sure not to forget about landscaping either. The exterior of your home is what draws buyers inside.
2. The price of your home is another crucial factor. You need to have a competitive and attractive price for your home to draw buyers to your property. You should consult an experienced real estate agent that can gauge an accurate price for your home that reflects it's true value and is also consistent with market conditions.
3. If your home isn't marketed aggressively to a large amount of prospective buyers, then it will not sell well. You need a qualified agent with various systems in place to get your home seen by as many people as possible. Another aspect of marketing is hiring a professional photographer to capture great photos of your home. Staging is also important, but if your home looks great online, then buyers will likely come asking for more.

These are a few reasons why your home in Athens may not be selling. Every case is different, but I have found that these are common factors for homes not selling.

If you're having trouble selling your home in Athens, then please contact me via phone or email. I would love to speak to you personally and figure out what we can do to get your property marketed and sold.