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.

Athens Real Estate Recap for 2014

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.

Today I'm going to be giving a recap of how the Athens real estate market fared in 2014. I know it's a bit late to do this, but we've been incredibly busy so far this year, which is a good sign for our local market. Overall, the market has been improving. Here are some specifics for you:

• The average sales price rose nearly 10%, and this may be due to the lack of foreclosure sales from a few years ago.  
• There were 47% fewer foreclosure sales, which is a great sign for our strengthening market. 
• New construction has increased by 13% in 2014 compared to 2013.  
• Home prices rose by 5% in Clarke County, the numbers of transactions rose, and the amount of new construction went down. Foreclosure sales also fell by 42%.  
• Oconee County experienced a 4% growth in average sales price, transactions remained steady, and new construction has risen by about 9%. Prices for new construction have also risen by 8%. Foreclosure sales also dropped 41%, which is a good sign of market recovery.

Overall we're seeing fewer foreclosures, more homes being built, and the market generally seems to be improving. Now is also a great time to buy with low interest rates and new loan products from Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. We can refer you to some great lenders if you'd like.

If you ever have any questions or need any assistance with Athens real estate, please don't hesitate to reach out to me.