Three Tips for Selling Your Home in the Bay Area – No.1
In June 2023, while assisting my clients with their home sales, I identified three simple yet often overlooked factors that significantly impact the sale result. Our focus on these elements led to the highest sale price in 2023 for similar properties in that community.
1. Emphasizing Natural Lighting
Prioritizing natural lighting is key.
Ensuring an abundance of it can transform the interior of your home, making it appear brighter and more spacious. This creates a coveted indoor-outdoor ambiance, especially sought-after in the current Bay Area real estate market.
To maximize natural light, consider removing heavy blinds, curtains, or privacy films. However, it’s wise to use semi-translucent privacy film to temper the direct afternoon sunlight from the southwest.
These are the best steps you can take if you’re selling a townhouse or condo, where you’re only authorized to adjust the interior of the property.
In cases where the homeowner has already moved out, as in our scenario, it becomes easier to manage. (Next time, let’s talk about coordinating in cases where the owner lives in the property while selling.)
For single-family homes, additional steps like removing external awnings or trimming trees can further enhance natural lighting.
2. Minor Repairs and Touch-ups
This step involves smaller scale repairs, not extensive renovations like replacing cabinets, countertops, or flooring, or repainting the entire house.
Simple fixes can include addressing issues identified in inspection reports, removing and repainting over wall shelves or wallpapers, and replacing broken light bulbs or LED fixtures.
These minor repairs, often overlooked due to their simplicity, are crucial. They signal to potential buyers that the home has been well-maintained.
The cost of these repairs is relatively low, typically ranging from a few hundred to a couple of thousand dollars for condos or townhouses.
In my experience, my clients often rest easy knowing I collaborate with skilled professionals to handle these repairs efficiently, ensuring a good return on investment and avoiding costly services like those found on platforms like Yelp!, which can be up to 1.5 times more expensive.
3. Strategic Staging Furniture Layout
The impact of staging on a property’s sale price cannot be overstated.
I encourage those who rely on intuition to visit homes both with and without staging to see the stark difference it makes. For those who prefer data, the National Association of Realtors reports that staged homes sell for 6% more than their non-staged counterparts. Considering that staging costs range between $3,000 to $5,000, it’s a worthwhile investment.
However, it’s important to choose your staging wisely. Avoid realtors who skimp on staging costs, using worn-out or mismatched furniture, as this can negatively impact your home’s selling price.
The Result?
The property we focused on not only achieved the highest price for its type in 2023 but also recorded the highest price ever paid by buyers for a similar property when considering interest rates.
If you’re curious about my other home-selling strategies and client satisfaction, I invite you to read the testimonials from my clients. Feel free to choose any, and I’ll facilitate a conversation with them. They are always eager to share their experiences.
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What’s this Blog for?
Before I started my career as a real estate agent, I found it quite difficult to find informative articles or websites that provided accurate information catered towards selling and buying houses in the San Francisco Bay Area. Yes, there are some out there, but those are not catered specifically towards the Bay Area. Sometimes, even tips and facts regarded as common knowledge aren’t applicable and outdated from a Bay Area perspective. My original intention of starting this blog, was to help shed some light on the seemingly inscrutable real estate market. As a real estate agent who has been practicing for several years, I wanted to provide accurate and relevant information to those who might be interested in buying or selling a home.
If you’re curious and want to learn more about buying and selling in the San Francisco Bay Area, then this website might be a good starting point to gain some insight.
Who Am I?
My name is Chiuho Lin. I first found my calling for real estate in 2016, while I was looking for a new home in the San Francisco Bay Area. I found myself inexplicably drawn to this profession and after meeting over one hundred real estate professionals, I made the decision to become a real estate agent myself. To me, being a real estate agent is rewarding not only because I love meeting new people, but also because I have the privilege of helping them start their new chapter and make their vision a reality.
What Is My Promise?
If you are interested in selling, then the process would start from an initial consultation, to price assessments, market analysis, repair advice, time-to-market recommendations, staging assessment, style selection, housing listings, posters, social media promotion, marketing media selection, follow-up on house delivery. I will be active and present in the entire process to make sure everything goes smoothly.
If you are interested in buying a house, again as an agent I can promise you that I will be present in all stages of the buying process. This includes everything from consultations to address all your concerns, investigating real estate to find a home that suits all your needs, visiting the houses, providing insights on the neighborhood, assessing the current conditions of the homes that may require additional attention, read various reports filled with technical jargon, to helping you understand contracts. I ensure quality care and commitment in the entire process from start to finish.
As a professional, I take pride in my work ethic and ensure the utmost care and consideration while working with all my clients. I’d like to consider myself a trusted advisor to ensure a phenomenal experience throughout your buying/selling process. With that being said, if you ever need a professional consultation or assistance with anything – for example, gardening/landscaping, property manager property lawyer, paint master, decorator, roof repair master, loan broker, registration accountant – feel free to reach out. I am genuinely passionate about what I do and hope that I can help share my knowledge with you all.
Chiuho Lin DRE#02007082
Keller Williams Thrive DRE#02177478
