Home improvements to help you get the most when selling your house

  It’s a highly competitive market for home sellers right now. More homes to compete with means that the impression your homes makes – from the curb, and on the inside – matter now more than ever. You can increase your chances of selling faster – and at today’s top dollar – by investing in a select few home improvement projects that have been shown to make a big impact on buyers. Bad news alert: it might cost you a little time, effort and cash.  The good news, though, is that the best projects for quickly increasing your home’s resale value tend to be cosmetic and fairly simple and inexpensive to do. Here are five projects with big-time return on investment for home sellers-to-be, in terms of their power to attract buyers, and to attract dollars from those buyers. 1. Painting: Adding a fresh coat of paint to ceilings and walls is a tried and true way to increase your home’s appeal to buyers. Go for white or neutral tones that help lighten your rooms. (Now is not the time to show off your fascination with fuschia and lime green.) Buyers will have an easier time envisioning how they will infuse their own personalities into your home if they’re looking at a relatively blank slate. Painting lightens and brightens rooms, instantly removes scuffs and dings and gives every room a fresh, polished feel. Fresh exterior paint – even if your time or cash budget limits your efforts to accents like eaves, shutters, doors and trims – is also a quick, inexpensive way to polish the look of your home from the curb. 2. Landscaping: Everything you’ve heard about curb appeal is true. First impressions matter – especially if your house is one of eight or nine a buyer has seen in one day. …

Hartford Woods Condominium: 2 bedroom, 2 bathroom

Popular Hartford Woods, 2 bedroom + den [potential 3 BEDROOMS]. Overlooks court yard, very private & quiet. Updated counter tops, freshly painted, large soaker tub, Closet Organizers, Gas fireplace, newer flooring in kitchen & 2 parking stalls. Great family complex with pool, hot tub, 2 small pets allowed and maint. is $305. Shop & Compare – Best value in Guildford

2br Condo: THE SANDS

Perfect for the first time home buyer looking to live in White Rock / South Surrey! Well maintained 2 bedroom, 2 bath condo on the 3rd floor with large Courtyard – South facing balcony (quiet). Eating area in the kitchen, gas fireplace in sunny living room, crown moulding – shows very well!

August, 2011: Real Estate Market Update

HOME SALES IN FRASER VALLEY HOLD STEADY IN AUGUST (Surrey, BC) – The Fraser Valley Real Estate Board processed 1,341 sales on the Multiple Listing Service® (MLS®) in August, an increase of 35 per cent compared to the 997 sales during the same month last year and slightly higher than the 1,322 sales in July. Sukh Sidhu, president of the Fraser Valley Real Estate Board, says, “We typically see a summer dip in sales in August compared to July and that didn’t happen this year. We attribute the current steady market to interest rates remaining favourable, as well as buyers taking advantage of home prices softening slightly in certain markets and an influx of new inventory across all property types.” The board posted 2,644 new properties on its MLS® in August, an increase of 26 per cent compared to August of last year and 10 per cent fewer than it received in July. The number of active listings in the Fraser Valley remained at 10,074 in August, on par with July’s volume. “The number of homes on the market remains at a yearly high, which combined with a decrease in sales, can put downward pressure on pricing. We’re only seeing this in some communities for certain property types underlining the importance for both sellers and buyers to obtain local real estate expertise. “Year over year, home prices in the Fraser Valley are either on par or showing increases; month over month, benchmark prices for the three main residential property types combined declined by 1.3 per cent.” The benchmark price of a single family detached house in the Fraser Valley in August was $528,959, an increase of 3.7 per cent compared to $510,107 in August 2010. For townhouses, the benchmark price in August was $327,317, an increase of 0.9 per cent …

Enhance the Space in your Home

Nothing sells a home better than space! The more open, flowing and orderly rooms seem to potential buyers, the easier it will be to sell the home. That’s one reason buyers tend to prefer newer homes equipped with open-design floor plans. Whether your home was built in the last year, or the last millennium, there are things you can do to enhance its space. Before you get started, it’s important to ask yourself what a redecorating or home improvement project will do to enhance the space in your home. Even if you’re not thinking of selling today, you may consider it in the future. Making decisions now to enhance the space in your home will pay off in a big way when you eventually do sell.