Nanaimo Homes mudge island homes nanaimo real estate

Top Three Ways that buyers found the home they bought

Susan McGougan — Fri, 17 Feb 2012 22:33:24 +0000

Buyers are searching the net and house hunting well in advance of actually hiring a real estate buyers agent. When polled by the Vancouver Island Real Estate Board (annual poll) the top three ways that buyers found the homes they bought are:

Introduced by a Realtor 37%
Internet – realtor.ca and other websites 28%
For Sale sign 13%

That is almost 80%! Print advertising ranks as only 2% so let us face the facts. Internet marketing and great online photos, videos and blogs are the way to go for today’s savvy home sellers!

continued lament of a home seller – removal of your stuff

Susan McGougan — Sun, 28 Nov 2010 20:07:36 +0000

As I journey through the home selling process I now understand the words that I often tell my sellers. I alway say to “declutter” and to “start packing” as you are moving anyway, aren’t you?? What I have come to realize is that not everything we have around us in our homes can we catagorize as clutter. Many things have just been there, in their places around us, for years. We do not think of these objects as clutter, just as our “things” and “memories”. There are articles that have been in their places for years and never moved, just dusted around. These things, I have come to realize, are objects that need to be packed away. You should be able to see the oak on the desk, the paint on the walls, the wood of the bookshelf. Why does the bread machine need to be on the kitchen counter? If you will not be baking bread in the next 30 days, pack it away. Even the drawers and cupboards that we have stashed things away in need to be emptied out. I recently cleaned out my linen closet and found sheets that had not seen a bed in over 10 years. Why was I keeping them? Tablecloths and placemats, linen dinner napkins that were my mothers (that needed ironing, and who irons nowadays?), they all left the house last Sunday in a box. Some found a new home at my step-daughter’s and the rest doesn’t matter. Now I am seeing things in my home office that also need to be packed away or gotten rid of. Why do I have stuffed animals, a match box collection dating back to the early ’70′s, books I will never read again? Many things have lost their meaning and can now leave my house. This is such an uplifting process. Now I will use kinder words with my home sellers when giving them advice on preparing their home for sale. I have a deeper understanding about what my “stuff” really is and I know when there is just too much!

second thoughts of a seller

Susan McGougan — Sat, 06 Nov 2010 06:05:58 +0000

Every realtor should sell their own home every few years whether you want to or not. It keeps you in touch with the emotions your seller clients go through. sometimes bitter-sweet, the feeling of dread when you first see the sign on the lawn to the first call for a showing. Panic sets in. What have I done? You want to cry. What am I doing, I love this home. Some hours pass, then the thought of looking at where you might move is a pleasant distraction from the constant cleaning and tidying. So realtors, get your sellers out in the car as soon after the sign goes up as possible, if only to make them think of an exciting future in their next loved home.