New Haven & Fairfield County Real Estate Video Blog with Jonathan Carbutti

Showing posts with label Home Seller Tips. Show all posts

A Home Makeover Contest for Frustrated Sellers

The Carbutti Home Makeover Contest is now open! If you’re a frustrated home seller, you have a chance to win a free home makeover that will help you finally sell that property.

Today I’m excited to announce that we are running a small contest.

We are looking for frustrated home sellers. If you’ve had your house on the market for awhile and it hasn’t sold yet for one reason or another, this contest is for you.

We will do a complete home makeover on your property. Our treat.

We’ll bring in a professional home staging company who will bring in new furniture and beautifully redecorate and rearrange your home. We will even paint and make small repairs—with your permission. Remember, all of these updates are on us.

Our goal is to help you sell your home.

We will document the whole process from start to finish. Our goal is to succeed very quickly and sell your home, even if it failed to sell in the first place.

So, how do you enter the contest?

Simply send an email to jonathan.carbutti@gmail.com and include the subject line, “Carbutti Home Makeover Contest.” In the body of the email, briefly explain your situation and include your address and a valid phone number.

Then, we will reach out to you to ask a few more questions and interview you for the contest.

I look forward to reading your submissions and working on your home!

The Importance of Marketing & Positioning Your Home Online

Homes are getting left behind in today’s market because they’re not marketed properly online. There’s a way you can ensure your home doesn’t suffer the same fate.

If you’re a home seller, marketing and positioning your property online in today’s marketplace is critical.

Nobody knows better what buyers are looking for than the buyers themselves. They usually know whether a home is right for them within the first few minutes or even the first 30 to 60 seconds after walking in the front door. The problem is getting them excited enough to actually come see your property in person. If you can’t get them to commit to physically seeing your property, they’ll never have a chance fall in love with it.

One of the problems we’ve been experiencing in the marketplace is gorgeous properties being marketed and positioned all wrong. There are buyers in the marketplace whom these properties are perfect for, but these buyers overlook these properties because of the quality of their photos or videos or they lack professional photography and/or videos altogether.

There’s never been a better time to market your home online.

There has never been a better time to market your home online, and we can help you do it the right way. Our team offers professional photography, professional video services, professional floor plans, and 360-degree matterport videos that people can view from the comfort of their own home.

If you’re looking at selling your home and you’re looking to work with a professional real estate marketing company and not just a real estate agent, give us a call. We’d love to help you sell your house for top dollar.

Happy New Year

Happy New Year!

It’s the start of a new year, and I wanted to give you an important real estate tip. The spring market starts now! Even if you’re thinking about putting your house on the market in May or June, you should be speaking with a real estate professional now, to come up with a game-plan.

If you’re thinking about putting your home on the market, please contact us for a free consultation. We’ll be happy to set up an appointment with you to go over the value of your home, and our marketing plans.

How Do Professional Home Staging Companies Work?

We recently took a vacant home and had it professionally staged before it hit the market. Today, I wanted to introduce you to Jennifer Napolitano with Design House Interiors, the company that staged the property.

Jennifer is a certified home stager. She knows that selling a home can sometimes be very daunting. When people come into your home, they might not know where to put their furniture or how it’s going to look, which makes things very stressful for the buyers as well. Certain layouts and rooms can be difficult to stage, but home stagers are here to help you figure it out.

For example, keep in mind that scale is very important. You need the right-sized pieces in each room so that the rooms appear bigger and functional. Having the right furniture in each space also shows buyers the traffic patterns in the home.

When you work with Design House Interiors, you also get the benefit of working with professional interior designers. Jennifer and her team can help you make your home look great by choosing fresh, trendy pieces to make your home pop. Your home will be showroom-ready when it hits the real estate market.

This particular house had an island in the kitchen, and it is a nice-looking piece of furniture that stands out. When you are working with the bedrooms, it can be difficult to figure out where to put the bed because the bed is the focal point of the room. It needs to make a statement and look beautiful.

For this house, Jennifer and her team decided to put the bed a little off-center on the wall. It’s a great focal point and the buyer can still see that there is plenty of room to add a dresser and still walk around the space.

They also created an easy flow in the dining room by using a circular dining room table. As you can see in the video above, home staging is an absolute must to help buyers figure out how they can best utilize the space for their family.

Your home will be showroom-ready when it hits the market.

This home sold three days after it hit the market, so I want to say a huge thank you to Design House Interiors. If you need to stage your home or if you have any questions about interior design, visit their website at designhousect.com or visit their showroom at 6 North Main Street in Wallingford.

As always, if you have any real estate questions, please don’t hesitate to reach out to me. I would be happy to help you!

Where Is the Connecticut Market Heading?

There are many great New Haven County area homes for sale. 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 me at (203) 269-4910 x 12 for a FREE home buying or selling consultation to answer any of your real estate questions.

October is here, so I thought it might be a good time to take a look at where the market has been over the last few months and where it might be heading!

The average days on the market are increasing here in Connecticut, as they are across the country due to school starting and the colder weather starting to take hold. In New Haven County, the median list price is around $260,099 and the market action index is at about 30.1.

In other words, it seems to be pretty even between inventory and the number of buyers in the marketplace. Some of the properties are sitting on the market a little bit longer, inventory is growing, and we will see less activity on the buying side as we get closer to the holidays, which is traditionally what happens.

If you're a seller right now, you're definitely going to get market value as far as price is concerned. Buyers are buying properties right now, but now is not the time to try and set a sales record for your given neighborhood by getting the highest price that's ever been had.

Buyers right now are very educated and are looking at a lot of the same information you're looking at. There is something to be understood about putting your house on the market: any house is going to get the most activity and the highest and best offer in the first couple weeks if everything is done right.

Keep in mind that there is a fine line between pushing the envelope on price, which we can definitely do, and overpricing your home. The last thing you want to do is cross that line and overprice your home, and that's really where the real estate professional comes in.

Right now, the most popular homes are four-bedroom/two-bathroom upgrader homes. There are a lot of first-time home buyers who bought a home five to seven years ago, they've outgrown the house, and they now need a bigger, four-bedroom home. Many of these people are looking now, as it's a great time to buy due to low interest rates.

What Questions Do You Have About Homeowner's Insurance?

Hey everyone, thanks for joining us today. I am happy to be joined by Frank Apuzzo, with Ferguson and McGuire Insurance, who is here to answer some questions we have received lately. A lot of first-time home buyers are out there looking for a home in our market, so we wanted to give you all some good information on where to start when it comes to getting your homeowner's insurance policy.

What are some of the questions a first-time home buyer should be asking an insurance professional?

First off, you should find a local agent or broker in your area that has access to multiple insurance carriers so you can make sure you're being covered by a reputable company. You also want to make sure the company will be able to pay if you have a claim. The company should be an "A-rated" insurance company.

What should you be looking to get covered on a good homeowner's insurance policy?

A lot of first-time home buyers call and tell us their agent told them they just need hazard insurance, which covers the structure of the home and the mortgage in the event of a loss. To make sure you have the right policy, you'll also want to notify the insurance company of any upgrades to the home. They will also want to make sure your wiring is safe and new and your heating and ventilation is up-to-date.

What are some hurdles that first-time buyers experience?
One of the biggest questions first-time buyers have about their policy is, "Why do I have to pay for my Homeowner's insurance in full?" Well, the insurance companies don't care who is paying it or how, they just want it paid in full. When you pay it all at once, the leftover money will be held in escrow. In essence, you are paying for your policy in advance.

What are some advantages of hiring a local insurance agent?

One of the best advantages is that you can have someone that goes out and inspects the home in person before you list. This way, there are no surprises when it comes to getting coverage.

If you have any questions for us at all, feel free to give us a call or send us an email. If you have any questions for Frank, give him a call at (203) 537-7194. We look forward to speaking with you soon!

Has Your Home Been on the Market for Months Without Selling?

I've been speaking with a lot of frustrated buyers here in New Haven and Fairfield County. A lot of homes are hitting the market and not selling, but you should know that it's not a problem with you or your home.

We've been selling properties that have been sitting on the market. Just the other day we got a home that had been on the market for 10 months, and we sold it in 5 days.

The reason I'm telling you this is because there are certain steps that need to be taken in order to sell your home. It's not just about re-listing with another agency and dropping the price.

All you need to do is re-position your house with professional photography, professional video, and 13 month home warranties. We have a proven track record of selling homes like these.

Now is a great time to sell in New Haven and Fairfield County. We have a lot of pent-up demand and there are also a lot of frustrated buyers that are looking for a home but simply haven't found it yet.

If you're thinking of selling, let's start a conversation. Give us a call or send us an email, we would be more than happy to help you start the selling process.

Having a Home Warranty Makes Your Home More Attractive to Buyers

If you want to make your New Haven County home more attractive to potential buyers, you should consider purchasing a home warranty. This takes a lot of risk off the shoulders of potential buyers and may help you sell your home quicker.

Here at Carbutti & Company Realtors, we offer a warranty through Home Warranty of America (HWA). It includes 13 months of extensive coverage on a variety of appliances, which includes roof, furnace, plumbing, and electrical repairs. The warranty company offers 6 months of coverage for the seller so that if anything goes wrong with the appliances while we are trying to sell your home, they will send someone out to repair them.

Most real estate agents and brokers will offer a home warranty where the seller has to pay for it. If you work with us, we offer a 13-month home warranty to you and cover the whole cost of the policy - it comes directly out of our commission. A warranty is not only convenient because of its practicality, but also because of the peace of mind it gives you as a homeowner, knowing some of the more expensive fixes are covered.

If you would like to learn more about how a home warranty can benefit you, don't hesitate to get in contact with us. We'd be glad to help.

June Real Estate Market Update for Connecticut

The real estate market in Connecticut is constantly changing. It's hard to keep track of on a day-to-day basis, but I have already done that work for you. What I want to do is give you some relevant and important information so you can make informed decisions in this dynamic marketplace.

Right now we are in the midst of our busiest season of the year. The demand for homes, specifically 4 bedroom, 2.5 bathroom homes, continues to rise. We have a very low inventory of these homes, which we call "upgrade buyer homes".

As we move into the summer months, kids are either getting out of school for the summer or have graduated and are moving out. Now is the time when buyers are looking to either upgrade or downsize their homes. If you have the type of home we are looking for, you can take serious advantage of this market trend.

If you have a 4 bedroom, 2.5 bathroom home that's at least 2,000 square feet and is located ANYWHERE in Connecticut, I can guarantee you an honest, realistic estimate of what your home may sell for in this market.

Contact me today and I can assist you with every aspect of selling your home and put you at ease when you release your home on the market.

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