Peggy Chirico ~ Hartford & Tolland County Real Estate Blog

Selling an Empty House?

We all know that furnished homes (especially staged homes) sell faster than empty homes. But finding furniture can be an expensive and cumbersome project.

Well, in this morning's newspaper, there was an article about a young entrepreneur in New Haven CT who makes cardboard furniture! The company is Chairigami, which was the brainchild of Zach Rotholz, who has a mechanical engineering degree from Yale University. He has yet to get his business off the ground, but I think he could hit the jackpot in selling cardboard furniture to anyone involved in a real estate transaction.

The furniture is easy to assemble, it's very sturdy (you can actually sit on it or use it), and very reasonable priced. For stagers and REALTORS®, it folds flat so it's easy to store and it can be used over and over again. Granted, the furniture isn't exactly decorative, but it would give someone an idea about furniture placement, space, etc.  And who knows, with a cover, the furniture might actually look like the real deal.

It may not be everyone's taste, but it's a fascinating new idea.

Here is the website:  Chairigami

Selling an empty house?

Advice for Sellers:  Clean out under the kitchen sink!

Kitchens are busy places, and the cabinet under the kitchen sink can be difficult to keep clean.  But if you are thinking about putting your house on the market (or maybe it already is on the market), think about giving that cabinet an overhaul.

1) Take everything out and throw out anything you no longer use.  You might find old dog biscuits that your dog doesn't even like, half-used containers of dishwasher detergent, or a flashlight with corroded batteries.

2) Wash down all the walls and floor.  The floor of the cabinet under the sink can get a lot of abuse that no amount of scrubbing will fix.  If that's the case with the floor of your cabinet, think about buying sticky tiles to provide a new surface. For about $1 each at a home improvement storre, you can cut them to fit, peel the backing off, stick them to the surface, and have a nice clean cabinet floor.

3) Check to make sure there are no leaks in the pipes.  Run the water and see if there are any drips and, if so, get them fixed.

4) Look over the waste basket.  Make sure it's clean or get a new one.

5) Organize whatever you put under the sink by placing them in small storage containers to neaten up the space.

The cabinet under the kitchen sink is often an overlooked area, but buyers will look there, and so will home inspectors.  Clean out under the kitchen sink now, so you don't have to do it later.

Advice for Sellers ~ Check Out Your MLS Listing

This morning, as usual, I was checking out all the expired real estate listings in the areas I serve.  One of expired listings had a picture taken in winter, complete with snow on the roof, as the main picture!

What does this tell you?  That the agent doesn't care enough about your listing to upload a current picture.  Is it any wonder that the listing expired?  What else was not done to sell the house? 

When buyers (and their agents) see a house that has been on the market a long time, it's not unusual for them to think there is something wrong with the house--or else someone would have bought it by now.  If the pictures have at least been changed, buyers (and their agents) may be more likely to check out the listing.  When they see snow on the roof and it is July, they know it's been on the market a long time!

Sellers are paying good money (if the house sells) and they deserve better than that.  While I don't think sellers should have to check up on their agents, sometimes they must.  It's not enough in this market to have a good spiel at the listing presentation, put the house on the MLS, and then never look at it again.

So my advice for sellers is to periodically check out your MLS listing, make sure the information is accurate, and look at the pictures as a potential buyer might.  If it's July and 100 degrees in the shade, your MLS pictures should not look like this: