A Note From The SBAOR President: Ten tricks for showing your home that makes it pop

from House & Home: February 27, 2022

Style at Home: Farm fresh styles for spring

By Bob Walsmith, Jr.

President of the Santa Barbara Association of REALTORS®

To view this weekend’s Open Home Guide and all other Real Estate for sale or rent go to:newspress.com – click on Special Editions, House & Home GOLETA SOUTH

Ten Tricks for Showing Your HomeThat Makes it Pop!

Here’s what you can do to get your home ready for its big reveal, whether it be an open house or showings!

1.Time It Right

Showings and even some open houses are by appointment these days and might limit the number of people in your place at once. To maximize traffic, avoid having your open house during holidays, big community events or unofficial “holidays” like Super Bowl Sunday.

2.Let Your REALTOR® Take the Lead

In your own personal Home Show, your REALTOR® has two roles. To you, they are the director, giving you instructions on how to prepare for visitors and what to do during the event. To buyers, your REALTOR® is the host. They will welcome viewers, introduce your home’s impressive features, and take questions from the audience.

The job of your REALTOR®, an expert on your local real estate market and what makes buyers tick, is to take care of the rest.

Your REALTOR® can also stage a broker’s open house on your behalf. Unlike standard open houses, where buyers can stop by, at broker’s open houses, only REALTORS® are invited to attend.

3.There are two main benefits of having a broker’s open house:

•It gives your listing more exposure. •It allows you to get feedback from real estate agents on your home. •Try Some Simple Staging

You want your home to look its best while it’s on the market — especially during the open house. Many REALTORS® say the best way to primp your home for its big day is to stage it.

Depending on what your REALTOR® recommends, staging may involve renting new furniture or decor for certain rooms in your home. There are also some easy staging tricks you can try on the day of your open house. Consider displaying a bouquet of fresh flowers in the entryway or setting your dining room table to make it look inviting.

4.Clean Like Crazy

When your home is on the market, you need to keep it in showing shape — not only for the open house, but also for any scheduled showings with buyers. Even though you’ve already (hopefully) cleaned and organized your home for its listing photos, there’s a good chance you’ve let clutter or dust pile up again, especially if you have children or pets.

5.Do a Smell Check

If buyers get a whiff of something funky, they’re going to run — not walk — out of your open house or showing. A week prior to the open house, ask your REALTOR® to do an honest, noholds-barred smell check. Some possible smell solutions: •If your house has the aroma of your beloved pet(s), deep clean the carpets, relocate the litter box, and take steps to eliminate all olfactory traces of Fluffy. •If the basement is dank and musty, buy a dehumidifier to remove air moisture and run a fan to circulate the air. •If the kitchen drain stinks, drop in a cup of baking soda, then two cups of white vinegar. Enjoy the bubbling, then let the mixture sit for 20 to 30 minutes. Finally run hot water for 15 to 30 seconds to flush the odor.

6.Put Your Pictures (and Valuables) Away

You want your home to feel cozy and inviting, but not like someone specific (you, for example) is living there. Personal belongings such as family photos, awards, and religious art can distract home buyers and make it harder for them to imagine themselves living in your home.

There’s a safety element to stowing your personal belongings, too: Though your REALTOR® will be at the open house, you’re inviting strangers into your home. Secure valuable and medications away.

7.Let the Light In

Light doesn’t only (literally) brighten up your space. It also makes rooms look and feel larger. On showing or open house day, open all curtains and blinds to let natural light in. (And in the week before the event, make sure curtains and blinds are squeaky clean.)

8.Give Your House Some Extra Curb Appeal

Buyers will judge your house on its outsides. So, make last-minute improvements to turn up your home’s curb appeal. Cut the grass, prune the trees, and trim the shrubs. Touch up porch fixtures and furniture with a little paint. Heck, paint the whole porch, if your budget allows. Plant new shrubs or set out potted flowers.

9. Draw Attention to Your Home’s Best Features

After your REALTOR® signs in and welcomes buyers to your home, they typically will have some time to wander around on their own. Even though you won’t be there, you can still draw visitors’ attention to features in your home that you’d like to highlight.

10.What to Do During and After Showings

Once you’ve done everything you can to make your house look and feel amazing to buyers — and your REALTOR® is on site to assume their hosting duties — the time during your showings is yours to enjoy. Go to the park, get a three-course lunch, do whatever you like as long as you’re free to take calls.

After the showing ends, your trusted REALTOR® will share with you what questions buyers asked and any comments they overheard by visitors. Buyers’ remarks will likely run the gamut, including some that could be negative. (“Why is the closet such a mess,” for example.)

The important thing is to stay open to buyers’ feedback, and to follow your REALTORS® advice about how to respond. Based on buyers’ reactions, they may recommend that you make certain repairs, do some painting, or invest in additional staging before your next open house. Whatever they advise, it’s not personal — it’s just the business of selling your home.

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Curtis Swan II

New Traditional design is made up of a medley of fantastic pieces, many of which are constantly changing and evolving. However, the roots of New Traditional are always firmly planted in the past. As someone who is inspired by the styles and motifs found throughout history, there is no better style to align myself with and to explore. While the evolution of decor is never done, certain staples tend to hold on through the passing fads. One such item is the ever-charming ginger jar.

Ginger jars have been around long before the English starting using them to bring beauty to their sitting rooms. These must-have accessories originated in China and have been around since at least the Ming Dynasty period (1366-1644) when they were used to transport spices, oil, salt and other goods to Western countries. Now, of course, once Europe saw how beautiful these cargo containers were, they became highly coveted accessories for homes.

The beauty of these jars comes from both their unique shapes and the traditional surface designs. The most classically well-known ginger jar is customarily blue and white with stunning hand-painted designs that often feature human and animal figures, landscapes, blossoms, symbols and much more. Today, no longer are ginger jars only found in blue and white designs but in a variety of patterns and solid colors. While my love for original Asian toile patterns is still going strong, it is certainly fun and exciting to see all the wonderful options you can bring into your home today for your own collection.

One thing that has stayed the same throughout the revival of ginger jars is their stunning form. Known for their easily identifiable high shoulders, small openings and domed lids, they are fabulous additions to any room. With a large range of sizes available, it is easy to work ginger jars into many a display. I love to use medium and small sizes in clusters (usually two or three) to create a statement vignette that provides a pop of elegance to a room. The large and extra-large jar sizes (some are almost as tall as I am!) are perfect for flanking a fireplace or doorway to add a punch of symmetry.

Ginger jars are versatile and perfect for decorating all year long. For everyday use, I enjoy them as stand-alone pieces, but it’s easy to pop off the lids to use them as floral containers. They also make wonderful additions to bookshelves and pair wonderfully with other containers, decorative boxes, and of course, books. The possibilities are endless! And if you haven’t read up on the rich history of these beloved pieces, I highly recommend grabbing a gaiwan of tea — in blue and white of course — and digging in.

Adapted from nellhills.com. Katie Laughridge is the owner of Kansas City interior design destination Nell Hill’s. Contact Katie at info@nellhills.com.

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