As a Home Stager, my job is to look at the Sellers house through
the eyes of the most discriminating home buyer and give the Seller
my honest and professional recommendations on all of the improvements
that can be done in the house to position the house to be more
competitive and appeal to the greatest range of potential buyers in
the target market.
The final decisions as to what suggestions are or are not implemented
are entirely up to the Seller.
I had a Home Staging Consultation recently, a listing that had expired.
After the Consultation, the very motivated Seller implemented the majority
of the suggestions and the house sold firm in 3 days.
The more motivated the Seller, the more suggestions they are apt to
implement. The more suggestions they implement, the more apt
the house is going to sell faster and for a higher price.
Home Staging can help, but in the end, it’s up to the Seller.
Peel Region will ask Ottawa and Queen’s Park to extend for another year a home ownership program that’s geared to low-income residents.
In May 2008, Peel received $2.85 million under the Canada-Ontario Affordable Housing program (AHP).
Dubbed “Home in Peel,” the initiative set out to provide 282 applicants with up to $10,000 of forgivable down payment assistance towards the purchase of a resale home.
Peel received 807 applications since the program’s startup. Some 282 applications have been approved with 80 offers of purchase completed.
However, with the program set to expire on March 31, officials say Peel needs more time to ensure the remaining applicants secure homes.
“This program was administratively heavy in its start up and the time involved in obtaining financing approval, house hunting, sale negotiation and closing times (added) to the process,” stated a report handed to councilors recently.
Home in Peel is designed to give low- to moderate-income residents, who are currently renting, a chance to enter the housing market.
Of the 80 homes purchased, 39 have been purchased in Mississauga, 41 in Brampton and zero in Caledon.
The average annual income of purchasers who submitted an offer of purchase is $43,405 and the average sale price for homes bought is $196,882, staff reported.
The homes purchased include five detached homes, seven semi-detached, 44 townhouses, five town houses and 19 high-rise condominiums. Condos Mississauga.
Initially, the program was restricted to people with a household income of less than $62,600, and the home could cost no more than $208,000.
However, regional councilors joined other municipal politicians in asking senior levels of government to improve the criteria in order to “increase the pool of eligible recipients.”
As such, both the federal and provincial governments raised the maximum household income to $75,800 and the maximum resale purchase price for a home to $247,500.
The government also decided to hike up the down payment assistance amount to $10,000, up from the $8,500 initially set out.
Region officials have deemed the program a success. According to region staff, 30 of the 80 new homeowners previously lived in social housing projects paying market rent.
~Torstar Network
A very important part of Home Staging is the de-cluttering.
De-cluttering is high on the list of important things to do, to
get your house ready to put on the market.
All extra “stuff” should be removed. Clutter eats space and
space is a selling feature. De-cluttering makes the rooms,
their size and volume of space feel bigger. When the house
is de-cluttered potential buyers can focus on the selling features
of the house and not on the “stuff” or the possible lack of closet
and cupboard storage.
All closets, cupboards and drawers that are attached to the house
need to be de-cluttered as the potential buyers could look inside.
Leave only the items necessary, pack and put the rest in storage.
The easiest way to describe the desired look is a store shelf for
cupboards. Items of similar size and shape together, stacked and
organized neatly.
Refrain from buying in bulk (eg. toilet paper, etc., Costco size) while
your house is on the market. This extra bulk takes up precious space
which could give the buyer the impression you house is short on
storage space.
