Selling a Probate Property:

What Improvements Should I Make Before Selling

 

a Probate or Trust Property?

Part 2 of 10

 

Who doesn’t want to get the most money possible from the sale of their San Diego probate or trust real estate property? That’s certainly been a goal of all of my real estate sales.

One of the best ways to increase your bottom dollar is to make some inexpensive improvements to your probate or trust property before listing it for sale.

You are in the right place if you want to know the best way to spend a little bit of money, in order to make a lot of money. This is one of the most common questions I’m asked from personal representatives of an estate. Read on to learn how to turn $50 into $1,700!

I’ve written this series to discuss the Top 10 Home Improvements with the Largest Return. The National Association of Realtors (NAR) recently conducted a survey on this very topic. I’ve analyzed their results to determine how these would apply to sellers of probate and trust real estate in San Diego.

 

#9 of 10 Most Popular Renovations Buyers Will Pay More For:

 

 Eat-In Kitchen

 

Once again 40% of San Diego homebuyers will pay over $1,700 for a San Diego house with space for eating in the kitchen.

 Many San Diego probate or real estate in a trust properties have an area that is just begging to be staged beautifully as a place for San Diego homebuyers to enjoy their morning coffee or a simple meal. San Diego homebuyers shopping for a home with eat-in space in the kitchen range in age from 35-54 with 30% of those prospective homebuyers considering it “very important” to their San Diego home purchase.

When possible, why not give it to them by setting the stage with a rug, table with dishes, a bowl of fruit and updated window treatments?

Some inexpensive ideas that we’ve used to stage our San Diego listings include:

• locate a plastic 48” outside table (it doesn’t even matter if it is stained or covered with paint because the next step is to cover it with a large (queen or king size) solid color sheet
• when there is a chandelier in the space, center the table under the chandelier and if possible, make sure the distance between both is approximately 34”
• find a large bowl and since we are in Southern California, a free option is to go out into the yard and pick lemons to fill the bowl
• if there are some nice dishes available, set the table by stacking dishes as place settings; large dinner plate, smaller sandwich plate and a bowl
• when a curtain rod is already installed, change out dated window treatments for something more modern; two great places to obtain inexpensive curtains are Ross or TJMaxx

The only expense for this plan would be the window treatments. The cost could be less than $25.00 per pair. Much of the time, we don’t even use chairs!

Remember we are “staging” the house; giving the San Diego homebuyer a clear use of each of the homes spaces. Setting the stage for an eating area is simple and as you can see, very cost effective.

 

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This is one of the many ideas that my team and I employ when we help personal representatives. The really good news is, when a personal representative chooses to list their San Diego real estate for sale with us, we have many of the staging materials and we have the skills to transform the probate or trust property.

Experience shows when working towards maximizing the net proceeds for the San Diego probate or real estate in a trust, much of the time simple, inexpensive changes can really make a difference. This easy tip could make the difference of $1,700 and one of those 40% of San Diego homebuyers falling in love with your probate or trust house.

If you have questions about Probate and Trust Real Estate, staging a home to sell or what improvements you should make before listing your property, call us! 619-741-0111 We want to help.