10 Tips for Selling Your Home When You Have Little Ones

Prepping the home before it goes on the market: 1. Give yourself 2 full weeks to clear clutter from your home. This includes two weekends, so there is plenty of time to donate, sell on Craigslist, or find a needy family in your area.

2. Once you’ve cleared the clutter, put another 25% in storage. You are moving anyway, so pack like you are moving in a week. Only keep out necessities. Small kids (and pets) will quickly forget some of their less favorite toys, and it will be a bonanza when they get to play with them again at the new house.

3. Stage and Rearrange.  Have a stager consult with you and your Realtor, and either rent pieces from them, like a more formal set up for the living room, or have them rearrange your own furniture. No, this is not how you live in the house. Yes, this will get the house sold faster!

4. Professional Photography and Marketing. Having your home captured by TrueView will make a huge difference. Professional photos, full video tours that give buyers an accurate view of the home, and a great website detailing the home and neighborhood are all key to getting the great points of the home across. You will only have to have the whole house completely spotless for one day, and buyers can keep going back to the marketing to remember the house, instead of multiple visits to your home to make up their minds.

While your home is for sale:

5. Give yourself a two hour notice for showings.  One hour notice is standard, but one hour notice is really stressful when you have three kids, clutter, naps etc. 24 hours is ideal, but it keeps away the buyers who happen to drive by your home while looking at others. Two hours will give you a chance to let kids wake up, or take a nap while you clean up. Also, be honest with the agent who will be showing, you never know if the buyer is on the way to the airport and needs to see your home in the next 15 minutes while you drive around the neighborhood!

6. Have a checklist for what to do when you get a showing notification. When you only have an hour or two, every minute counts. This should include making beds, checking bathrooms, taking out stinky garbage, wiping down all counters, and shoving stuff in totes, baskets, drawers, etc.

7. Keep the kids busy while the real work gets done. I'm sure there is a child out there who can really help clean and get a house ready in 2 hours. I haven't met them yet, so for everybody else, get the children occupied with no-mess play (TV and iPads work great!). If they are old enough be honest about why it's important to clean up. If they are little, then they probably won't even notice.

8. Have some nice music playing softly. Help set the mood with quiet music. Add fresh scents with subtle air fresheners and fresh flowers and your home as now become someone else's dream retreat.

9. Stage your playroom. Don't try to hide that there are children or babies living there, but show off the best version of how the play space is used. The whole idea with staging is to have people think that this is how the home will be when they live there, not the reality of toy explosions in every room.

10. Keep your trunk clear. Even with the 2 hour notification requirement, you'll still have the last minute request, and having an empty trunk lets you scoop up a bunch of junk, or items you don't want to loose like bills, and stash it on your way out. Just remember to clean the trunk back out after the showing.

If you have any questions about selling your home, please feel free to contact me at BethJSilva@gmail.com.

Little House Big Heart

You don't need a giant footprint to make your mark on the world. We dispatched our media team on a quest to capture the cozy, crafty spaces of our favorite little Portland houses, all marketed and sold by M Realty.

The team returned with these punchy glimpses into creative living. Whether it’s a crackling fire conjuring the feeling of a vintage cottage dwelling or something sleek, modern and stainless steel that captures your imagination, there’s no denying these homes have heart.

Traverse the compact facades inviting you inside over original hardwood floors into snug bedrooms, then out into private backyards lush with opportunity for quiet escapes with the satisfaction of a thriving garden or an old-fashioned neighborly barbecue.

Whether remodeled with current amenities or featuring the hardy fixtures of an enduring generation, these homes were constructed with an idea of community at their cores. They provoke a spirit of collaboration, enticing you to add your own expression to the space, making it truly unique. Making it yours.

Fall into stride with the media team as they explore these proud featherweight houses, showcasing the heart and promise each eager home boasts to those who step aboard. It’s our honor to showcase what’s special about every one of our listings regardless of price or size.

And it’s easy to root for the square-footage underdogs when they’re this charming.

Success Stories - 7527 SE Harrison Street

We made it. Phew. Like many of us, the owners of this awesome 1901 Mt. Tabor farmhouse were not able to sell their home for the price that worked for them in 2008-2009. After 263 days on the market, they chose to rent rather than sell.

After the tenants vacated the property, the owners contacted us. They wanted fresh eyes and input on their situation. We met with the owners and decided the time was right for their needs to re-list the farmhouse, even though it was just before Christmas. We staged the home beautifully, produced captivating print materials and website, and pushed it out into the world. We put the farmhouse on the market knowing that there may be fewer buyers, but anybody looking days before Christmas would be serious. Within 3 days of listing the home we had a solid offer, and closed January 18.

Expand Super Flyer

The real estate market is back with pizazz, especially in the inner Portland neighborhoods like Mt. Tabor. Good homes staged to enhance their best features and spaces, presented with beauty, and priced wisely sell. There are ample buyers ready to take advantage of the low interest rates, but struggling to find their next home because of the inventory shortage.

If you are wondering if the timing is right for you to sell your home, give me a call today.

Marketing is Everything

Marketing truly does make a difference when it comes to selling homes. Number of days on the market and sale price are the two important factors to most home buyers when selling their home. At M Realty, the numbers show that when spectacular, consistent marketing combines with a great agent, homes sell faster for more money.

In December, the average number of days on the market for homes in the Portland metro area was 100 days. For M Realty, the average days on market was 36 days less at 64 days on the market. Selling faster means more money in your pocket--one less mortgage payment, less selling expenses, and less hassle.

Open publication - Free publishing - More home

Exceptional marketing, both online and in print, helps your home stand out among the rest on the market. We do this by telling the story of every home we sell at M Realty, big or small, new or old. There's a buyer out there for your home, and a quality presentation of what your home has to offer will find the ideal buyer sooner.

Listing an Eastmoreland Home

Telling the story of a home in pictures and text is the key to marketing effectively. At M we are focusing on beautiful materials: Print and Online. We are also focusing on CONTENT. Content is key, and all the materials would be wasted if once someone started reading there was just fluff or made no sense. Here is a sample of the story of 6900 SE 28th Ave, ML# 12058544.

"This gracious colonial is situated on a large beautifully landscaped private lot in Eastmoreland. The details throughout the home are extraordinary and correct for the vintage and style.The home is great for entertaining year around. French doors open from the formal living room to a large covered patio and level yard. The backyard and main patio can be accessed from the great room off of the kitchen. The master bedroom is exquisite with gorgeous built-ins, window seat, fireplace and private patio. It boasts generous closet space. The home is perfect for the person who appreciates classic architecture and craftsmanship. This is a rare gem and an opportunity to live in one of Portland’s finest neighborhoods. This home is located near Reed College, Berkeley Park, Eastmoreland Market, Eastmoreland Golf Course and the Springwater Corridor."

You can probably picture parts of this home in your mind, but looking at the actually photos is more fun:

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If you'd like mor info on how I can tell the story of your home in order to sell it quickly and for the best price, call me at 503-367-1877.

Stage Your Home, Even If You Have Good Taste

Staging a vacant or not so cute house is obvious, but your house is lovely. Special. Decorated Perfectly. To your taste, as it should be since you live there. But you are moving, and someone else has to find it lovely, special and decorated perfectly. For their taste, whatever that may be. Staging makes a home appealing to the widest variety of buyers. If done well, it highlights the best parts of the home, shows the best use for every space, and makes it the place where every buyer wants to stay. Permanently.

Don't think of it with a whoa is me my agent doesn't like my house. It is the same as hiring a professional to design a new product for the market.

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This staging has been done by Spade and Archer Design Agency. I know that whatever the style or price range of a listing, they can capitalize on the features of the house and feel of the neighborhood to make a home pop.

Behind the Scenes of a Listing Video Shoot

Real estate videos can be very cliche- and usually not video at all but a slideshow of the still photos. My goal as a listing agent is to make the highest quality and most effective marketing to sell homes, and this includes high end video. It takes several people to make a great listing video that tells the story of a home. We like to make at least two videos: the highlights and the full tour. The highlights video focuses in on the major selling points of a property, such as a gourmet kitchen, great master suite, or killer back yard. The full tour walks the viewer through the entire property from the front door, not missing a room or feature, all the way to back yard. This is a few of us from M at a video shoot, we took several hours to make the videos, and you can see us all staying out of the way of the camera on the roof top deck.

This is the first property we did this extensive video shoot for with in house production. I think we have improved since we shot this, but even with this first attempt we still had about 1000 video views on YouTube, as well as sold the house in 6 days.