Clean everything thoroughly. Ask a friend to help you assess your efforts—especially in sensitive areas such as odor removal.
Put out clean towels, new soap, a nice tablecloth and fresh flowers.
Don’t be at home during a showing or open house. Your absence will put buyers at ease so they’ll feel free to linger and ask questions.
If you do stay, be polite, but let your sales associate do the talking.
Don’t apologize for the condition of your home.
Make sure kids and pets are out of the house.
Unclutter all areas of your home to create an impression of spaciousness and plentiful storage space. A great way to clear away clutter and make money at the same time is to hold a yard or garage sale.
Nothing makes a home look newer faster than a fresh coat of paint. Neutral colors such as beige, white, off-white and gray have a broad appeal to prospective buyers. These colors suggest newness and cleanliness. It’s a good idea to stick to neutrals when making any improvements prior to selling your home.
Storage
One of the first things a buyer looks at in a home is the storage it offers. A general rule of thumb for sellers is to take out half of what’s in the closets and storage areas to make them look more spacious. Take advantage of the fact that you’re preparing to move. This might be the right time to throw out, donate, sell or store things you no longer want. Remove excess furniture, even if only temporarily, to make rooms seem as spacious as possible.

Storage areas in your basement, attic, or garage often end up as catchalls. Make sure these areas are well organized and give prospective buyers the impression that there is room for all of their belongings. Don’t let a perceived lack of closet and storage space become an objection for a prospective buyer.

Kitchen
Ask home buyers what area or room of the home they consider most important, and chances are they’ll say the kitchen. When prospective buyers look at your kitchen, they will pay particular attention to its cleanliness, layout and storage capacity.

If major appliances are being sold with the home, make sure they are spotless, odor-free and in good working condition. Polish chrome surfaces. Fix any leaky faucets, loose cabinet hardware, drawer handles and outdated or inefficient light fixtures. Make efficient use of drawers and cabinets with dividers and cutlery trays.

Windows & Walls
Clean your interior and exterior windows and screens. Repair cracked panes, torn screens, broken sashes, and ropes or cords as well. When your home is being shown, open your curtains to let daylight in, especially if the view is noteworthy.

While you’re at it, wash all the mirrors in the house too. Launder or dry clean curtains and drapes.

Repair any cracks or holes in the walls and ceiling, and repaint if necessary. Strip outdated wallpaper.

Floors & Lighting
Carpeting has a major impact on the look of a home. Vacuum thoroughly or have it steam cleaned. If it is badly worn, outdated or stained, consider having it replaced, despite the expense. Pull up any carpet that is outdated or worn. Check wood floors to see if they need to be refinished. Scrub and wax tile floors, and repair or replace cracked tiles.

Make sure light fixtures, switches, switchplates and outlet covers are clean and in good working order.

Exterior Touch-Ups
Paint: It’s true that first impresssions are lasting. So take a good look at the paint on the outside of your house. Is it cracking, peeling or chipping?

If it is, a fresh coat for your exterior may cost you a bit of time and money but may elevate your home from “fixer-upper” to “move-in condition.”

If you decide your home needs painting, choose colors that are appropriate for the style of your home and that blend in well with your neighborhood.

Roof: Buyers will pay close attention to the condition of your roof. Repatch or reshingle where necessary, and fix leaky, corroded downspouts and gutters. Inside, a watermarked ceiling is a sign to buyers that the roof has leaked—even if the damage has been repaired.

Taking of long-deferred maintenance tasks before selling usually improves a home’s overall appeal, which can attract more buyers for a quicker sale at a higher price. Sellers typically do pre-sale fix-up as quickly and inexpensively as possible. This can lead to cost-cutting measures, some of which trigger unwelcome consequences.

For example, one way to keep costs down and shorten the time it takes to get work done is to bypass the permit process. Some contractors charge less if they don’t have to apply for permits, pay the permit fees and wait for building inspectors to sign off on the work when it’s done.

But, consider the downside. A homeowner in the Oakland Hills in Oakland, Calif., expanded his home to increase its market value. He used a licensed contactor but did not take out the required building permits.

The house sold for a good price. But when the appraiser evaluated the property for the buyer’s lender, he reduced the valuation on the addition because it hadn’t been done with permits. Because of this, the house did not appraise for the price the buyer offered.

To save the deal, the seller applied for permits after the fact. He not only had to pay the permit fees he’d hoped to avoid, he also had to pay penalties. In addition, walls had to be opened so that the inspector could confirm that the plumbing and electrical were properly installed. It might have taken a little more time to do the job right the first time, but it definitely would have cost less.

Other issues come into play when sellers sidestep the permit process. Some municipalities won’t issue a final approval for work done with permit if there is a building code violation.

For instance, an Oakland homeowner obtained a permit to replace and relocate a gas furnace. When the city building inspector visited the property to inspect the furnace installation, he noticed electrical wiring near the furnace that didn’t meet code. A contractor from Hayward, Calif., who didn’t apply for a permit, had done the wiring years before and obviously wasn’t well informed on Oakland code requirements. The homeowner had to have the electrical wiring corrected before the city inspector would issue a final clearance for the furnace installation.

If you buy a home where work was done without required permits and you take out a permit to do additional work, you could find yourself paying to correct the past owner’s misdeeds. To guard against this, visit the local planning or building department and ask to see a copy of the permit history on the property. Make sure that you do this before you remove your inspection contingency from the purchase contract so that you’ll have an opportunity to negotiate a satisfactory resolution if there’s a problem.

Another issue is that – depending on where you live – you might not be granted a new permit if there is an outstanding permit that has not received final approval. Recently, the buyer of a Piedmont, Calif., home discovered that the seller had taken out a permit to replace the roof, but the job was never done. The roof either had to replaced and approved or the roofing permit had to be voided by the city building inspector before a new permit would be granted.

In California, home sellers are required to disclose if they are aware of work that was done without required building permits. If you’re buying in a state that doesn’t require this disclosure, it’s even more important to check the permit history before you buy. Be aware that sellers often think that permits were obtained when they weren’t

Most consumers, before they start shopping for an automobile, decide on the brand, model and options they want. They realize that they can’t shop effectively unless they know exactly what they are shopping for.

When they enter the mortgage market, in contrast, where their financial commitment may be 10 times larger, many consumers don’t have a clue as to what they want. They look to the loan provider to guide them through the maze. This dependency is one major reason they often end up with a mortgage that is over-priced and, even worse, does not meet their needs.

Prospective borrowers should ask themselves these eight questions before entering the market:

What type of mortgage should I select?
The major decision is between fixed-rate mortgages (FRMs) and adjustable-rate mortgages (ARMs). ARMs have lower payments in the early years than FRMs but expose borrowers to the risk of higher payments in later years. ARMs with the lowest early-year payments have the greatest risk of future rate and payment increases.
Which mortgage options should I select?
The major options are to waive the obligation to maintain an escrow account for taxes and insurance payments, which will cost you a little; an interest-only payment option, which also costs little; and a prepayment penalty, in exchange for which the lender will usually pay you.
How long of a term should I take?
The term of a mortgage is the period used to calculate the mortgage payment. The longer the term, the lower the mortgage payment but the slower you pay down the balance. Term selection is an issue primarily on FRMs, which are available at terms ranging from 10 years to 40 years. While 15-year and 40-year FRMs exist, most lenders offer only 30-year FRMs.
How many points should I pay?
Points are fees you pay the lender at the time the loan is closed, expressed as a percent of the loan. On a $100,000 loan, two points means a payment of $2,000. The more points you pay, the lower the interest rate. Hence, points should be viewed as an investment on which the return is higher the longer you have the mortgage.
How large a down payment should I make?
The down payment is the difference between the loan amount and the lower of the sale price or appraised value. If you have discretion over how much to put down, the down payment, like points, is best viewed as an investment. Investment in a larger down payment can yield a high return if it flips the loan into a lower mortgage insurance or interest rate category.
If I put less than 20 percent down, what type of mortgage insurance should I select?
Borrowers who put down less than 20 percent are charged for the risk they impose on lenders. However, borrowers often can choose how to pay. One option is to pay a premium to a private mortgage insurance company (PMI) selected by the lender. A second option is to pay the lender a higher interest rate, which is called lender-provided mortgage insurance (LPMI). In this case, the lender purchases insurance from a PMI, though not always. The third option is a “piggyback” arrangement, where the borrower takes out a first mortgage for 80 percent of property value, and a higher-rate second mortgage for the balance of the funds needed.
How long a lock period do I need and when should I lock?
The lock period is the period during which the lender guarantees the rate and points: the longer the lock period, the higher the price. Borrowers must choose when to lock and for how long.
What documentation requirements should I seek?
A lender’s “documentation requirements” stipulate the information about the borrower’s finances that must be provided and how this information will be verified, and then used by the lender. Lenders offer choices ranging from “full documentation” to “no-docs.” Because the risk to the lender rises as documentation requirements become less stringent, the price of the mortgage rises correspondingly. Borrowers may or may not have any leeway, depending on what documentation they can provide.Jack Guttentag

Encompass Realty, encompassrealty.com, residential, commercial, Arizona Real Estate, Encompass Mortgage, encompassmortgage.net

Clothes jammed onto the pole, shoes dumped on the floor, belts tangled on a shelf like a nest of snakes. Must your closet be such a mess?

Not if Meryl Starr has anything to say about it. Starr, a professional organizer and the author of the Home Organizing Workbook, makes her living showing clients how to bring daylight to black holes. “I help people organize their lives,” says Starr, who once visited a house so packed that there was literally no place to sit. ("They wanted me to reorganize the pantry,” she says.) In the process, she occasionally turns up misplaced treasures. “One of my clients had lost a very expensive brooch,” says Starr. “I took a pair of shoes from her top shelf, heard something, turned the shoe over – boom! Out came the brooch.”

But the real fun begins when Starr goes shopping for the stuff that goes in the closet. Organizing systems and gadgets, part of a $3-billion-plus industry, include everything from plastic hooks and wire shelves to cherry-wood cabinets and granite-topped islands. You can spiff up your space for as little as $200 (for an extra rod and a few shelves and bins) or as much as $30,000 (for a bespoke closet worthy of Savile Row suits).

On a tour of showrooms near New York City, Starr investigates the many ways to whip your closets into shape.

Carpentry for klutzes
First stop: the Container Store, part of a Texas-based chain that sells more than 40 styles of hangers and enough boxes, baskets and bins to organize a landfill. For Starr, who sorts her own clothes by color, length and season, this place is a neatnik’s paradise. “It’s laid out and outfitted just beautifully,” she says, “and the accessories are endless.”

The main draw, however, is the Elfa closet system, an array of steel-wire baskets, shelves and trays that attach to vertical tracks for almost goof-proof installation. Unlike some of the “big box” stores, which also sell wire shelving, the Container Store designs the system according to your measurements, cuts the tracks for you and sends you home with every last screw. “That’s the beauty of the system,” says Starr.

Even so, you have to consider how much infrastructure one small space can take. For a 6- by 2-foot reach-in closet, for instance, Starr recommends shelves or boxes for shoes rather than a shoe rack. “I’d add a couple of pullout drawers down the middle or baskets down the side,” she says. “And I’d usually want separate spaces for long hanging clothes and short hanging clothes.” Many reach-in-closet designs subdivide half of the vertical space with two short rods and reserve the other half for long hanging clothes.

The hit for all that hardware? You’ll pay about $400 to outfit a 6- by 2-foot closet with four baskets, three rods and four shelves, and $700 for the same system gussied up with walnut or birch trim, in an upgrade called Décor. A 6- by 8-foot walk-in closet could accommodate 12 baskets, four hanging areas and 16 shelves, for a total cost of $1,500 to $2,300.

As for accessories, your closet is virtually naked without wooden hangers for shirts and jackets ($10 for six), clamp hangers for skirts and pants ($3 each), a few plastic shoe bins ($8 each), canvas boxes for scarves and purses ($16 to $20), and a pullout tie rack ($30). All that, plus the baskets, shelves and rods, gives you an industrial-chic, 6- by 8-foot closet for less than $2,500.

‘Who wouldn’t want a closet like that?’
Hmmm. Starr has just arrived at the next showroom, in Hawthorne, N.Y., and already the Container Store’s approach seems a little … strenuous. California Closets, the first and largest custom-closet franchiser, woos its clients with Jeeves-like solicitude. Not only does it send a designer to your home to pore over your wardrobe and come up with a closet blueprint, but it also cuts and finishes the cabinetry offsite and installs it for you. Installation typically takes about two hours. And with its smooth-gliding drawers, hefty hardware and precision-hung cabinetry, “it’s a sturdy, rich-looking system,” says Starr. “Who wouldn’t want a closet like that?”

Actually, purists might have one quibble: Like most closet companies, California Closets relies mostly on a dense composite known as melamine, rather than solid wood. The material, which can be detailed with raised panels and crown molding and is available in a cherry, walnut or mahogany finish, starts at about $100 per linear foot. Wood or wood veneer, also available at California Closets, will cost you at least three times as much. A small, bare-bones closet furnished with melamine costs as little as $500. With solid mahogany, the same setup might run $5,000.

Either way, you can easily spend another $2,000 or more on closet accouterments, says Ginny Snook Scott, a California Closets vice-president. She notes that with some closets, the accessories outprice the cabinetry.

Starr hankers after the extendable valet rod ($40 to $80) for setting aside the dry cleaning, and the pullout mirror ($200 to $500) for quick outfit appraisals. An island makes a nice addition if you have the space (at least 10 by 10 feet) and costs $500 and up; built-in shoe cubbies look spiffy but can be limiting for the bigfoot in the family. “I’d use shelves for the shoes and the cubbies for wine bottles,” says Starr with a smile.

Kid-friendly cabinets
Closet coveting aside, are you really going to spend two or three grand on a kid who thinks the hamper is for practicing foul shots? Probably not, which is why our shopping tour also includes Target. Starr points out stackable drawers, canvas shelves, sock organizers, lidded boxes and lined baskets for as little as half the price of comparable items at the Container Store. “They’re not as sturdy, but these are functional products,” she says. “They’re great for a college student or a teenager’s room, or for a short-term apartment. For the price, they work.”

Indeed, California Closets has made its own foray into Target. The discount store carries California Closets’ life:stuff:storage line, a collection of free-standing cabinets that fit under an existing pole in a closet or stack up as a set. The ready-to-assemble melamine units lack the thick, dense gravitas of California Closets’ high-end version and can be tricky to put together, according to feedback about the California Closets system posted on Target’s Web site. On the other hand, says Starr, “the system looks nice, and you can take it with you if you move.”

Starr suggests starting with a couple of base units, such as the pullout shelves ($80) and a set of drawers ($120); her own teen-ager, Alyson, chose a cubby-and-drawer unit from Target ($45), which she constructed herself. Add a few fabric cubes ($40 for six), a set of 30 wooden hangers ($20) and an over-the-door organizer ($8), and you’ve got an under-$300 setup with a bonus that’s priceless: Now your kid has no excuse for leaving those clothes on the floor.Jane Bennett Clark