Staging a home when you are about to put it on the market can be a daunting task but it doesn’t have to be. If you can’t afford a professional stager there are some simple ways you can stage your own home when you are about to put it up for sale. This week, I show you how you can stage your bathroom with some super easy “pro tips”.
As I have shown homes lately in Ascension Parish and the Greater Baton Rouge areas, I have noticed that many homeowners haven’t highlighted the best features that sell a home, The master bathroom and kitchen are rooms that truly need to be the glowing showcase of a home since these are the areas buyers look for most. You want to get top dollar for your home when selling it, simple staging can help you with your goal.
In this video, Your Real Estate Whisperer (Kristina Smallhorn) shows how to showcase your master bathroom on a budget if you can’t or don’t want to hire a professional home stager.
If you like to see more tips for staging your home including how to remove the smell of dog urine out of the carpet (https://youtu.be/oxwrmie_nNg) be sure to subscribe and hit the notification bell so you won’t miss any of my tips for buying and selling homes.
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Kristina Smallhorn is a licensed REALTOR® with the state of Louisiana in The Greater Baton Rouge MLS, license # 0912122918
eXp Realty LLC,2900 Westfork Dr. Suite 401, Baton Rouge LA 70817
Cell Number: 225-246-1812, Office (225) 412-9982 ext# 149
A closing day checklist for home sellers, Days before the closing of your home when you are selling, there are somethings to remember. Kristina Smallhorn, Your Real Estate Whisperer for Ascension Parish tells you some commonly missed items that sellers should be aware of before closing day.
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Kristina Smallhorn [email protected]
Your Real Estate Whisperer
eXp Realty LLC
2900 Westfork Dr. Suite 401
Baton Rouge LA 70817
225-246-1812
Office (225) 412-9982 ext# 149
Kristina Smallhorn is a licensed REALTOR® with the state of Louisiana
Are Your Buyers Going Blind ‘Cause They Can’t See?
It’s Take A Tip Tuesday!
Hi, I’m Kristina Smallhorn, your Real Estate Whisperer for Ascension Parish. We all know that we wanna show our house in the best light possible, but if the light can’t come through because your blinds are dirty, then that could hinder some buyer saying, “Wow, it’s dark in this house.”
I mean, let’s be honest. The blinds would have to be pretty filthy for that to be a real issue, but one of my clients has asked me to find the best way to clean your blinds. It would be, first of all, cheap, secondly of all, fast, and thirdly of all, easy.
Sydney my daughter, is out of school this week and she said she was going to help me find a way to clean the blinds. I figured since she’s a helper, that would help with time. We’re gonna try some different methods that people have suggested to clean your blinds in your house. Let’s get started.
***And We’re now off to the dollar store to get inexpensive supplies.***
We got our supplies at the Family Dollar and they wouldn’t let us film inside the Family Dollar. I don’t know why it’s a requirement not to film in the Family Dollar, but as soon as we walked in the store, she’s like, “You cannot film in our store.” I didn’t know it was such a top secret thing to not film in the Family Dollar. Okay, but we’ll show you our haul when we get home. Don’t tell them what we’re gonna do.
At the Family Dollar, we got plenty of things. Microfiber cleaning sponges, some tongs. How much did everything cost… A $1.00!
When we were at the Family Dollar, my husband suggested he had a very cool way of cleaning the blinds. I thought this would be a fantastic trick to share with everybody for cleaning your blinds. First, you’re gonna take two sponges. With those two sponges, you are going to cut a slit in them. These sponges are microfiber. What you’re gonna do is you’re gonna slide the sponge over the little tongs.
We’re gonna take the tongs and put them so it’s clamped onto a blind, and we’re just gonna slide it across by putting a little bit of pressure on it. This will get all the dust off underneath and above. Oh, look! You can see the dust. That worked really well. There’s one more method I’d like to mention. My mom used to take the whole blind off the wall, and then she’d go out into the driveway, put it on the ground, spray the whole thing with Fantastic, wait a couple minutes, then hose it off. I think that’s a great method for a blind that’s in the kitchen and you have a lot of grease that’s caked on it. But other than that, you can just leave them on the window and use the tongs with the sponges. I think that’s a super method.
Sydney and I, hope you found this trick useful. If you’d like to know more about selling homes here in Ascension Parish, you can always visit at YourRealEstateWhisperer.com. If you’d like to search for homes here in the Ascension Parish area, Click ***Here*** .If you’d like to know more about buying homes here in Ascension Parish, I have a copy of my free e-book***here*** .
My name is Kristina Smallhorn, I’m your Real Estate Whisperer for Ascension Parish. We tell you all this “Because You Matter”!
It’s Take a Tip Tuesday. Does Your House Smell Like Dog Pee?
Hi, my name is Kristina Smallhorn, Your Real Estate Whisperer for Ascension Parish. And if you have animals, you may not even know that your house has a pet odor. And one of the worst odors you can deal with pets is when they have accidents and they have urinated in the house. You may not smell it, but buyers that do not have pets can.
There is a way to get rid of the smell, believe it or not. I discovered this trick from a client of mine who contacted me. She told me that her dog had left quite a mess after being left alone in a room for too long and they had the hardest time getting the smell out. So she gave me these great tips to get that smell out because I have dogs. I thought I would share that with you as well.
So, when it comes to old dog stains, and old dog odors, it seems like they even get stronger the older they get. I know that for this dog, she still is a puppy so we have accidents in the house and it happens. So what you’re going to want to do, if you haven’t caught it when it was still wet. If it’s wet you’re going to want to, you know, pull up the damp spot, but if you didn’t catch it when it was still wet, it’s not too late.
What you do is you take the spot that was dirty. Apparently, she wants to help as well. And you have a spray bottle which I just filled up an empty spray bottle with vinegar. And you’re going to, it’s just white vinegar, so you’re going to … Get out of here. Go. I’m shooting a video here, go. You’re going to spray that spot with vinegar and you’re going to get it pretty wet and of course it does smell like a salad, but it gets that dog urine strong smell out of the carpet. Okay. So of course what that does is kind of reactivate the dog pee. So you’re going to let that sit for a little bit.
Once it sits, for I would say a good 15 minutes, you’re going to take an old rag and you’re going to kind of push on that spot and get all that excess white vinegar out, and then after you have gotten all that excess white vinegar out, then you are going to sprinkle good old baking soda. Remember Mom’s baking soda? And you’re going to push that into the carpet where the white vinegar was. And I would put a good old healthy helping on here. And I kind of like take the rag and kind of push it back into the carpet really deep so it gets really into the carpet fibers there. Kind of like, make almost like a paste of this in there to get that really under the, if you have the carpet pad underneath as well. Let that sit on there until it makes like a crust, okay?
And then once it makes that crust, you’ll see that the baking soda has drawn up all that dog pee that was underneath at the bottom. And then all you do is vacuum it up and it’s done. And you do not have that smell anymore. It’s fantastic. It was a great trick, I was so glad that my client called me and told me about it.
So if you have a home that you have for sale, and the complaints have come in that they smell dog pee in the house, this is a great way, a cheap way to get that dog pee smell out, even out of old, old stains. If you’d like some more tips on selling your home here in Ascension Parish, you could always visit my website at yourrealestatewhisperer.com. If you’d like to get some information about buying homes here in Ascension Parish, you’re more than welcome to download by free e-book, I will put a link to the description above.
My name is Kristina Smallhorn, Your Real Estate Whisperer for Ascension Parish and I tell you all this “Because YOU Matter”!
Kristina Smallhorn
Your Real Estate Whisperer For Ascension Parish, Kristina Smallhorn.
Dirty Grout Lines Making You Crazy When Selling Your Home?
Take A Tip Tuesday- How To Fix The Problem.
If you are thinking of selling your home and happen to be doing “the BIG clean” to get your home ready for the market, you may have noticed that your grout lines (especially where people walk most) are exceptionally grimy. There are many products out there that claim to clean them, but I know from personal experience many of these can damage the tile itself, making the tile lose its shine if the cleaner seeps away from the grout and onto the tile.
To get grout lines clean is a difficult task. In my last home, I had tile countertops, keeping those grout lines clean was nearly impossible. I fought with it for years. By the time we went to sell the home I decided to replace those countertops with granite so I didn’t have to fight the battle any longer. I wished I had known this simple cheap trick to get them clean.
I recently had a client contact me to share her great find to get those grout lines back to new.
All you need is:
A pair of gloves
A bucket of warm water.
Lysol Power Gel
Cleaning Rags
**** Dupont’s Grout Sealer****
You are going to want to put on the gloves first since this is a chemical. Apply the Lysol Power Gel to the grout lines carefully, if it does get on the tile its okay but you don’t want to waste your product. Let the Lysol Power Gel sit on the grout lines for 10 to 15 minutes. You’ll see the grout lines bubble up, that’s how you know its working, getting all that years of grime out of those cracks. When the 10-15 minutes is up you’ll have your bucket of warm water ready and clean cloth rags. You just simply wipe away the Lysol Power Gel and voila!, Good as new grout lines.
Now that your grout lines are back to new you are going to need to reseal the grout. If you don’t you’re really going to have a mess on your hands. I suggest Dupont’s grout sealer, you can pick this up at any hardware store.
I wanted to share this great tip with you, Why? “Because YOU Matter”
If you are looking for information on buying a home here in Ascension Parish, be sure to download my FREE E-Book Click Here>> Free Buyers E-Book To Ascension Parish
If you like to do a full home search of Ascension Parish you can visit: “Full Home Search Here”
To read my weekly blogs with videos you can visit: My Weekly Blogs
My name is Kristina Smallhorn, Your Real Estate Whisperer For Ascension Parish, And I Tell You All This “Because YOU Matter”
Kristina Smallhorn
(Your Real Estate Whisperer)
Cell 225-246-1812
Office 2254129982 ext#149
Website www.yourrealestatewhisperer.com
Email [email protected]
eXp Realty LLC.
2900 Westfork Dr.
Baton Rouge LA 70817 Kristina Smallhorn is a licensed REALTOR with the state of Louisiana, USA.
The Scary Things That Can Happen During A Home Showing.
5 Tips To Keep You And Your Home Safe.
Selling your home is a very exciting time, but not everyone who crosses the threshold of your door has the best intentions when entering it. With Halloween being right around the corner, I thought I’d share some of the scary things that can happen during a home showing and some tips to keep you and your home safe.
May I Take A Look Inside?
So, you are outside mowing your lawn on a Sunday afternoon, and a young couple keeps driving by your home slowly. You figured they must have noticed the “For Sale” sign in the yard. This young cute couple seems very interested in your home and stops you to ask, “I saw you have your home for sale, We have been looking in your neighborhood for some time, may we take a look inside?” As simple a request this might be, this is a big “No-No.” The best answer to give them, even though it may be tempting to let them in, is to simply say “Sure, but you’ll have to contact my REALTOR® to schedule all appointment.” This way you will know who’s coming into your home if they have been pre-approved and if their intentions are truly on the up & up and they’re not just casing the place for more malicious activities.
2.The Feeling Is High.
In my home, I have learned over the years that if you have unused medications you can’t just pitch them in the garbage. So over time, I’ve amassed quite a collection of prescription drugs that would make any street hustler jealous. This is the very thing that would make people who are not in the right state of mind want to steal. The best practice is to either have these put somewhere inconspicuous or in some kind of locked closet, not easily accessible. If you need to get rid of old medications you can bring them to your pharmacy and they know the proper way to dispose of them. (I had two large ziplock freezer bags full when I walked into my local pharmacy and they didn’t even blink an eye when I told them that I needed to get rid of them)
3. Mail, Bills And Other Important Information.
Most people come home and toss bills on the counter. This is the kind of information that people can use to steal your credit card information or even worse, your identity. When your home is listed, be sure to have all paperwork like old tax returns, social security cards, credit card statements, and banking information put away. Again, a locked cabinet would be best. (Money and jewelry should NEVER be left out)I personally have a safety deposit box at my local bank for these type items.
4. You Have Heard De-Clutter; What About De-Personalize?
I have spoken many times about de-cluttering the home, but you are going to want to de-personalize as well. (To read about de-cluttering click here https://goo.gl/sWQCSp) Depersonalizing your home is all about neutralizing, or removing your personality from your house so that buyers can mentally see themselves moving in. The reason you would want to do this is for safety reasons as you don’t want strange people possibly taking treasured pictures of your family and delving into your personal life. Other people can be very invasive, and you don’t want to give them any ammunition.
Speaking of ammunition, I’m pretty sure this goes without saying, but DO NOT leave any handguns, pistols, hunting equipment or ammunition in any area of the home that people can get a hold of it, or even see it.Again, a locked cabinet would be best for these type items.
5. The Eagle Eye.
The world we live in now, it’s not uncommon to see homes with security cameras inside and out. This is great for the security of your home when you have showings. Please bear in mind your states privacy laws when installing security cameras and/or voice recording.
These are just a few tips to help you keep your family safe during the time you have your home listed. Be sure you discuss with your REALTOR® the way your home will be shown as far as the lockbox they will be using. The old-fashioned combo code type lockboxes are not the most secure way to retrieve keys for showings.I personally only use Supra Lockbox that gives me a report of who has opened the lockbox to retrieve the keys. This is an added layer of security to you as the home seller and also lets me know if the agents did actually preview the property. I do this for my clients “Because YOU Matter”.
Five Way’s To Help Un-Clutter Your Home To Get It Sold In Ascension Parish.
Most of my home sales are right here in Ascension Parish. I’ve been through many over the years, and some stand out to me. Perhaps if the sellers had known these secrets prior to listing their home, they wouldn’t have made these mistakes. I believe some realtors are afraid of offending the homeowner… that their lovely blood red kitchen that is pleasing to them is not necessarily the case for buyers. When I list homes I give the sellers pointers to help their home show in the best light to potential buyers. Most take my advice, but some are still dead set on leaving their winning game heads in the living room. Here’s a short list to look over that will help you decide what’s “right” and what’s “wrong.”
1. Do
De-Clutter the home. What do I mean by “de-clutter?” It means remove almost half of your personal items; things like pictures, urns of family ashes, the collections of beanie babies on the mantle, and yes, the prize-winning trophy deer head over the fireplace. I know you love it but a lot of buyers can’t see past all this stuff. They want to see a home that they could live in. If you removed half your items, the space looks larger and is easier for buyers to imagine themselves in your home.
2. Don’t
Ignore Odors (the nose knows everything) You may not smell a pet odor but buyers do. Trying to cover up smells with candles and plugins doesn’t mask the smell. It just smells like the “bad” smell mixed with flowers. It doesn’t fool anyone, especially potential buyers. Please keep your litter boxes clean if you have cats. Buyers will smell that first if you don’t keep those up.
3. Don’t
Fill your garage with all the boxes you just decluttered the house with. This is a time you may want to invest in getting a POD or storage unit. Garages here in Ascension Parish have become a big selling point for men since they are looking for spaces to make a “man cave”. 4. Do Have your carpets cleaned prior to listing your home by a professional carpet cleaning company. I have seen it more often than not… carpets that look terrible with dark gray spots and wear and tear over the traffic areas send a giant RED flag to buyers that they need new flooring before they have even made an offer. This, in turn, will bring lower offers to sellers. If the sellers just had a good carpet cleaning company come out prior to listing, they could bring the dull carpets back to life. I have even seen the professional carpet cleaning companies get dried nail polish out of the light beige carpet. (If you need the name and number of a few carpet cleaning companies that can help, don’t hesitate to call me.)
4. Do
Have your carpets cleaned prior to listing your home by a professional carpet cleaning company. I have seen it more often than not… carpets that look terrible with dark gray spots and wear and tear over the traffic areas send a giant RED flag to buyers that they need new flooring before they have even made an offer. This, in turn, will bring lower offers to sellers. If the sellers just had a good carpet cleaning company come out prior to listing, they could bring the dull carpets back to life. I have even seen the professional carpet cleaning companies get dried nail polish out of the light beige carpet. (If you need the name and number of a few carpet cleaning companies that can help, don’t hesitate to call me.)
5.Don’t
Forget about the flowerbeds and fresh cut grass. Buyer’s first impression of a home is when they pull in the driveway. This is the time to pull weeds, add new mulch and plant fall flowers. To read about fall flowerbeds click here https://goo.gl/uSKhzM . Paint the mailbox (I actually had a lady comment how nice the freshly painted mailbox looked as compared to the rest of the weathered ones down the street.) It’s these fine details that make an impression with buyers!It’s important to show that you have taken care of and maintained the home with pride. There are many ways to show your home in the best light. The above are just a few. If you would like to know more please reach out to me. Why? “Because YOU Matter”
Your Real Estate Whisperer
Kristina Smallhorn
225-246-1812
eXp Realty LLC
2900 Westfork Dr. Suite 401,Baton Rouge LA 70817
Office #(225) 412-9982 ext# 149
Kristina Smallhorn is a licensed REALTOR® with the state of Louisiana
So What Do Your Flower Beds Look like Here In Louisiana?
Mine, Look Disgraceful And If You Are Trying To Sell Your Home Now Is The Time To Spruce It Up! I Went To Louisiana Nursery, To Get John MacMillians Opinion Of What Was The Best Plants To Add.
Need More Curb appeal for selling your home in the fall season?
When selling a home during the fall months in South Louisiana it is still important to keep your yard looking its best (even though the grass has now turned brown and the green luster not to come back until the spring). I’ve listed some things below that could help your prospective buyers still be in awe of your yard, ignoring those brown blades of hay-looking grass.
Rake your yard from falling leaves. This alone can make a yard look fresh in comparison to other homes that are for sale.
Plant fall flowers and put a lot in. I say it to my clients almost as a joke, but I’m slightly serious as well. If you see an empty spot in your flower beds and add as many fall flowers as you can. Nothing makes a house feel more like home than bright flowers to greet you before you enter. I found that pine straw works best here in Louisiana instead of mulch because of our heavy rains we get here.
Add color to your front door. If it needs painting, now is the perfect time to do it. A nice fall colored wreath can add a nice dress-up to the entry making the first impression inviting.
Outdoor lighting. As the days become shorter, now is a good time to invest in some great outdoor lighting, A well-lit home from the outside always adds great curb appeal.
Pot Some Plants- If your home doesn’t have many flowerbeds that you can add to, you can spruce up your outside by getting large flower pots and adding flowers with color in those. That always looks charming around a home.
Don’t forget to clean out those gutters and pick up any toys and lawn hoses.
Clean and paint your mailbox.
This is a rarely thought about item in your yard but used almost daily. A fresh coat of paint on a tired mailbox can make your home stand out as being well kept. This time of year it is typical for the market does slow down a bit. Don’t take for granted how your outside decor can attract buyers. Sometimes the yard alone is what sells the house.
“Because YOU Matter”
Kristina Smallhorn [email protected]
Your Real Estate Whisperer
eXp Realty LLC
2900 Westfork Dr. Suite 401
Baton Rouge LA 70817
225-246-1812
Office (225) 412-9982 ext# 149
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCH0LUzFvtwb5B8EfVCF5uwg
Kristina Smallhorn is a licensed REALTOR® with the state of Louisiana
Having a clean home is important, especially when you have your home listed for sale, and I know that money can be tight when you are buying or selling. Frankly, I am the world’s worst for buying every single cleaning product under the sun. Recently, after years of spending WAY too much money on cleaning products, I discovered some really wonderful ways to get your home clean for pennies on the dollar and they really clean just as good. Below I’ve listed my favorite ways to use very inexpensive household items to clean your home and one bonus item I just remembered.
My Counters Need To Be Cleaned, BADLY!
Clean your countertops and sinks with this easy recipe of 1-quart hot water and 4 tablespoons of baking soda, add it to a spray bottle and voila! Cheapall-purpose cleaner; add a little lemon juice to the mix for a fresh scent.
My Closets Don’t Smell Great!
The culprit may be your shoes, so before you put away that baking soda after you’ve cleaned your counter tops, sprinkle some in each of the shoes. Baking soda absorbs the smells of yucky feet. Make sure to shake the baking soda out of them before wearing them again :).
I Cleaned The Sink, Why Does It Still Smell?
Leftovers in the garbage disposal usually are the reason. I have two solutions for this. My first fix is to run hot water, and as the water is running I squeeze dish soap down the drain with the garbage disposal running. After a few seconds, I turn off the disposal and water. If the smell is still there, I will grab a half of a lemon and run that through the disposal. Generally, the dish soap trick works most of the time for me.
***Bonus*** While you have that other half of lemon out you can get stains off of cutting boards with the other half of lemon.
My Kids Art Work Doesn’t Belong On Walls.
As much as you love your children, their colored artwork on your walls isn’t something most of us would like to keep there forever. Believe it or not, removing crayon isn’t as hard as you would imagine. Remember that box of baking soda? Sprinkle some on a damp sponge working it in circles over your little Picasso’s masterpiece.Make sure to get a picture first so you can remember it after you’ve wiped it off.
BONUS TIP!
I hate cleaning floorboards. When I was pregnant, many, many, moons ago I found it difficult to bend down to clean them. A client of mine told me how to clean them without ever bending over. First, you cut a slit into a tennis ball, then you put the opening of the cut tennis ball over the end of a broomstick; cover that with an old washcloth, wrapping it on with an elastic band. Now just walk around your house with the wrapped tennis ball wiping down your floorboards. You can spray a little cleaner if you need to on the washcloth.
I hope you found these hints useful, and if you would like some more tips and tricks you can always visit my website @yourrealestatewhisperer.com.
Do You Have Deferred Maintenance Issues When Selling Your Ascension Parish Home?
When I complete a “feedback sheet” after previewing a home, my favorite words to use when describing perceived problems are,“Deferred Maintenance.”Deferred Maintenance means the practice of postponing maintenance activities such as repairs on both real property (i.e. infrastructure) and personal property (i.e. machinery) in order to save costs, meet budget funding levels, or realign available budget monies. In Ascension Parish, most sellers will repair obvious issues while others will not and this may cause their home to stay on the market much longer than the typical home in their Ascension Parish neighborhood.
When I refer to “Deferred Maintenance” I’m talking about things like; hanging unattached gutters, weeds in flower beds, overgrown grass, fencing that is rotten and carpet that is frayed at the thresholds of doorways. Others may include, paint that is chipped on walls with numerous areas of visible dirt, missing appliances, damaged, chipped or cracked tile. Basically, those things that are very obvious, and could be easily repaired at the sellers’ expense. If your home is in a great neighborhood, in a great school district and in a seller’s market, these items, if not addressed, will clearly reduce the value of your home.
If you are unsure if you have “deferred maintenance” issues, you can always take the advice of an Ascension Parish REALTOR®. We as agents know what items need to be addressed immediately before listing your home so you can get your home sold faster and at the best price. I know it can be tempting to say “I’ll leave it for the buyer to do,” but you may be eating those words after you’ve lost a lot of money and time for something could have been addressed beforehand. The payoff is much greater when you do these repairs prior to listing.
I’m telling you this as a possible seller “Because You Matter”
Kristina Smallhorn – Your Real Estate Whisperer
eXp Realty LLC., 2900 Westfork Dr. Suite 401, Baton Rouge LA 70817