Prep for Listing and Photos

•  Use incandescent light bulbs, all lights working and fixtures clean and bright
•  De-clutter and de-personalize
•  The cleaner the better
•  Make any needed cosmetic repairs (can wait to do other repairs after you move out)
•  Clean windows — sunshine makes all the difference!

Before a Tenant Moves In

•  Deep clean the house (if not already complete) — the standard of clean YOU SET is the standard we hold the tenant to
•  Have the carpets professionally cleaned — we require the tenant to do the same on move-out
•  Inspect/clean any wood-burning fireplaces
•  Clean gutters (tenants clean gutters after their move-in)
•  Fresh caulk in all bathrooms, and kitchen if needed
•  All toilets working well — replace flappers if needed
•  Fresh furnace filter — leave…

Living near a Starbucks has its benefits for homeowners, whether you’re a coffee drinker or not.

With tens of thousands of Starbucks locations in the U.S., that’s good news for a lot of homeowners.

Between 1997 and 2013, home closer to the coffee shop increased in value by 96%, compared to 65% for all U.S. homes.

The biggest “Starbucks effect” was in Boston, where nearby home values went up 171% in the same time period. That’s 45 percentage points more than all homes in the city.

Starbucks is usually a harbinger of good times for a locality. A new Starbucks gives a sense to developers that the neighborhood is on the rise, wrote Zillow CEO Spencer Rascoff and chief economist Stan Humphries in their new book “Zillow Talk.”

But dig a little deeper and it’s kind of a chicken and egg situation — it’s not like Starbucks can take credit…

Most of us will not have the luxury of moving out of our home, while it’s on the market. Even though, marketing your home can be very disruptive to your life – keeping these tips in mind will help you make the best of a difficult situation.

Organize and Disregard

Before you put your home on the market, you should start organizing for your move. Not only will you get a head start on move day, having an organized home will help keep your house in order for showings. Do some of the heavy lifting now and disregard things you don’t think you’ll be moving. Remember that people are going to try to envision what their lives will be like in your home, so the less clutter and personal items – the better.

Store

Think about renting a storage unit in order to clear out some of the clutter from…