Tidying Up with Karen Cannon

If you are even remotely interested in interior design or optimizing your home’s storage, then the name “Marie Kondo” is probably familiar to you. While her method and her books have been around for quite some time, she became a household name after Netflix produced the series, Tidying Up With Marie Kondo, where the queen of organization shares her methods with those who live in chaotic homes.

While we may not have Marie Kondo’s tidying clout, here at Karen Cannon, Realtors we have picked up a few tips about organizing your home when you are preparing to sell and show it off to buyers.

Here are three tips from our team for tidying up before selling:

Half-way Empty Your Closets

This tip may sound strange, but when you’re looking for a home, what is one thing you are subconsciously searching for? Storage! Storage is a huge draw for buyers, and one of the best ways you can prepare your home is removing half of the items from your closet and organizing the other half. This shows potential buyers that there is plenty of room for everything they need to store, plus more. Also, remember buyers may snoop around, so chose what you display – in and out of your closets – carefully.

De-personalize Your Home

Although this process may seem a bit premature, removing your personal items from your home allows those looking to envision their family and lifestyle fitting into your home. A great rule of thumb for this is for every three pictures/ personal keepsakes, keep one out and pack away two. This will allow you to get a head start on packing and will allow prospects to imagine calling your house their “home.”

The First Impression is the Only Impression

In order to sell to a buyer, you need to think like one. What is the first thing a buyer sees when they pull up to your property? It’s not the kitchen or the awesome living room – it’s the exterior of the house! Your curb appeal matters, so take the time to tidy up your porch, garden, and yard by pulling those ugly weeds, sweeping mulch off and pressure washing your sidewalk, trimming those shrubs, and fixing or replacing anything with peeled paint. The front door of your home is an extremely important space as the buyer will be analyzing this area while their agent is opening the lockbox/unlocking the front door. Knock down the cobwebs, clean the sidelight windows/porch lights, plant fresh flowers, and provide touch up the paint where needed as these few simple and easy chores will make all the difference when a potential buyer first sees your home.

Tidying up in these three areas are just one way you can fast track selling your home and finding your next one. If selling your home seems overwhelming, the team at Karen Cannon, Realtors is here to walk with you through each stage of the home selling and buying process.

Click here to contact us by phone, or fill out the form at the bottom of the page and someone from our team will contact you shortly!

cheerful young black couple holding sold sign and celebrating their house been sold

Tips for First Time Home Sellers

When buying your first home, it’s normal to be a bit scared – but also excited about plans for the future. You’re anxious to fill your home with memories, and selling is the furthest thing from your mind. However, as time passes and your family grows or kids move out, you might start thinking about looking for a home that’s more suitable for your current lifestyle.

Once you’ve made the decision to sell, it’s common to have a lot of questions about the process, pricing and preparations necessary to put it on the market. It can seem daunting at first, but the KCR team is here to answer your questions and walk you through every step. Here are some tips to help you prepare to sell your first home.

Expect Emotions to Run High

It’s normal to be emotional about your home, and it’s okay to shed a few tears when you start the selling process. You’ve celebrated holidays, entertained friends and family, and hopefully made some great memories in this home. However, as soon as you’ve made the decision to sell, your home becomes a financial asset. You have to think of it as your “property.” As hard as it is, try to remove any emotion from the sale of your property.

First Impressions are Everything

Your property’s condition will determine whether you make a quick sale or struggle through the process. Improve your property as much as possible before putting it on the market – within reason. This means taking a good look around and repairing the small problems that potential buyers will notice. Repair leaking faucets, touch up paint, de-clutter common areas, and plant fresh flowers. Try to see your home as a buyer would when they enter for the first time.

Don’t Try to Go It Alone

Selling your home in Atlanta without a Realtor may seem like a good way to avoid paying commission, but you may end up costing yourself more money if the house lingers on the market or you don’t get top dollar. Often, homes that are listed ‘by owner’ are overpriced (due to the homeowners’ emotional ties to the house and inability to see its value clearly) and may sit on the market for months. In many cases, the seller takes a price that’s less than the market value out of sheer frustration.

At Karen Cannon, Realtors, we understand the current market trends and are knowledgeable in home values so that we know how to price your home correctly to help you maximize the value. Once the house is listed, we’ll walk beside you every step of the way – from the initial conversation with a buyer to the contract and paperwork details.

For every house we list, we provide professional photography and videography, home staging, 3D virtual tours and social media promotion. In fact, 10% of our homes sell prior to listing because of our comprehensive marketing efforts and our connections within the community. Selling your first home can be stressful, and it is our job to take the stress of selling off your shoulders.

If you are thinking about selling your home, call us at 770-352-9658 to schedule a conversation.

How to Tackle the 4 Most Common Types of Clutter

Whether you are making room for a new addition to the family or downsizing, de-cluttering is a must. We know how difficult it can be to decide what to keep and what to ditch. First, you have to understand just what kind of clutter is piling up in your home. Here are the 4 most commons types of clutter and how to tackle each:

Clutter Without a Home

Some of your clutter isn’t actually clutter; it just doesn’t have a home. It could be mail you haven’t opened yet or books that are piling up because your bookshelf is overflowing. This type of accumulation is going take a few extra steps because it’s not about a ditch or keep pile.

You have to be a little bit more strategic in creating storage space. It may require buying a few storage bins, but it will be worth it to see everything in their rightful place. Clear and labeled plastic containers work for most items in the home whether it’s a temporary or permanent solution to your clutter. Try to place your containers where they make the most sense. A small container for the mail should go wherever you normally drop your mail off when entering your home. A larger container can be placed next to the shelf for any books that won’t fit.

Aspirational Clutter

This type of clutter is the stuff that you buy in hopes to someday use. It’s just like the coffee table book you keep on display but have never sat down to read. Whether it’s the set of golf clubs collecting dust or the skiing wardrobe for that vacation that never seems to get booked, we are all guilty of making aspirational purchases.

If your purchases have started to pile up and you’re not using them, it could be time to find them a new home. Ask yourself questions like: Am I really interested in golf? Do I really plan to go skiing? Am I actually going to use this or that? If you say maybe or no to any of these questions, you may want to put them in the ditch pile or try to sell them.

Bargain Clutter

You may have guessed from the name, the type of clutter we’re referring to – bargains. If you can’t resist the urge to buy when there is a good sale and often find your purchases stacking high, you may have some bargain clutter. It can seem easy to justify a purchase when it’s on sale, but that doesn’t mean you should bring it into your home.

The best way to tackle this kind of clutter is to go through all of your items and determine what you actually need. If you don’t need it, put it in the ditch pile. Next time you see a sale, think long and hard about whether you are buying just because.

Sentimental Clutter

If you’re afraid to throw out your old baby blanket or your child’s first pair of shoes, you could be holding onto sentimental clutter. This is the hardest clutter to get rid of because there is an emotional attachment to these items. Deciding what to throw out and what to keep may stir up some emotions.

Carefully choose just a few items to hold onto as mementos. Which items bring you the most joy? Always remember that getting rid of things is not getting rid of the memory. Determine what is really meaningful and what’s just stuff. It’s understandable to want to keep old love letters or birthday cards, but they don’t have to take up space. Take a digital scan and create a folder on your computer or a hard drive. You can reclaim your space while having the option to go back through them if you want to take a walk down memory lane.

You should also think about if the size of your house and whether the items that are filling it suits your lifestyle. Some of our clients, for example, are ready to downsize. With kids out of the house, they are typically looking for a home that is just for them. On the other hand, some of our other clients have outgrown their home as their family grows, so decluttering can help in the packing and moving process. Whether you’re interested in something bigger or smaller, Karen Cannon, Realtors can help you find something that is perfect for you.

At Karen Cannon, Realtors, we are local real estate experts for Dunwoody, Sandy Springs, and North Atlanta. We live, work, and play here, and our agents are hand-picked for their connections in the community. Our clients know about homes coming on the market before anyone else. And our highly effective marketing program allows us to shorten the number of days on the market. We’ve even put homes under contract sight unseen!

If you are thinking about selling your home, or are interested in moving into Dunwoody, Sandy Springs or the surrounding areas, call us at 770-352-9658.

Benefits of Using Virtual Tours to Attract Buyers

As technology evolves, so does the selling and buying experience. Now, there are more immersive and interactive techniques being used in real estate. At Karen Cannon, Realtors, we always have our ears to the ground with the latest technology that can enhance and improve our clients’ buying and selling experience. When 3D Virtual Tours became available, we hopped on board to offer this enhancement as a part of our service, and we have seen great success ever since. We offer a truly immersive experience so that buyers can feel like they are in the home. If you’re a skeptic, we’re here to tell you there are some great benefits to using virtual tours to attract buyers.

It captures potential buyers in remote locations

Let’s face it; moving to another part of town can be hard let alone another state! Virtual tours open up the opportunity to capture buyers from all over the world. With our 3D Virtual Tours, we have a specialist that uses a unique 3D camera to capture every single angle of your home for buyers to later explore on our website. It’s a virtual walkthrough that buyers can enjoy no matter where they are and no matter the time of day.

It gets more eyes on your home

One of the goals of having virtual tours available is to find buyers seriously interested in your home quickly. The virtual tour is like an “always open house,” and the client can spend as little or as much time in each room as they want. The longer a client spends looking through sections of your home, the more they can imagine themselves owning it. Studies have shown that virtual tours get 49% more qualified leads and get 40% more clicks than listings without.

There are times when only one partner is available to view a listing in person. The 3D virtual tour allows both parties to get a feel for the home. In addition, if a buyer is interested, but wants others to weigh in on a home, the 3D tour gives them the opportunity. Whether it’s a parent or a spouse, they can view the home at their convenience which can help move these along in their decision making.

It showcases your home in pristine shape 24/7

Showcasing a property is just a part of the home-selling process. Your home has to look great whenever we showcase your home to potential buyers, and some sellers find this to be a hassle. While showing a home in person will most likely still happen, the 3D virtual tour allows buyers to step inside of your home, virtually, whenever they want to and for as long as they want to. It also offers a floor plan and dollhouse view that allows the seller to virtually place furniture to give them a visual idea of what the home would look like furnished. The seller won’t feel as rushed as they normally would for say an open house or a showing because it is on their time. Having that added time allows the buyer to decide if they are serious about buying. If they are, they will reach out to us to either make an offer or see the home in person.

We provide 3D virtual tours for every listing as well as home staging, professional photography, and videography. We also provide unique and targeted social media marketing tactics. As we mentioned before, the goal is to get serious buyers interested in your home. The 3D tour introduces buyers to the home. Whenever they’re ready to view the home in person, we always have an agent available.

If you are thinking about selling your home, or are interested in moving into Dunwoody, Sandy Springs or the surrounding areas, call us at 770-352-9658.

Source: Matterport

City Springs District: Sandy Springs’ New Downtown

We have loved seeing the growth of our community over the years. Now the 6th largest city in Georgia, Sandy Springs has continued to evolve as more people call it home. One of the newest additions to Sandy Springs is the City Springs District that opened in May of 2018 and is being dubbed the “new downtown.” It’s located on the corner of Johnson Ferry and Roswell Road and has quickly become a destination for visitors and residents alike. Here’s a brief rundown of what you can expect:

Entertainment

When the weather is nice, the City Green will be bustling with couples and families. This gorgeous four-acre park in City Springs is surrounded by fountains inspired by the beautiful Chattahoochee River. Its many shaded areas are perfect for reading a good book, playing a game of chess or enjoying a picnic. Kids love the interactive fountain and music lovers get to enjoy local and national talent perform on the covered stage.

If you’re looking for more formal entertainment, City Springs is also home to a performing arts center with two theaters that offers entertainment year round. The Studio Theatre hosts smaller productions, conferences and corporate meetings while the Byers Theatre hosts larger theatrical productions. The calendar is filled with exciting shows to check out.

Dining

You can grab coffee with a colleague or meet friends for lunch at one of City Springs’ two popular restaurants. City Bar, located near the performing arts center, is the perfect spot to grab a coffee or a cocktail before or after the show. Flower Child is a restaurant that prides itself on fresh ingredients with a menu that’s made from scratch every day. There are three more restaurants scheduled to open in City Springs: Nam Kitchen, The Select, and Cafe Vendome.

While it is still in its infancy, City Springs is already proving to be a popular go-to spot for Sandy Springs residents. The next time you’re looking for something to do on a sunny day, check out City Springs. You won’t regret it!

At Karen Cannon, Realtors, we are local real estate experts for Dunwoody, Sandy Springs and North Atlanta. We live, work and play here, and our agents are hand-picked for their connections in the community. Our clients know about homes coming on the market before anyone else. And our highly effective marketing program allows us to shorten the number of days on the market. We’ve even put homes under contract sight unseen!

If you are thinking about selling your home, or are interested in moving into Dunwoody, Sandy Springs or the surrounding areas, call us at 770-352-9658.