When anyone decides to place their home for sale, the Broker should guide them in how to stage their garage. Garage staging is just as important as home staging and maybe more. There is nothing worse than a prospective buyer walking into a garage and seeing boxes everywhere and huge oil slicks in the middle of the floor.
The seller spends lots of money on staging the home but when it comes to the garage he says, "Who cares about an old garage." One of the biggest mistakes a seller can make is to forget about the garage. Just as you would pay special attention to the yard and curb appeal, you must care about the looks of the garage.
As a listing agent, I want the entire home in tip top shape. Home staging is not stacking boxes on the ceiling and carpets over oil slicks. It is making the garage look as good as the home and very spacious. When a prospective client walks into the garage from a door off the home, he must feel as happy with the garage as he does the home.
1. Clean and Tidy:
All boxes should be transferred to a storage shed or a rental storage somewhere. Ladders should be folded and hung on the walls along with major tools such as chain saws and shears to cut the shrubs with. There should be some sort of incense hanging in the garage, to give it a wonderful smell and all bad odors eliminated, before anyone shows the home. The garage must be freshly painted as it is a possible room of the house. All holes need to be patched and any cracks sealed.
Nothing worse than walking into a home and seeing many cracks everywhere. The first thing a prospective buyer thinks, is that this is not earthquake safe. A garage should be open and clean but organized. Making a home feel tidy and welcoming.
2. Make it look Spacious and Open:
There should be hanging peg boards for all tools. The tool bench must be painted red as that is the color all buyers expect. There should be a few tricycles on the floor next to the door, as to make the garage and the home look like someone lives there.
3. Make it homey looking and welcoming:
Curtains must be hung on the windows and the curtains should be real home looking and not formal looking.
4. Make it look as though someone lives here:
A empty garage is not garage staging. Giving the impression that no one has ever lived in the home is not a selling point. Try to imagine if you are walking into the garage before seeing the home, how would you feel? Would you be interested in seeing the rest of the home? As anything, this should be a showplace and something that draws the buyer in.
5. Arrange the garage for the garage lover:
How can you make a garage welcoming? A work bench with peg boards and a large step stool next to the work bench. A tall tool box, red of course and some pictures hanging of the Grand Canyon and places that people might long to see. Huge metal shelving with all cans of nuts and screws divided and all winter items, such as sleds on shelves.
Many do not spend enough money on the total presentation, such as having a working garage door opener. If the garage door is old and squeaky, try to replace the opener. The cost is only a few hundred dollars and can make the difference in a low ball figure.
Things for garage staging:
1. Fresh coat of paint and all cracks and holes fixed.
2. Peg hole shelving
3. All boxes removed
4. All ladders and large items hung out of the way
5. Home looking curtains on the window
6. Pictures of pleasant looking areas
7. Tidy and clean and all oil spots removed
8. Fresh smelling room deodorizer or incense
9. A few personal items to make the home lived in
10. All the above applies.
Selling your home for the top price is the goal of any agent and only with the cooperation of the sellers and tenants can this be accomplished. Help your agent, help you.
You have worked your whole life maintaining your perfect credit, then all of a sudden you lose your job. No matter how you try and what things you sell, you just could not save your credit. Before long they are repossessing your home and your car and you have absolutely no where to call home. The only choice that remains is to rent an apartment, but even there you have nothing but shut doors and no one wants to help you due to your credit rating or FICO score.
It never dawned on you that you would ever lose your job much less your credit, so now what can be done? Is there a way to rent a home with bad credit and if so do you have to live in the "dumps?"
Looking for a new home:
Before you even go out the door to look for a new home, get all your ducks in a row. It is absolutely fruitless to begin a home search until you have a few things done and prepared. First it is imperative that you get a credit report and have it ready. There are many places on the Internet that offer a free credit report once a year. Here is a link for Trans Union:
Free Credit Report
Now that you have your credit report you can search and see where the main points of discrepancy lie. Try to alleviate as much as you can before house searching. Many collection agencies will agree to negotiate the amount owed and in exchange will wipe the debt off your credit report. If they will not agree to that then have them make an immediate report that the account has been rectified. You can also put letters on file with the credit bureau explaining exactly what happen.
Once you have corrected your credit report as much as possible, take the credit report with you when you begin house hunting. It is important to be honest and upfront with the people who are considering renting to you. Stay away from the big complexes and look for a smaller unit or home that is owned by an individual. Many management companies have set policies on credit and ratios.
Some apartment and home managers will also go by the LTV (loan to debt ratio). This is the debt to rental ratio. So they will consider your monthly rental compared to your income. The normal ratios will be 30-36% of your income after debts are deducted. So when considering a home for rent keep these ratios in mind.
Credit Report and 7 Years of Misery:
Keep in mind that the bad marks will be on your credit for seven years and ten years if you file bankruptcy. During this period you will not be able to buy a home or a car. What you can do is try to reestablish some good credit to show potential landlords that you are a good risk such as taking out a fully secured loan through a savings and loan. This is a normal procedures to begin establishing credit. Look for a secured credit card also as a second choice or a account with a small department store, such as Mervyns.
Do not give up as there are many places that will work with you if you are honest, sociable and are dressed well. Funny how people judge you by your appearance. A manager would much rather you be upfront with them, then to find out you lied after the new credit report comes in. Sometimes they will not pull a new credit report if your report is recent.
