Wow. It’s a huge responsibility when your former client is living out of town and asks you to take care of selling her home. Correction. It’s a huge privilege, AND responsibility, but that is what we agents do all the time… come on, stop giving yourself medals, Marilyn! Lol.
Okay, but how about if my perfectionistic self also wants to transform the property for its highest sale value and marketability… what then?! Okay, bets are off now. Not so easy. Gloves are on. The painting and work-glove kind!
Evaluate
First step, Evaluate what has already been done. A whole lot, but largely the unseen but awesome kind like redoing the building envelope, and rebuilding the huge deck, NICE! Unfortunately, these wonderful benefits need X-Ray vision, so what could we do to improve the aesthetics of a formerly tenanted property? The student tenants were great, but not the best at making the place look like “Canadian House and Home” magazine! Ha ha.
The Team
Time to call in the CREW. First, painting estimates for the interior with a front door makeover, too! David Hardy gave the first estimate, and is excellent, however he had a family emergency so over to Alan Taylor and Doug Ilmer… what a TEAM! It really makes a difference when you paint the entire canvas: ceilings became whiter, and even the baseboard heaters were transformed! Did you know that they can be spraypainted with heat resistant paint and made to look like new?! Alan and Doug are master craftsmen. They even touched up the kitchen cabinets, painted the front door, and the stringers under the deck after the new black soffits (thank you, Network Home Improvements!) were added, wow!
Transform
So many areas of Transformation. Next was to call in my fantastic Plumber, James Price! Simple things like adding new faucets, replacing an old bathroom sink, and adding rain shower showerheads really jazz things up! AND don’t forget Lighting. You don’t need to go uber-expensive. Just replacing the old “Boob” lights can be game changing! (Okay, I said it! Lol… You know, the ones that are round with the down-facing dimple? Ugh… not a good blast to the past!) … yes, THOSE ones! Well, we replaced them with minimalistic and clean design flat white led lights. What a great change for not much cash. Did you know that Home Depot sells the smaller ones in Contractor boxes of 4? And they give off so much light!
Of course, all of this hub bub in painting and plumbing is great, but it sure does kick up the dust and dirt! So enter the fabulous cleaning company “Corner to Corner”, and they sure live up to their name! AND let’s not forget Aquamist for wizard skills at carpet cleaning! Sorry guys, I know that you had to work around all kinds of painting equipment… not too fun, but you got it done, Thank you!! United Carpet put in the new Lino downstairs in the bathroom and hall. Not fun, because the cement floor had to be leveled first, but a great result in the end! The only thing left to do is perhaps some wood floor updating upstairs, but hey, you’ve got to leave something for the Buyer, right?
Top-Notch
What I really love about working with top-notch professionals is that they recommend their friends that are ALSO top-notch professionals!! Doug and Alan recommended their Carpenter friend Mike Allison for his red-seal carpentry skills. This guy swooped in with his superman cape and put in new baseboards and fixed a couple of doors that were needing shaving, Sweet! We even had Jake Burnett of Happy Drywall graciously agree to a few key repairs. Man, these guys… sooooooo grateful!! Usually, you can’t get people in for small jobs, but I think that it is a true measure of an excellent company when they come to your rescue like that!
Speaking of Top-Notch professionals, I’m so lucky to have access to Shawn of Victoria Doors! His service is something that you don’t think of in “Wow” improvements, but it REALLY makes a huge difference! He changed out old doorknobs and door hinges, and as he is also an Electrician, his attention to detail in adding lighting and ensuring that all the switch covers are dazzling white Totally ROCKS in delivering an updated look!! Honourable mention to David Audi of Absolute Electrical who swooped in last minute too to replace outdoor coach lights… these guys are AMAZING!!!
The Village
The neighbour next door put in a new cedar fence and restored the landscaping on the side that he used to build his addition, and the other neighbour kindly watered the flowering potted baskets. We even got the cul-de-sac landscaped island for guest parking cleaned up. It really does take a village, and it was so lovely to see such neighbourly care.
The Stage was Set!
Enter the icing on the Cake… Staging furniture and Décor!! I was so fortunate to have help from Hailey of “Perfect Fit Strategies” for the Staging organization. She is a master of brilliant use of space, and ability to see where furniture should go!
So VOILA! There you have it… the ugly duckling became a Beautiful Swan!! (It was never ugly… just needing a refresh), but this certainly was the Royal Treatment to dress Mariposa for Success! Combined, we all have reason to feel Proud. Next came the happy young family from out of town, and their agent carefully showed them everything virtually about the property. Congratulations to ALL on this Wonderful Sale!
Contact marilyn@marilynball.ca or Text 250-818-6489 if you need a fairy godmother of the staging kind to help you with your Sale... the honour will be mine!
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