ANNAPOLIS, DAVIDSONVILLE, EDGEWATER, ARNOLD AND SEVERNA PARK REAL ESTATE
There is a useful new way to approach preparing your home for sale—one that few Annapolis area homeowners would have found practical just a few years ago.
To start with, the rate at which consumer technology is changing can be maddening— even if most of the changes improve how things work. At this point, most Annapolis area residents accept the fact that every new laptop or smartphone upgrade will mean that, sooner or later, we’ll have to sit down and learn how the new features work (or how the old ones don’t).
Some of the devices we now use regularly have changed how we approach many everyday tasks. One device that does that in spades is the smartphone—which has changed much about how people communicate. It also changed a large part of how events are recorded. Slowly but surely, the phones began to include not just cameras, but superior ones. Digital photographs are now so much easier to use and distribute than the 20th century version that our Annapolis area neighbors are texting and posting and emailing photos without giving it a second thought.
Of course, the phenomenon has a large and often-noted (here, at least) impact on Annapolis area real estate, most obviously on the efficiency by which we Realtors® can stay in touch with clients, prospective buyers, our office, etc.
For homeowners who are in the opening stages of getting a Annapolis area property ready for sale, the ease with which smartphone snapshots can be taken means that everyone has access to a terrific new tool. One of the most significant early jobs involves performing an assessment of what needs to be done to prepare a home for listing. Which areas needing repair or replacement? Which will benefit most from a décor makeover?
In practice, it’s hard for anyone to do a good job prioritizing improvements for their own home because they tend not to see things the way outsiders do. That’s where the smartphones can come in handy: call it “pre-staging.” Instead of just walking through the house, scribbling notes about what needs to be done, it’s now easy to record a series of photos of your walk-through, and then sit down and make those judgements based on how the rooms look through a lens. For the most part, because those will be snapshots rather than professionally lit glamor shots, the details will look less than gorgeous. But that’s actually useful, because it makes it easier to spot real decorating weak points. It also emphasizes to any eye the importance of the tried-and-true staging verities—such as the necessity for clearing clutter and letting in as much light as possible.
Smartphones can be a truly useful new tool, allowing pre-staging visualization to channel early efforts into the right areas. This can be the first pass at preparing your Annapolis area home for listing…along with that early first call to my office!
DEBORAH LAGGINI, Long and Foster Real Estate, Annapolis, MD 21403
OFFICE 410-266-5505
CELL 410.991.6560
Website www.deborahlaggini.com
EMAIL [email protected]
REALTOR, Annapolis, Davidsonville, Edgewater, and Surrounding Communities